safedrinkingwater.com NEWS -- October 20, 2004 -- Vol. 5, No. 42

October 20, 2004 -- Vol. 5, No. 42

This week's NEWS

California judge rules in favor of fluoridation. BOTH Portlands... Oregon and Maine... have viewpoints on lead. Fallout continues from news story alleging water utility mishandling of lead sampling data. The water's lousy but the real problem is.......there's not enough of it. Creative in situ treatment of hexavalent chromium will be tried. It's a good thing that blue-green algae in the Great Lakes floats on surface. Bottled water gets tainted by... moldy story. Walkerton outbreak may see closure on legal front but long term benefit in operator training. Exposé: John Kerry drinks tap water.... sometimes.

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Quick Links Navigation:
• Federal Update • State Updates • Chromium • Radium • Lead • Lead - Correction! • Legal Issues	• Operator Training - Canada • Microbiological • Source Water Protection • Water Aesthetics • Fluoridation • Perchlorate • Arsenic	• Bottled Water • Private Wells • Desalination • Water Reuse • Meetings/Proceedings • TCE

Federal Update

NDWAC's Water Security working group will meet October 27-29 in Virginia (Federal Register, October 15)
USEPA's Board of Scientific Counselors' Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals Subcommittee will meet four times November through January (Federal Register, October 18)

State Updates

Chromium

Oil and water (and milk?) may mix after all... goal is to address PG&E's hexavalent chromium in the California desert (LA Daily News, October 15)

Radium

Radium levels in Wisconsin town's wells are marginal; action proposed (Lake Country Reporter, October 13)
Iowa city council considers buying water to avoid radium problems with their wells (Ackley World Journal, October 14)
Illinois community seeks funding to address radium problem (Galesburg Register Mail, October 16)
Commentary: A common thread runs through these stories of small Midwest US towns facing problems of complying with the new, lower federal radium MCL. The towns have major infrastructure problems aside from the radium issue but it is the water quality compliance aspect that may drive them to solve their overall problems. Funding to pay for the major water projects is expected to flow from government agencies.

Lead

Claim that utilities withheld lead data precipitates follow-up scrutiny by regulators and legal authorities (Washington Post, October 13 - free registration required)
US attorney reviews NYC lead reporting data (New York Times, October 15 - free registration required) City officials assure the water is safe.... no intent to mislead with reporting (New York Times, October 16 - free registration required)
NRWA rep says uniform implementation of national SDW laws is not effective (Washington Post, October 16 - free registration required)
Washington school district looks at epoxy lining of school piping in place... not all agree it is a panacea (Seattle Times, October 18)
Historic Colorado court house gets the lead out.....but precautions still in place (Aspen Times, October 19 - free registration required)

Lead - Correction!

In last week's NEWS, we incorrectly attributed Portland, Oregon's updated lead web page to Portland, Maine. We heard from an alert reader in Portland, OR who said the confusion is not unusual and that, except for a coin toss, we might have mixed them up with Boston! (Info from Portland, OR's city history website: In 1843, partners Overton and Lovejoy claimed the land on the west bank of the Willamette River. In 1845, Overton sold his share to Pettygrove who, with Lovejoy, decided to build a city and surveyed the land. Previously called "The Clearing", Portland got its name from a coin toss with Pettygrove's hometown of Portland, Maine winning out over Lovejoy's hometown of Boston.)
And the Portland Water District, which serves Portland, Maine and surrounding communities, responded to the Washington Post's criticisms of their lead program.

Legal Issues

Plea bargain expected to end Walkerton, Ontario, Canada "public endangerment" trial (Toronto Star, October 18)

Operator Training - Canada

Walkerton problem leads to new Ontario training facility for water system operators (National Post, October 13)

Microbiological

Rhode Island town initiates temporary chlorination after coliform detection (Woonsocket Call, October 16)
"Detection of noroviruses in water: current status and future directions" (Journal of Water Supply: Research and Technology, AQUA 53, 2004, abstract)

Source Water Protection

New Hampshire's Fall 2004 The Source newsletter on source water protection (PDF file, 4 pages)
USDA provides over $200 million to protect Columbus, Ohio's drinking watershed
Mercury in fish in Northern California agency's reservoirs but drinking water is safe (Marin Independent Journal, October 16)
Zebra mussels--blue green algae--toxic mycrocystins = threat to drinking water? (Muskegon Chronicle, October 17)

NEWS CONTINUES BELOW

MEC works with CA-NV AWWA to redesign website

For the past six months, the CA-NV Section of AWWA has been working with McGuire Environmental Consultants, Inc. to completely redesign the Section�s website. The new and improved site was launched on September 15, with a clean layout, easy-to-use navigation, and new information for the drinking water professional. Please visit www.ca-nv-awwa.org to check it out and learn about the Section and its services!

