This week's NEWS

Fluoride Foes Follow Fallacious Flight of Fancy... Fine Fellows Feeding Fluoride Found Fit! Ontario, Canada's new law to address "menace pour l'eau potable" (drinking water threats) must be balanced: It is criticized by both sides. What's new about the water in Bristol, CT, other than the lead Action Level being exceeded? While the Potomac has been described by some wags as "the river that divides the U.S.," controversy about endocrine-disruptor testing brings both sides together. And those threespined sticklebacks are at it again... giving perchlorate a bad name!

Quick Links Navigation:

Federal Updates

• USEPA's 2006-2011 Strategic Plan (Drinking Water is covered in Goal No. 2)
• Environmental Laboratory Advisory Board sets up meeting schedule and agenda through February, 2007 (Federal Register, October 23)

State Updates

• Alaska's newly-adopted regulations aim for conformity with USEPA rules
• The current issue of Connecticut H₂Operator (PDF file, 235 K)
  Commentary: Another antifreeze issue is highlighted... maybe denatonium benzoate will solve this problem also?
• Ohio's EPA makes revisions to the revisions of its operator certification rule
  Commentary: Ohio's experience in revising its decades-old rules is both instructive to any other state looking at the same issues and familiar to those that already have done so.  This is illustrated by the stakeholder comments and state responses.

Water Security

• A summary report on Washington State's recent water security symposiums (PDF file, 1.11 MB)
• USEPA's Science Advisory Board Homeland Security Advisory Committee will hold a public teleconference November 13 to discuss water security issues (Federal Register, October 24)

Endocrine Disruptors

• USGS monitors endocrine disrupting compounds in Lake Mead (USGS Press Release, October 20); the four-page summary "fact sheet" has stirred up controversy about "stifled" research results and the real significance of these findings (Las Vegas Sun, October 20)
• USEPA criticized for being slow to meet 1996 SDWA mandate on testing potential endocrine-disrupting chemicals (Austin American-Statesman, October 21); EPA's website on endocrine disruptors is under revision

Perchlorate

• University of Alaska scientists find perchlorate increases masculinity in fish of both genders (Anchorage Daily News, October 16); Perchlorate induces hermaphroditism in threespine sticklebacks  (Abstract, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Vol. 25, Issue 8)
• Zero-discharge proposal by industry doesn't satisfy once-burned downstream Massachusetts city (Tewksbury Advocate, October 19)

Microbiological

• Small Massachusetts system: No more coliform after chlorination was initiated as temporary measure (Republican, October 21)

Water Treatment

• New membrane filtration plant will serve several North Dakota towns (Minot Daily News, October 22)

Disinfection Byproducts

• Connecticut town council authorizes water tank cleaning after tests find tanks "slightly exceed" DBP levels (Town Times, October 19)
• Florida university students notified of DBP violation (WFTV, October 20)
  Commentary: Probably the only students on the UCF campus really worried about the lifetime-exposure health effects related to exceeding the HAA MCL are those "perpetual students" in their eighth year with 4 majors, whose parents wonder if they will ever graduate.

Arsenic

• NIEHS-funded study again shows adverse effects of elevated arsenic on children's intelligence (Environmental Health Perspectives, October 18)
• USEPA's Science Advisory Board will hold a public teleconference November 27 to review its draft Advisory on EPA's Assessment of Carcinogenic Effects of Organic and Inorganic Arsenic (Federal Register, October 24)

Lead

• Lead findings surprise Connecticut city (Bristol Press, October 21)
  Commentary: After routinely testing for lead since 1991 without triggering the action level, Bristol (the home of ESPN) had to be a bit surprised by these results and wondering: What, if anything, changed? The city's response included the Mayor's news release (PDF file, 53.3 K), a very helpful letter from their health officer and a new public education brochure (PDF file, 156 K) which lists the mandates the city is operating under: "1) Corrosion control treatment... by March 31, 2008. 2) Source water treatment... by March 31, 2008. 3) A public education program by November 28, 2006. We may also be required to replace the portion of each lead service line that we own if the line contributes lead concentrations of more than 15 ppb after we have completed the comprehensive treatment program."
• Maine community gets arsenic treatment but it increases lead levels (Kennebec Journal, October 24)
• Durham, NC, in compliance with lead requirements (Durham Herald Sun, October 24)

