IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR DRINKING WATER

Buncombe Public Water District Does Not Meet Treatment Requirements

Our water system recently violated a drinking water standard. Although this was not an emergency, as our customers, you have a right to know what happened, what you should do, and what we are doing to correct this situation.  Surface water systems (or groundwater under the direct influence of surface water systems) must ensure proper disinfection. Water in the treatment plant must be in contact with enough chlorine or a similar disinfectant for a minimum amount of time.  Our supply was unable to meet this requirement during the Week 1 of December 2025 monitoring period

What should I do?

Ø  You do not need to boil your water or take other actions. We do not know of any contamination, and none of our testing has shown disease-causing organisms in the drinking water.

People with severely compromised immune systems, infants, and some elderly may be at increased risk. These people should seek advice about drinking water from their health care providers. General guidelines on ways to lessen the risk of infection by microbes are available from EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1 (800) 426-4791.

What does this mean?

This situation does not require that you take immediate action.  If it had, been, you would have been notified immediately.  Tests taken during this same time period did not indicate the presence of bacteria in the water. 

Inadequately treated water may contain disease-causing organisms.  These organisms include bacteria, viruses, and parasites, which can cause symptoms such as nausea, cramps, diarrhea, and associated headaches.

These symptoms, however, are not caused only by organisms in drinking water, but also by other factors.  If you experience any of these symptoms and they persist, you may want to seek medical advice.

What happened? What is being done?

The City of Carbondale tests routinely for virus inactivation in the treatment process. A chlorine value was mistakenly reported that was not representative of actual disinfection levels. By the time the City became aware of the violation, it was too late to correct the value to a more accurate level. The actual chlorine level was within compliance; the reported choline level was not.

Customers do not need to take any action. The water is safe for normal use and has been at all times. This is a required public notification

For more information, please contact Cari Sanders at 618-534-1879 or 2365 Parrish Ridge Lane, Goreville, IL 62939

Please share this information with all the other people who drink this water, especially those who may not have received this notice directly (for example, people in apartments, nursing homes, schools, and businesses). You can do this by posting this notice in a public place or distributing copies by hand or mail.

This notice is being sent to you by Buncombe Public Water District.

Water System ID#

IL0775420

Date distributed

March 2026