Northeast Creek Exceedance Notification
January 07, 2026
NOTICE TO CONSUMERS
of the Louisa County Water Authority WATERWORKS
IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR DRINKING WATER
LRAA PMCL Exceedance for Disinfection Byproducts - HAA5s and TTHMs under Stage 2 Rule
January 7, 2026
In December, the Virginia Department of Health notified Louisa County Water Authority that our water system recently violated a drinking water standard. Please be assured that this is not an emergency. However, as our customers, you have a right to know what happened and what the Louisa County Water Authority is doing to monitor and correct this situation.
We routinely monitor for the presence of drinking water contaminants. Testing results from the 4th Quarter of 2025 show that our system exceeded the standard, or maximum contaminant level (MCL), for HAA5 and TTHM. The standard for HAA5 is 0.060 mg/L and the standard for TTHM is 0.080 mg/L. It is determined by averaging all the samples collected at each sampling location for the past 12 months. The level of HAA5 averaged at one of our system’s locations for the 4th quarter 2025 was 0.062 mg/L and the level of TTHM averaged at one of our system’s locations for the 4th quarter 2025 was 0.110 mg/L.
What should I do?
- There is nothing you need to do. You do not need to boil your water or take other corrective actions. If a situation arises where the water is no longer safe to drink, you will be notified within 24 hours.
- If you have a severely compromised immune system, have an infant, are pregnant, or are elderly, you may be at increased risk and should seek advice from your health care providers about drinking this water.
What does this mean?
This is not an emergency. If it had been, you would have been notified within 24 hours.
HAA5s are five haloacetic acid compounds and TTHMs are four volatile organic chemicals which form when disinfectants react with natural organic matter in the source water from the Northeast Creek Reservoir.
When determining lifetime exposure risk, drinking water regulations assume an adult will consume 2 liters per day and children will consume 1 liter per day over the course of 70 years. This means people who drink water containing haloacetic acids in excess of the PMCL over many years may have an increased risk of getting cancer. People who drink water containing trihalomethanes in excess of the PMCL over many years may experience problems with their liver, kidneys, or central nervous system and may have an increased risk of getting cancer *
What is being done?
The Northeast Creek water treatment plant recently experienced equipment breakdown in the nanofiltration treatment system and a breakdown of an original early 1980s filtration system. The nanofiltration treatment system provides a high level of organic matter removal which reduces the formation of TTHMs and HAA5s in the distribution system.
The Louisa County Water Authority has worked diligently to rebuild the 1980s filtration system and make extensive repairs to the nanofiltration system. These repairs were completed last November 2025, but the average over the last 12 months remains high. The most recent samples indicate current TTHM and HAA5 levels are within state standards.
We will continue to monitor TTHM and HAA5 levels during quarterly routine sampling and will conduct an Operational Evaluation Level (OEL) study and continue to monitor sampling data.
For more information, please contact Pam Baughman at 540-967-1122 or 23 Loudin Lane, Louisa, VA, 23093.
*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 Louisa County Water Authority. State Water System ID#: 2109510 Date distributed: 1/7/2026.
