IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR DRINKING WATER City of Boone Water Works Did Not Meet Treatment Requirements

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR DRINKING WATER City of Boone Water Works Did Not Meet Treatment Requirements Our water system recently violated a drinking water standard. Although this situation does not require that you take immediate action, as our customers, you have a right to know what happened, what you should do, and what we are doing to correct this situation. Contact Time - In order to ensure proper disinfection, water in the treatment plant must be in contact with chlorine or a similar disinfectant for a minimum amount of time. On February 23, 2026, this did not occur. Although chlorine quickly kills most bacteria, it is less effective against organisms such as viruses and parasites. For this reason, water needs to mix with chlorine for a longer time period to kill such organisms. The amount of time necessary, or the "contact time," depends on the amount of disinfectant in the water and the temperature of the water. What should I do? You do not need to boil your water or take other corrective actions. However, if you have specific health concerns, consult your doctor. 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? On February 23, 2026, the City of Boone Water Works took the 2-million-gallon ground storage reservoir offline for renovation and repairs, which required operational adjustments at the treatment plant and readjustment of chemical feed systems. During the process of dialing in the chlorine feed, the minimum required chlorine contact time was not met for approximately one hour on February 24. The DNR requires a minimum inactivation ratio of 1.0; during this period the ratio was 0.90. Operators recognized the potential issue and made adjustments, but the changes required some time to take effect. Chlorine levels are boosted as water leaves the pump station, so there was never a low chlorine situation in the distribution system, and follow-up bacteriological samples confirmed the absence of bacteria." Disinfectant residual levels/contact times so far this month have met all requirements. For more information, please contact Dave Moore at 515-433-0536 or 1174 188th Road, Boone, IA 50036. 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 Boone Water Works. PWSID#: 0819033 Date distributed: March 19, 2026 March 19 2026 LIOW0479004