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Vol. 1, No. 4 --  November 29, 2000

This week's NEWS
     AWWA adds heat to its criticism of EPA over the arsenic rule,  human volunteers ingest perchlorate in the name of science and/or legal strategy, NDMA removal/treatment is considered, and WHO makes a $10 billion safe drinking water cost sound insignificant by comparing it to Europe's annual bar tab.  Of course, coverage of hexavalent chromium continues...both on the front page and the opinion page.

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• Paid volunteers ingest perchlorate pills (LA Times, November 27)
• Lockheed Martin Corp. hopes that "human volunteer" study helps their legal battle (Riverside Press-Enterprise, November 28)
• Use of human volunteers raises ethical questions (Riverside Press-Enterprise, November 28)
• Editorial questions ethics of "eating pollution for science" (LA Times, November 28)
  Commentary: Health officials, drinking water suppliers and others all agree that "good science" is needed to establish the basis for new drinking water regulations.  But, when ethical issues related to using human volunteers combine with "enhancement of a legal position" possibly motivating the study's funding, the resulting science will be considered with a jaundiced eye. Will a "short-term" exposure study answer questions on the chronic effects of perchlorate?
• Possible innovative perchlorate treatment tested in Redlands (Riverside Press-Enterprise, November 26)
• Lockheed costs for perchlorate and TCE removal continue to rise (Riverside Press-Enterprise, November 28)
• Information on perchlorate available from CDHS and from USEPA 

• Pomona to begin NDMA cleanup (Inland Valley Times, November 22)
• CDHS has background information on NDMA on their website

• AWWA submits hard-hitting comments on EPA's Notice of Data Availability for the proposed arsenic regulation
  Commentary: Using terms like "sloppy at best", "confusing, inconsistent, and not supported by the evidence", "arbitrary, capricious, abuse of discretion", AWWA pulled no punches in its criticism of EPA's effort to correct previous holes and errors in their arsenic rule proposal. AWWA focused on incomplete costs and inappropriate benefit assessments in the NODA.

• Chromium action level requested by legislators (LA Times, November 28)
• Calleguas General Manager speaks out on chromium (Ventura County Star, November 19)
• Chromium response from Brockovich attorney (Ventura County Star, November 27)
• News reports spur sales of home treatment to remove chromium from tap water (LA Times, November 26)
• Glendale hires law firm to help with chromium issue (LA Times, November 23)

• The U.S. Geological Survey has a new water quality website The site has a large variety of information including water quality studies within California
• PBS will be televising the World of National Geographic "Power of Water" on December 28

• Another Colorado city begins.  83% of State now flouridating (RockyMountainNews.com, November 27)

• The National Toxicological Program Board of Scientific Counselors will consider upgrading TCE from "reasonably expected to be human carcinogen" to "known human carcinogen"
  Commentary:  It is not likely that this proposed change will directly impact the regulation of TCE in drinking water.
• Follow-up on meeting of NTP expert panel on low-dose effects and dose-response of Endocrine Disruptors

• World Health Organization goals to reduce water-borne disease (Environmental News Network, November 23)
• United Nations reports on the price of safe water (NY Times, November 23)
  Commentary: Comparative costs are used creatively by many to justify their own projects, but the idea that the annual cost to bring reasonably safe water to "billions" of people in the world (who currently do not have this minimum essential life-thread) is less than one-half of what the U.S. spends each year on PET FOOD or less than one-tenth of what Europe spends on ALCOHOL should be cause for reflection.
• The impact on groundwater from "information technology" industry (The Hindu, November 23)

• United Kingdom approves Crypto method for continuous monitoring requirement (Business Wire, November 21)

• MTBE found in hundreds of wells in Pennsylvania and New Jersey (Philadelphia Daily News, November 28)

• Action planned for Tritium concerns in Georgia groundwater (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, November 26)

• Orange County recycling project gets public viewing (Orange County Weekly, November 24-30)
• CDHS has updated their recycled water website with guidelines for preparing an engineering report on the production, distribution and use of recycled water

Drinking Water Reservoirs

• CDHS has posted draft guidelines to evaluate applications for recreational use permits for water supply reservoirs

• Different approaches to protecting sources of drinking water examined (Birmingham News, November 21)
• Volunteer effort to monitor Kentucky watershed provides a wealth of information (Evansville Courier & Press, November 27)
• Georgia considers other states' water management plans as its legislature looks at watershed concerns (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, November 27)

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