Santa Teresa is Back Online
A heads up to our Santa Teresa customers: SJW and Valley Water are pleased to announce that maintenance is complete -- meaning Santa Teresa is back online as of April 24, 2024. Everything is back to normal and we have resumed sending out fluoridated surface water.
What Happened?
On November 1, 2023, Valley Water took its Santa Teresa Water Treatment facility offline for scheduled maintenance. SJW used local, non-fluoridated groundwater supplies to service our Santa Teresa customers while the maintenance was being done. SJW and Valley Water are pleased to announce the maintenance work has been completed and Santa Teresa is now back online.
Fluoridation Change
Due to the switch from treated surface water to groundwater during maintenance, you received water that was non-fluoridated. Optimal fluoride levels are within 0.6‐1.2 mg/L. During the source change, you received water with fluoride levels below the optimal range of 0.6 mg/L -- likely closer to 0.1‐0.3 mg/L. Now that Santa Teresa is back online, optimal fluoride levels will return.
Aesthetic Differences
The change in water source caused temporary aesthetic differences to your water. Groundwater is treated with a different disinfectant than surface water. This may have resulted in you experiencing a chlorinous smell or a metallic taste. Groundwater also has a higher mineral content, so you may have noticed deposits on dishes, water kettles, and fixtures over the last few months. In changing water sources back to surface water, the mineral deposits should lessen over the next few days. We are proud that our drinking water sources meet or exceed all State and Federal drinking water guidelines.
View the map below to see if you were impacted by the six-month source water change:
