This week's NEWS

New RO membrane touted for low-energy and resistance to fouling. Apartment houses are not public water systems... thankfully! NASA wants SWEGs, not SWAGs, for its space stations. Radium compliance in the Midwest nudges forward. States issue their 2005 compliance reports. Just ask any question frequently... about water!

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Federal Updates

• EPA wants water utilities to submit lots of water quality data to help with six-year regulatory review (Federal Register, November 2); info on the previous EPA six-year review
• Federal court upholds USEPA policy exempting sub-metered apartment complexes from SDWA regulation (AWWA WaterWeek, November 6)
  Commentary: While the policy is primarily related to water conservation, it is likely that state drinking water primacy agencies (everywhere except Wyoming) breathed a collective sigh of relief at this news.  If the many thousands of apartment houses were suddenly required to have certified operators, conduct regular water quality monitoring, issue CCRs, and meet the myriad of SDWA rules, state regulatory resources would have quickly been overrun.   
• At the AWWA WQTC conference: EPA and AwwaRF highlight opening (US Newswire, November 7)

State Updates

• Minnesota's winter Waterline newsletter (PDF file, 528 K)
• 2005 Drinking Water Compliance Reports
  • Illinois (PDF file, 576 K)
  • Iowa (PDF file, 894 K)
  • Kansas (PDF file, 1.82 MB)
  • New York
  • North Dakota (PDF file, 77.8 K)
  • Ohio (PDF file, 97 K)
  • Rhode Island (PDF file, 296 K)
  • West Virginia (PDF file, 1.76 MB)

Disinfection Byproducts

• USEPA issues final report: Exposures and Internal Doses of Trihalomethanes in Humans:  Multi-Route Contributions from Drinking Water
  Commentary: EPA says "The results demonstrated that the inhalation exposure pathway represents a significant contribution to THM internal doses."

Water Security

• Hackers break into Pennsylvania water treatment plant's computer system (InfoWorld, November 1)

Lead

• Bristol, CT, waits for follow-up test results to determine scope of lead problem (Hartford Courant, November 1)
• Iowa town's residents taking precautions with lead in drinking water (KWWL, November 3)

Perchlorate

• Legal actions on perchlorate in Southern California:
  • U.S. judge tosses out Colton's lawsuit on procedural questions (San Bernardino County Sun, November 2)
  • Settlement expected by water agency in seven-year-old lawsuit re: groundwater cleanup (Santa Clarita Signal, November 5)
• Final groundwater cleanup decision issued for portion of Massachusetts Military Reservation (USEPA Region 1 release, November 2)

Water Treatment

• Market report on water treatment technologies (BCC Research, October 31)

Arsenic

• Scottish University team fields a "synthetic biology" entry in MIT Genetically Engineered Machine competition... to measure arsenic levels  (Boston Herald, November 5)
• Low levels of arsenic found in private wells below troubled Montana lead smelter plant (Helena Independent Record, November 4)

Source Water Protection

• USEPA declares New York aquifer a sole source water supply (Federal Register, November 2)
• USEPA's November Watershed News
• Washington community stops development near city's well sources (Bellingham Herald, November 1)
• Canadian township's moratorium on development and septic systems is under review; nitrates are one of the concerns (Langley Times, November 5)

Fluoridation

• New Bedford, MA, will vote on initiating fluoridation... again (Standard Times, November 6)
• Corning, NY, council narrowly approves fluoridation with funding stipulation (WENY, November 7)

NEWS CONTINUES BELOW

Malcolm Pirnie DBP Control Services Malcolm Pirnie Environmental Consultants is a leader in assisting utilities with disinfection by-product (DBP) control efforts, including evaluating alternative strategies for DBP compliance, predicting DBP occurrence in distribution systems, and assessing trade-offs in DBP control with other water quality objectives. Malcolm Pirnie has also provided technical leadership in the development of the Stage 1 and 2 Disinfectants and Disinfection By-Products Rules (D/DBPR), and has a profound knowledge of the regulatory and treatment arena. For more information on these services, please contact Nicole Graziano at either ngraziano@pirnie.com or visit mcguireinc.com/dbpcontrol.

PFOA

• Perfluorinated surfactants contaminate German waters (Environmental Science and Technology, November 1); a report by Rhine Water Works in the Netherlands (PDF file, 1.29 MB; June, 2006)
• PFOA found in environmental samples near Virginia DuPont plant (Richmond Times Dispatch, November 3)

Radiological

• Wisconsin city won't meet radium compliance deadline, but IX treatment facilities planned (Fond Du Lac Reporter, November 1)
• Illinois town will install treatment to remove very low radium levels (The Times, November 7)
• Uranium found in northeast Washington state private wells, but cities' sources are okay (Eastern Washington Statesman-Examiner, November 1)

Water Penalties

• Massachusetts condo association fined $2000 for radionuclides rule violations; treatment has been installed (MA DEP News Release, November 1)
• Montana DEQ penalizes small system for monitoring and reporting violations (MT DEQ Press Release, November 2)

Desalination

• "Desalting Water," the eighth in series on California water issues, will be aired on PBS starting November 9 (dBusiness News, November 7)
• Who's first with floating desalting plant?
  • Greeks unveil pilot version of towable, anchorable, wind-powered floating desalination plant; water to be piped to shore (Kathimerini, October 26)
  • Company proposes to put desalination plant on ship miles off California coast with tugboats hauling loads to land (KSBW News, October 31)
• UCLA researchers develop new low-energy, fouling-resistant RO membrane (UCLA News, November 6); info on the Water Technology Research Center
• Water Science and Technology Board will meet to discuss Advancing Desalination Technology December 4-6 in Irvine, CA

Training Opportunities

• Agenda (PDF file, 16.6 K) for AWWA, CA-NV Section's December 1 Teleconference on smaller system compliance with new rules: GWR/LT2/DBP2, including UV and membrane information.

Water Research

• Ever wonder what the water quality guidelines are in space? Check out the SWEGs: Spacecraft Water Exposure Guidelines for Selected Contaminants (National Academies of Science)
• National Academies committee looking at: Improving Risk Analysis Approaches Used By the U.S. EPA will meet November 20-21 in DC
  Commentary: Although it applies to all USEPA programs, this NRC committee project has potential to greatly impact how drinking water standards are determined. The committee is looking at such key factors as uncertainty factors, default assumptions, cumulative risk, sensitive subpopulations, dose-response, and exposure models.
• Water Treatment is focus of November issue of Journal of Water Supply: Research and Technology

Water-Related Reference

• Alabama provides useful database of Frequently Asked Questions on water-related topics

Private Wells

• Picatinny Arsenal Pollution Prevents eating Pickerel from Picatinny Lake... and the groundwater in the New Jersey area is a mess, too (Daily Record, November 6)
• PCE plume impacts dozens of private wells in Texas; municipal wells not affected (KENS 5 News, November 3)
• Groundwater clean-up declared completed at California laundry site (San Leandro Daily Review, November 7)

International

• Two Chinese towns suffer insults to water sources: Truck wreck spills creosote into one river and wet down of ammonia gas leak impacts another (Washington Post, November 2)

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