Town of Stanley Issued Water Quality Violation Due to 'Documentation Error'
STANLEY, Va. — On March 13, 2025, a notice was posted on the town Facebook page, regarding a “violation of drinking water regulations.”
The notice, titled, “Assessment and Reporting Requirements Not Met” stated:
The Town of Stanley has been issued a violation of the drinking water regulations through an error in documentation only.
Even though this is not an emergency or an issue with our drinking water, as our consumer, you have the right to know what happened and what we did to correct the situation.
We are required to monitor your drinking water for specific contaminants on a regular basis, as we do. Results of regular monitoring are an indicator of whether our drinking water meets health standards.
A Level I assessment is required whenever a waterworks has two or more total coliform positive samples during a monitoring period.
Five samples that were collected on May 21, 2024 indicated the presence of coliform bacteria. An assessment of the waterworks was then required to be performed by the town.
The assessment was due by July 20, 2024, to be submitted to the Virginia Department of Health (VDH). However. we did not provide the assessment to VDH on time. We did provide a complete assessment (evaluation) on January 13, 2025, and it was approved by the VDH.
There is nothing you need to do currently. For more information about this matter, please contact Mr. Terry A. Pettit. Town Manager. Town of Stanley. P.O. Box 220, Stanley, Virginia or by phone at 544-778-3454 ex. 24.
The social media notice did not indicate the reason for coliform in the five town water samples, what steps were taken to eliminate the bacteria, or why so much time elapsed between the July, 2024 VDH deadline and the January, 2025 submission.
Stanley is a rural town in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. In addition to the towns of Luray and Shenandoah, Stanley is located in Page County, known for its proximity to Shenandoah National Park and Luray Caverns. As of the 2023 census, the population of Stanley was 1,723.