This week's NEWS

Simultaneous compliance guide is ready for public comment. In Olympia, "it's the water, and a lot more," but in Canada, God is not on the side of bottled water. Treatment plant residuals – radioactive, or not – are the subject of EPA guidance. Spinach E. coli scare spins off into California recycled water world. And, the Number One reason for health advisories is...!

Quick Links Navigation:

Federal Updates

• Lots of new and good info from USEPA:

  • Stage 2 Rules: Public meeting scheduled to get input on draft Simultaneous Compliance Guidance Manual (Federal Register, September 22); the 444-page draft manual (PDF file, 2.78 MB)
    Commentary: And we all know that the meeting is on October 25 in 2006, don't we!  This is a very important document as it addresses not just the LT2ESWTR and Stage 2 DBPR, but also the Lead and Copper Rule and TCR.
  • "A System's Guide to Identification and Disposal of Hazardous and Nonhazardous Water Treatment Plant Residuals" (PDF file, 2.6 MB)
  • "A System's Guide to the Management of Radioactive Residuals from Drinking Water Treatment Technologies" (PDF file, 4.08 MB)
  • EPA's Inspector General reports on "Promising Techniques Identified to Improve Drinking Water Laboratory Integrity and Reduce Public Health Risks" (PDF file, 768 K)
    Commentary: It is not entirely clear how serious the problems related to laboratory fraud and malfeasance are, but it is clear that the OIG and Office of Water are not in agreement about this report.
  • Updated advice on the emergency disinfection of drinking water

State Updates

• Washington lists Top Ten Reasons for Health Advisories (PDF file, 546 K)
  Commentary: "Eat your heart out, Letterman!" Not making the Top 10 list was: "State health inspector had a bad hair day!" The list is interesting and instructive. It is not clear whether each of the 76 incidents where a health advisory was issued necessarily included a Boil Water Advisory. 
• Arizona proposes to adopt NSF standards for direct and indirect drinking water additives
• Arkansas proposes to adopt federal rules: LT2ESWTR, Stage 2 DBPR, and groundwater rule (IF EPA has promulgated its GWR when state rule is adopted)
• Maine schedules public meetings to discuss recommended legislation on source water protection
• Ohio proposes revised waterline replacement rule (PDF file, 59.2 K) and has adopted loan requirements for disadvantaged communities (PDF file, 52.1 K) and other minor changes to drinking water regs (PDF file, 55.2 K)

Disinfection Byproducts

• Vermont city says slightly elevated haloacetic acid levels no reason not to drink the water (Rutland Herald, September 25)
• Health columnist: Adverse effects of drinking water chlorine on health are minimal and debated (New York Times, September 26; free registration required)

Perchlorate

• California water district trial tests new ion-exchange resin system to remove perchlorate that may be of fertilizer origin (San Bernardino County Sun, September 21) 
• Southern California city/county initiate more lawsuits than cleanup agreements (San Bernardino County Sun, September 26); it's a shouting contest (Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, September 24)

Arsenic

• Oregon town's plan to address elevated arsenic levels in ten wells faces financing problem as biggest industrial customer shuts down (Eugene Register-Guard, September 23)
• Solution to arsenic levels in two small Michigan systems may be hookup to city (Flint Journal, September 21)
• Prescott, AZ, considers city "rule" to regulate arsenic in private (exempt) wells (Prescott Daily Courier, September 21); editorial urges city to proceed... if only to shine light on the lousy existing public policy (Prescott Daily Courier, September 24)
  Commentary: The newspaper uses a strange brand of logic to conclude: "Bullies and federal agencies do what they do because they can ­ not necessarily because it makes any sense. The stricter arsenic standards the city may have to spend tens of millions of dollars to meet have no soundly demonstrated science to support them. And if it's so deleterious to the health of people in municipalities to drink the water, is it not equally so for people drinking out of exempt wells?"  So...if it doesn't make any sense, let's apply it more widely?
  

Ethylene Dibromide

• USAF plans to expand extraction and treatment of ethylene dibromide plume that escaped the control area (Cape Cod Times, September 21)

Chromium

• Los Alamos lab fined $0.8 million by New Mexico for failing to report positive hex chrome findings; second violation (PDF file, 51.6 K)

Microbiological

• Small Michigan township doesn't know how its well started serving 14 families, but will address E. coliform problem with chlorination system (Monroe News, September 21)
• September's Journal of Water and Health focuses on pathogen issues

Bottled Water

• The religious war on bottled water (Globe and Mail, September 23)
  Commentary: Canadian church groups "...citing ethical, theological and social justice reasons... Bottled water, they argue, is morally tainted and should be avoided." Wonder if they apply the same standard to LaBatt Blue, Moosehead, and other good Canadian beer, the consumption of which by Canadians equals that of bottled water: "...about 60 litres a year, according to trade industry figures, roughly mirroring the average beer consumption."

NEWS CONTINUES BELOW

McGuire Malcolm Pirnie Water Treatment Plant Optimization Services Water treatment plant optimization is a continuous process as utilities strive to not only meet current and future regulations, but also to provide water of superior quality. With improved understanding of water chemistry and advances in technology, optimization can lead to the delivery of a higher-quality product at a lower cost. McGuire Malcolm Pirnie Environmental Consultants is prepared to help utilities deal with water treatment plant optimization challenges. For more information on these services, please contact Laurie Sullivan at lsullivan@pirnie.com.

Lead

• New Jersey system has three samples at 17 or 18 ppb; exceeds lead Action Level and notifies public (Parsippany Daily Record, September 26)

PFOA

• Ohio water district drops lawsuit against DuPont to spend combined energy on getting "state-of-the-art" treatment plant built faster (Akron Beacon Journal, September 19)
• DuPont to hold meeting to answer questions about proposed Mississippi plant to treat "teflon" byproduct (Pascagoula Mississippi Press, September 25)

Source Water Protection 

• Michigan city gets funding to help educate residents on wellhead protection program (Midland Daily News, September 24) and Kalamazoo's program is held up as example

PCE/TCE

• Two of three South Carolina town's wells shut down after PCE or TCE found; neighboring town supplies water (Orangeburg Times and Democrat, September 26)

Fluoridation

• Washington city seeks "declaratory judgment" from court on whether two anti-fluoride petitions are valid for ballot; both sides agree to abide by ruling (Port Angeles Peninsula Daily News, September 24)
• Texas city council gets worldwide attention after voting to end drinking water fluoridation (San Antonio Express News, September 20)

Radiological

• USEPA has updated its radionuclides website
• Uranium-related radiation levels result in health warning to Canadian First Nation community in Yukon (Reuters Canada, September 22)

Private Wells

• Iowa is cracking down on substandard well sources in rural communities (Mason City Globe Gazette, September 24)
• Results of sampling Kentucky wells do not suggest contamination from coal mining activities (Appalachian News-Express , September 26)

Water Reuse

• Local California reuse officials reject proposed legislation to ban use of recycled water for crop irrigation; legislation is knee-jerk reaction to spinach E. coli scare (Monterey County Herald, September 21)
• Pharmaceuticals cloud issue of direct reuse of recycled water in San Diego; is it the "tip of the iceberg"? (San Diego Union Tribune, September 26)
• Water minister in Victoria, AU, says the drinking water is safe even if highly treated effluent entered source water (Sydney Australian, September 25)

International

• New Zealand city's new pipeline will help minimize backflow contamination (The Gisborne Herald, September 26)
• WHO warns that drinking water Millennium Development Goals may not be met

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