This week's NEWS

Important security training is scheduled for water agencies. Certain baseball players better stay clear of New Hampshire urine-sample collectors! The other shoe drops... directly on PCE/TCE companies. MTBE concerns in Maryland: Between a rock and a hard place! Wisconsin cities deal with manganese issues. Low-level perchlorate detections are source of concern from west to east and back again.

Quick Links Navigation:

State Updates

• Maine's Summer Service Connection newsletter (PDF file, 830 K)
• California updates its program for setting public health goals
• Idaho proposes to add fecal coliform and E. coli  to its Ground Water Quality Rule
• Kentucky will promulgate ten draft drinking water rules soon
• Massachusetts proposes drinking water rule changes to comply with EPA primacy requirements and raw water sampling rules; the proposed changes (PDF file, 319 K)

Microbiological

• New research study finds human viruses in deep Wisconsin aquifer (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, June 17)
  Commentary: This study funded by USEPA is of special interest as the agency proposes to release the final Groundwater Rule this year. The other study in Wisconsin that will look at ground water quality and waterborne illness was reported in safedrinkingwater.com NEWS earlier this month.
• Four samples positive for E. coli  = BWA for private water company in Sacramento, CA, area (Sacramento Bee, June 16)
• Second BWA in three weeks for small Illinois town (Peoria Journal Star, June 20)
  Commentary: The second incident with positive E. coli samples and no certainty about the source of the problem prompted state officials to keep the latest BWA in effect.  Coincidentally (?), Farmington recently installed new RO treatment on its 1600-foot-deep wells for removal of radium. The citizenry is happier about the city's revised notification procedures, one of the lessons learned from and outlined in the city's report on the earlier BWA incident

Radiological

• Connecticut condos' radiological problems: A strong case for consolidation of small systems (Danbury News Times, June 18)
• Wisconsin cities say they won't meet deadline for radium compliance (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, June 19)

Water Violations

• New Jersey water managers indicted by grand jury; utility had uncovered "tampering and altering of test results" and reported to state (Newark Star Ledger, June 16)

Arsenic

• New Hampshire wants volunteer private well owners to give urine samples for arsenic assessment (Nashua Telegraph, June 14)
• Columbia University study: Low-dose exposure to arsenic in drinking water increases risk for skin lesions (Columbia U. News Release, June 13)
  Commentary: The unique circumstances in Bangladesh concerning water use from single sources, arsenic levels, and number of subjects provide strength to the study.
• Pennsylvania utility explains shutdown of two wells that exceeded arsenic MCL; treatment planned (Pottstown Mercury, June 16)
• Canadian schools switch to bottled water and await further arsenic tests (CBC News New Brunswick, June 16)

Legalities: PCE and TCE

• California jury levies punitive damages against chemical companies; Modesto awarded $175 million in contamination suit (Modesto Bee, June 15)

Security

• USEPA provides free one-day Incident Command System (ICS) training for water system personnel (First of 7 sessions is on June 29 in Delaware)

Perchlorate

• Southern California water officials concerned about low-level detections of perchlorate in monitoring wells; what does it portend? (Pasadena Star-News, June 15)
• Massachusetts town's residents on private wells are frustrated with town's slow reaction to perchlorate detections; blasting suspected (Acton Beacon, June 16)
• California's Santa Clara County: Olin will stop giving bottled water to residents with well water with less than 6 ppb of perchlorate (Gilroy Dispatch, June 15)

Fluoridation

• Florida editorial: Call to end fluoridation is premature and wrong! (Palm Beach Post, June 20) (Note: The editorial is in response to a county administrator's recommendation to end fluoridation; see last week's safedrinkingwater.com NEWS)

NEWS CONTINUES BELOW

Flavor Profile Analysis: An Analytical Method that Every Water Utility and Lab Should Have Available Consumer acceptance of drinking water is crucial to the success of anyone serving drinking water customers. Dr. Michael J. McGuire, founder of McGuire Malcolm Pirnie Environmental Consultants, led the way in adapting the Flavor Profile Analysis (FPA) method to the analysis of drinking water in 1981, and since that time it has become the "gold standard" for assessing the taste and odor characteristics of drinking water. For more information on these services, please contact Jim Leserman jleserman@pirnie.com, or visit mcguireinc.com/fpa.

MTBE

• Maryland private well owners between landfill and gas station are worried (North County News, June 14)
• State places blame for MTBE in Maryland city's wells on 7-11 gas station (Baltimore Sun, June 16)
• Maryland county is first in state to plan for MTBE leak response (Baltimore Examiner, June 20)

Manganese

• La Crosse, WI, stirs up some manganese and complaints; switches wells (La Crosse Tribune, June 19)
• Madison, WI's program to flush manganese deposits from distribution system has some side benefits (Wisconsin State Journal, June 16), and an editorial notes that drinking water quality issues are important in city politics (Capitol Times, June 20)

Chromium

• Chemical firms agree to remove hexavalent chromium from South African town's groundwater (apparently not the drinking water source) (Pretoria News, June 15)

Small Systems

• Australian Cooperative Research Center's Small Water System Newsletter (PDF file, 770 K)

Water Quality Reports

• Advice for getting the most out of CCRs (Safe Drinking Water Trust eBulletin, June 14)

C8 (PFOA)

• Lawsuit targets PFOA from a New Jersey DuPont facility (Wilmington News Journal, June 15) 
• DuPont refutes claims about PFOA in waste discharges from Virginia plant (Richmond Times Dispatch, June 16)
  Commentary: As the New Jersey story indicates, the Ohio-West Virginia legal actions have been followed by lawsuits or claims in Mississippi and Iowa. Where next?

Water Reuse

• 21st Annual Water Reuse Symposium scheduled for September 10-13 in Hollywood, CA

Private Wells

• New Jersey township extends water system lines to help private well owners with contamination problems (Gloucester County Times, June 16)
• Illinois private well owners get more than vinyl chloride-free water with hook-up to public system (Chicago Daily Herald, June 19)

International

• 60 tons of coal tar spilled into river upstream of large Chinese city's drinking water reservoir (Globe and Mail, June 15)

Relevant Links

To post a job on Job Reservoir, please visit the following address:
http://www.jobreservoir.com/postajob.html

For feedback or a news story suggestion, please visit the following address:
http://www.safedrinkingwater.com/contact/feedback.htm

To recommend safedrinkingwater.com NEWS to a colleague, please visit the following address:
http://www.safedrinkingwater.com/contact/sharenewsletter.htm

For e-mail delivery problems, please send an e-mail to info@safedrinkingwater.com.

To view the staff for safedrinkingwater.com NEWS, please visit the following address:
http://www.safedrinkingwater.com/about/staff.htm

To subscribe to safedrinkingwater.com NEWS, please visit the following address:
http://www.safedrinkingwater.com/subscribe/subscribe.htm