For additional information about MEC�s website design services for the drinking water community, please visit www.waterweb.net, or call Michael McGuire at (310) 829-1441.

Water Aesthetics

Montana towns look at very deep aquifer for good tasting water (Billings Gazette, October 17)
Commentary: The good news - bad news story is: "Melstone's water smells funny, tastes bad and is in precariously short supply"

Fluoridation

Judge throws out lawsuit against Escondido, CA fluoridation (North County Times, October 19)
Commentary: The judge's ruling upholds the state law mandating fluoridation under proscribed conditions and the City of Escondido's implementation of drinking water fluoridation using fluorosilicic acid meeting NSF requirements. But, it primarily does it by addressing the issue of constitutional rights, an interesting approach. (To read the ruling, go to the court's website and enter the case number GIN015280.)
Fluoridation debated in New Jersey state forum (Philadelphia Inquirer, October 17) New Jersey public health group will decide on fluoridation action in the next few months (Trentonian, October 19)
Anti-F group in Michigan community schedules public forum to discuss fluoridation (Central Michigan Life, October 18)

Perchlorate

Very low perchlorate level found in small Massachusetts town's wells (Berkshire Eagle, October 15)

Arsenic

New Hampshire town invites residents to see new arsenic treatment plant (Foster's Daily, October 14) and the iron-oxide adsorptive media plant is one of EPA's arsenic removal demonstration facilities. A list of these sites is given on EPA's demonstration project website
Ninety New Mexico water systems will be impacted by new federal arsenic regulation (Carlsbad Current Argus, October 19)
University of Arizona gets funding for 3-year arsenic health effects study in consort with Sonora, Mexico researchers (News Medical, October 19)

Bottled Water

Mold is found in bottled water (WPVI, October 14)
An excerpt from a lengthy interview with Senator John Kerry in the NY Times, October 10 ......... Kerry and I met, ...., in a hotel room overlooking the Ferris wheel on the Santa Monica pier. A row of Evian water bottles had been thoughtfully placed on a nearby table.
Kerry frowned. "Can we get any of my water?" he asked..........
I asked Kerry, out of sheer curiosity, what he didn't like about Evian.
"I hate that stuff," Kerry explained to me. "They pack it full of minerals."
"What kind of water do you drink?" I asked, trying to make conversation.
"Plain old American water," he said.
"You mean tap water?"
"No," Kerry replied deliberately. He seemed now to sense some kind of trap.
I was left to imagine what was going through his head. If I admit that I drink bottled water, then he might say I'm out of touch with ordinary voters. But doesn't demanding my own brand of water seem even more aristocratic? Then again, Evian is French -- important to stay away from anything even remotely French.
"There are all kinds of waters," he said finally. Pause. "Saratoga Spring."
This seemed to have exhausted his list.
"Sometimes I drink tap water," he added. (emphasis added)
(Editor's note: In the interest of political fairness, if information is available on what water the President drinks, we will print that also.)

Private Wells

Sodium in Massachusetts private wells triggers call for more testing; road salt suspected (The Republican, October 16)
Private well owners in New Mexico urged to test wells regularly (Albuquerque Journal, October 18)
USEPA has up-to-date information on private wells

Desalination

New South Wales, AU provides funding to look at desalination as a water supply option (Sydney Morning Herald, October 17 - free registration required)

Water Reuse

The latest Water Reuse News

Meetings/Proceedings

Proceedings of the 2004 USDA-CSREES January 2004 National Water Quality Conference are available

TCE

TCE shows up in Pennsylvania area private wells (Citizen Voice, October 19) Public meeting set to discuss the problem (Wilkes Barre Times-Leader, October 19)

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