Crystal Spring Water Treatment Facility

Crystal Spring

Crystal Spring flows at the base of Mill Mountain in the southern part of the city. Annual production from this groundwater source is 4.85-million gallons of water a day.

How is it treated? The water is filtered in the Crystal Spring Ultrafiltration Treatment Facility which filters out all particles larger than 0.01 micron. One micron is one thousandth of a millimeter. Filtered water is treated with chlorine and fluoride and pumped to water customers from the Crystal Spring Pumping Station.

Where does it serve? Crystal Spring serves portions of southwest Roanoke County and the southwestern part of the city. With the capacity to filter five-million gallons of water a day, Crystal Spring Treatment Facility is the largest ultrafiltration plant in western Virginia.

Tests for volatile organics (VOCs), pesticides and synthetic organic compounds (SOCs) have been conducted, and all were non-detect (ND) thus meeting current state and federal standards for drinking water.

Many other primary and secondary contaminants have been analyzed but were either below the instrument’s detection limits or below the MCLs.

Crystal Spring data collected during calendar year 2022 or most recent testing period. Water treated at the Crystal Spring Treatment Facility meets all state and federal monitoring and reporting requirements.

Historic Snow Steam Pump at Crystal Spring

You are invited to tour the historic Crystal Spring Pump Station. Located at the corner of Jefferson and McClanahan Streets, the pump station is open for free guided tours each Saturday (12 noon - 4 pm) and Sunday (1 pm - 4 pm) the first Saturday in June through the end of August. Call 853.5700 for tour information.

From 1906 until 1957, when the steam powered pump was replaced with electric motors, the Snow Steam Pump pumped water from Crystal Spring into Roanoke’s distribution system.

Muse Spring

The Muse Spring Water Treatment Facility (WTF), located at the site of Muse Spring on Riverland Road, treats raw water from Muse Spring and Garden City Well No. 3. This facility has the capacity to treat 2-million gallons per day. Annual production from this groundwater source was 1.43-million gallons of water a day.

How is it treated? The water is filtered in the Muse Spring Ultrafiltration Treatment Facility which filters out all particles larger than 0.01 micron. One micron is one thousandth of a millimeter. Filtered water is treated with chlorine, fluoride and orthophosphate and pumped to water customers from the Muse Spring Pumping Station.

Where does it serve? Muse Spring ties directly into the existing Authority distribution system and will help serve the eastern portion of the Carvins Cove service area southeast of downtown.

Many other primary and secondary contaminants have been analyzed but were either below the instrument’s detection limits or below the MCLs.

Data collected during calendar year 2022 or most recent testing period. Water treated at the Muse Spring Treatment Facility meets all state and federal monitoring and reporting requirements.

City of Salem

The Western Virginia Water Authority contracts with the City of Salem to purchase water to supply Robin Hood Park and other areas around West Main Street and Riverside Drive in Roanoke County. The City of Salem’s water source is the Roanoke River and three ground water wells.

If you have any questions about this data, please contact the City of Salem Water Department at 375-3029. If you want to learn more about this source, please attend any of the regularly scheduled Salem City Council meetings. They are held on the second and fourth Monday of each month in council chambers.

The City of Salem Water Department routinely monitors for contaminants in the drinking water mandated by Federal and State laws. The following table shows the results of monitoring for the period of January 1st to December 31st, 2022 or the most recent monitoring period. The City of Salem Water Department had no violations during this time period.

The Virginia Department of Health has completed a source water assessment for Salem’s waterworks system. This assessment provides information on possible sources of contamination to our source water. As determined by the source water assessment, the possibility of contamination to our water source (Roanoke River) is high. This is due to the fact that surface water is exposed to an inconsistent array of contaminants at varying concentrations due to changing hydrologic, hydraulic and atmospheric conditions with land use activities of concern in the assessment area. To view a copy of this water assessment, please contact the City of Salem Water Department office at 540-375-3029.

Spring Hollow

The water source for this system comes from the Roanoke River and is pumped into the Spring Hollow Reservoir, a 3.2-billion gallon side-stream storage reservoir.

How is it treated? Water is first oxygenated in the reservoir, then the water is withdrawn from the reservoir and treated with sodium hypochlorite and sodium permangante to oxidize dissolved organic matter, iron and manganese. Treatment at the Spring Hollow Treatment Facility includes upflow clarification, filtration, chlorine disinfection and fluoridation. Orthophosphate is added to control corrosion in pipes. The Spring Hollow Water Treatment Facility currently has the capacity to treat 18-million gallons of water a day and can be expanded to 36-million gallons a day. Treated water is stored in a two-million gallon storage tank then pumped through the north and south transmission lines to the distribution system. Annual production averaged 5.35-million gallons a day. During an emergency, standby wells may be used to supplement the source water.

Where does it serve? Spring Hollow supplies water to various neighborhoods in Roanoke County and Franklin County through the southern transmission lines. The northern transmission lines run along I-81 and serve the City of Roanoke and Roanoke County.

Many other primary and secondary contaminants have been analyzed but were either below the instrument’s detection limits or below the MCLs.

Data collected during calendar year 2022 or most recent testing period. Water treated at the Spring Hollow Treatment Facility meets all state and federal monitoring and reporting requirements.

Learn About PFAS

PFAS are a group of over 6,000 man-made compounds used in various industries around the globe since the 1940s to make everyday products we use resist heat, oil, stains, grease, and water. They are extremely stable and do not breakdown in the environment. The only two regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency are Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA).

The Western Virginia Water Authority (Authority) voluntarily tested for these substances as part of the unregulated contaminants monitoring program. Hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid (HFPO-DA), known more commonly by its trade name GenX, was detected at Spring Hollow. All other compounds were below the level of detection. At the time of this testing, there were no national or state advisories or regulations for HFPO-DA. Testing continued as did research into the source of this substance.

On June 15, 2022, the EPA issued a new lifetime health advisory for HFPO-DA of 10 parts per trillion (ppt). For reference, if expressed as a unit of time, one part per trillion would be approximately one second in 32,000 years. The Authority increased the frequency of testing for this compound at Spring Hollow and adapted the use of granular activated carbon, considered the most viable treatment option for drinking water, as a treatment technique. While some results may exceed the health advisory, the granular activated carbon is now replaced every three months to provide optimal treatment to produce drinking water that is below the lifetime health advisory and proposed regulatory level of 10 parts per trillion.

Pumping water from the Roanoke River stopped in August 2022 to avoid introducing any more of the compound into the reservoir. The source of HFPO-DA in the Roanoke River, ProChem, Inc. in Elliston, Virginia has stopped discharging water containing this compound. Once repeat tests determine that the river is nondetect for HFPO-DA, the Authority will resume pumping water from the Roanoke River into the Spring Hollow Reservoir.

More information and current testing data is available at www.westernvawater.org/LearnAboutPFAS.

Town of Vinton

The Western Virginia Water Authority acquired the Town of Vinton utility system July 1, 2022. Anticipating this acquisition, on June 7, 2022 Vinton’s Chestnut Avenue well was turned off, shifting water supply for customers in the downtown district to a blend of water from the Craig Avenue well, Carvins Cove and Muse Spring.

Drinking water for the Town of Vinton, except as noted above, is groundwater obtained from ten drilled wells. Water is distributed throughout the system by booster stations, storage tanks, and distribution piping. Chlorination treatment is provided before the water enters the storage tanks.

We constantly monitor for various contaminants in the water supply to meet all regulatory requirements. The table lists only those contaminants that had some level of detection. Many other contaminants have been analyzed but were not present or were below the detection limits of the lab equipment.

A source water assessment has been completed by VDH. The assessment determined that the wells may be susceptible to contamination because they are located in an area that promotes migration of contaminants from land use activities of concern. More specific information may be obtained by contacting the Western Virginia Water Authority’s Water Quality Division at 540.853.5700.

Gross Alpha, Gross Beta and Combined Radium data was collected on the following dates:

2017: Well 5; Well 10

2018: Well 11

2019: Well 2; Well 3; Well 4; Well 6; Well 8

2022: Well 7; Well 9

*Between July and September 2022, the Western Virginia Water Authority failed to monitor for E. coli from wells in Vinton. We don’t believe there is any health concern because we disinfect the water and distribution samples collected during those months did not show the presence of coliform bacteria or E. coli. Required samples were collected in October, November and December.

Data collected during calendar year 2022 or most recent testing period.

Martin Creek System

Seven wells supply this groundwater source, which is disinfected with chlorine prior to distribution. Water is distributed throughout the community by two storage tanks and distribution piping consisting of 8-inch, 6-inch and 4-inch pipe. The total source/pump capacity is equal to 76,000 gallons per day. Current usage is approximately 22,100 gallons per day. This system supplies water to the Forest Edge and Carriage Hills areas. According to results of the chemical analyses for Metals based on a sample collected in 2021 and 2022, the sodium in the treated water from well 1 had sodium of 40.5 ppm.

This is above the EPA recommended optimal level of less than 20 mg/L for sodium in drinking water, which is established for those individuals on a “strict” sodium intake diet. Data collected during calendar year 2022 or most recent testing period.

Wells

The Authority maintains well systems that serve the community of Martin Creek and over 20 other wells in the Roanoke area. While many of these wells are inactive, they can offer an additional supply of water if needed. Wells* represent those in service in 2022 including LaBellevue 7, North Lakes 6, and Starkey 3. Data presented as (range) average.

The Western Virginia Water Authority is pleased to meet all requirements, and there were no drinking water violations in calendar year 2022. Data collected during calendar year 2022 or most recent testing period.