Source Water Protection

• Ontario, Canada's new Clean Water Act to protect drinking water sources has its legacy in Walkerton outbreak (Toronto Star, October 18) but it sparks a lot of controversy (Globe and Mail, October 19); the details of the new law and proposed regulations
• UK's Environment Agency releases report on groundwater concerns; the report: "Underground, Under Threat" and policy guidance
• Vermont DEC joins with USEPA and VRWA for source water workshop on November 30 (PDF file, 243 K )
• Coalition wants to stem development on huge New York-New Jersey watersheds (The Journal News, October 23)
• Community and government officials create a plan to keep North Carolina's triangle area water reservoirs clean (News and Observer, October 24)

NEWS CONTINUES BELOW

Regulatory Compliance Strategies for New LT2 and DBP Rules The EPA's new Long-Term 2 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule (LT2ESWTR) and Stage 2 Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts Rule (DBPR) have been released, so it's time to get prepared with strategies that really work — and Malcolm Pirnie can help! EPA estimates that almost 3,000 public water systems will have to update their water treatment processes to comply with the new regulations. Multiple barrier strategies provide added protection — just like an insurance policy. Examples of the barriers that will help with compliance are membranes, UV disinfection, granular activated carbon (GAC) filtration, and disinfection with chloramines. Each must be carefully considered and tailored to meet the needs of your utility. To learn more about the new regulations and find out which treatment strategies are right for you, please contact Zaid Chowdhury, zchowdhury@pirnie.com, or visit www.mcguireinc.com/LT2/index.html.

Fluoride

• U.S. bottled water regulator allows firms to claim benefits of fluoride (FDA, October 14)
  Commentary: The Food and Drug Administration, which sets national bottled water standards in the U.S., is allowing water bottlers to make this claim (if the total fluoride level, naturally occurring or added) is between 0.6 and 1.0 mg/l: "Drinking fluoridated water may reduce the risk of [dental caries or tooth decay]."
• Small Virginia cities take steps to lower high naturally occurring fluoride levels (above EPA primary MCL of 4 ppm) (Hampton Roads Daily Press, October 20)

Fluoridation

• Foes of California city's fluoridation erroneously claim the treatment operators are not trained (Arcata Eye, October 17); backers of anti-fluoridation ballot measure state their case to local editors (Times-Standard, October 23)

PFOA

• Mississippi state environmental official assures downstream city about DuPont processing plant's discharge (Clarion Ledger, October 19)
• It's hard to separate fact from legalistic hyperbole when it comes to lawsuit-related claims/counterclaims about health studies on DuPont employees in West Virginia: Company and union disagree (WTAP, October 20), as do DuPont and court-appointed science panel (West Virginia Record, October 19)

Aesthetics

• Semi-annual "turnover" in Alabama lake blamed for murky water with odd odor (Times Journal, October 19)

Manganese

• Drilling a new well may be cheaper than filter for Madison, WI, well with manganese (Channel 3000, October 19)

Unusual Contaminants

• St. Louis, MI, continues search for new water source not impacted by DDT production byproduct (Mt. Pleasant Morning Sun, October 19)
• Source of "one-time hit" of pentachlorophenol in South Dakota city's water is still a mystery (Yankton Press and Dakotan, October 21)
• Styrene acrylonitrile trimer: Rat studies to determine cancer effects of New Jersey groundwater contaminant continue; results expected in 2010 (Asbury Park Press, October 19); background on the contaminant

Radiological

• Exelon contradicts Illinois senator's statements on their tritium releases (Morris Daily Herald, October 20); local water district's manager resigns from unpaid job after Exelon questions his statements (Joliet Herald News, October 20)

Private Wells

• State "right-to-know" laws result in notices to private well owners about PCE contamination in Illinois (Rockford Register Star, October 19) and in California (Chico Enterprise Record, October 20)
• New York county lawmakers consider notification alternative to mandated private well monitoring (Mid Hudson News, October 19)

Water Reuse

• National survey shows Australians are increasingly more accepting of direct reuses of recycled water (Sydney Australian, October 21)

International

• One of Pakistan's ambitious drinking water goals not likely to be achieved (Pakistan Dawn, October 19)
• South African commitment to safe water includes pilot electronic monitoring of water quality (All Africa News, October 20)

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