This week's NEWS

Good advice is available on addressing arsenic compliance. Does the best-tasting water have no taste at all? Ask the experts at AWWA's ACE in Toronto. Cryptosporidium continues to drive boil water advisories in the UK. "Lack of" confidence may be the primary impact of CCRs. Judge says "no soliciting," so where do all of those "toxic tort" lawsuits come from?  Recycling wastewater into drinking water is the subject of a timely AU report. Bottled water becomes "aqua non grata" at San Francisco city hall. All about drinking water in the UK in 2006.

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Federal Updates

• Notice: September 10 is new deadline to apply for USEPA grants for Contamination Warning System Demonstration Pilots (PDF file, 152 K)
• Bromobenzene is subject of EPA toxicological assessment and peer review of the document 
• AWWA's Washington Report updates TCR FACA progress, including decision on Technical Working Group and appointment of technical coordinator for the TWG (PDF file, 30 K)

State Updates

• California's risk assessors publish a new lower Public Health Goal for Glyphosate and propose new PHGs for Copper and TCDD (dioxin)
  Commentary: While it may seem like "much ado about nothing" (since both the California and USEPA drinking water MCLs for glyphosate are already lower than the existing PHG and the new PHG), the risk assessing agency (OEHHA) is doing its job in evaluating all new evidence in this legislatively mandated five-year review and letting the toxicological chips fall where they may. California cannot raise its MCL to the acceptable-risk level and stay as stringent as the federal standard.  Besides... who ever heard of a drinking water standard getting "less stringent?" 
• Colorado publishes a VIP draft policy for evaluating surface WTPs and GWUDI systems for SWTR compliance using MPA, CT and CPE + sampling procedures
• Idaho's June Drinking Water Newsletter features "copper theft" (PDF file, 201 K)
• Michigan gets EPA's tentative approval for a bunch of new drinking water rules (Federal Register, June 21)

Water Treatment

• Colorado town dedicates its new $6 million water treatment plant (Grand Junction Sentinel, June 20)
• Rural Iowa community's new RO plant will serve an expanded customer base (Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, June 20)
• California water district gets state approval for UV treatment for uncovered treated water reservoir (Fallbrook Village News, June 21)
• Central California agency goes solar to address power grid reliability at new water treatment plant (Oakland Tribune, June 22)

Aesthetics

• Oklahoma City's water is judged "terrific" in taste testing at AWWA's annual conference (Toronto Star, June 26); host city Toronto ranks third in national test (Globe and Mail, June 26)

Disinfection Byproducts

• Maine town facing million-dollar solution to DBP exceedances with 2012 deadline (Bar Harbor Times, June 23)

Arsenic

• Case studies on achieving arsenic compliance (USEPA website)
  Commentary: These fifteen summaries are a must-read for anyone addressing elevated arsenic in drinking water sources. A variety of approaches and treatment technologies are assessed.
• Is there a link between higher bladder cancer rates in Pennsylvania county and elevated arsenic in some water systems? (Doylestown Intelligencer, June 23)
• EPA has a new brochure on arsenic in distribution systems
  Commentary: The focus of this educational brochure is on smaller ground water systems that may be adding or changing disinfection treatment to comply with the TCR or GWR, but the information is valuable for all systems.
• Arsenic findings lead Maryland to change parental notification requirements (WBAL Baltimore, June 20)
• Minnesota town's local water exceeds arsenic MCL, but blending with neighbor city's lower arsenic water looks like the answer (The Forum, June 22)
• New Mexico Tech gets EPA funding to help water systems in six states with arsenic problems (El Defensor Chieftain, June 23)
• Florida county's sampling program finds elevated arsenic in a number of private wells (Tampa Tribune, June 26)

Microbiological

• UK town is under BWA after "borehole" is contaminated with Cryptosporidium  (Norfolk Eastern Daily Press, June 25)
• Crypto contamination in Galway, Ireland, attributed to sewage contamination of drinking water related to growth outstripping infrastructure (New York Times, June 23; free registration required); Cost of bottled water for Galway hospitals during ongoing BWA is significant (Irish Medical News, June 23)
• Outages and low pressure after draining of leaking water tank has Virginia town boiling water (Kingsport Times News, June 22)

Annual Water Quality Reports

• Missouri officials urge consumers to read their annual water quality report (Kansas City Info Zine, June 24) and tell them which are available on the web (Note: Only larger systems are required to post CCRs on their websites.)
• Rapid City, SD, says its water is "ABSOLUTELY safe to drink"
• Jamestown, RI, failed bacti test in June, 2006 (Jamestown Press, June 20); Jamestown's 2006 CCR (PDF file, 48 K)
  Commentary: Drinking water systems are subjected to "double jeopardy" in press coverage of any water quality violation. First, public notification is mandated immediately when the incident (such as a single positive total coliform sample) occurs. Then they must discuss the same violation in their annual water quality report (along with the alarming fact that their 2005 CCR was two days late). Guess that's why EPA calls them "Consumer Confidence" reports!
• High marks in report for Utah AF base (Hilltop Times, June 21)
• NSF has consumer information available on CCRs

Compliance

• State cites Arizona utility for numerous violations (Nogales International, June 22); fines likely following the company's illegally hooking up non-approved well (Nogales International, June 12)

Legal Issues

• Judge rejects class-action status in 3M PFC lawsuit (Pioneer Press, June 19)
  Commentary: Anyone who has read "A Civil Action" (or seen the movie) or John Grisham's "King of Torts" will be fascinated with the real-life class-action legal process and the explanations of the judge's reasoning. But after seeing TV and full-page print ads trolling for "injured parties," many readers will be amazed to read the following: "One action was a door-knocking campaign in Washington County, 'making unsolicited contacts with local residents about this lawsuit,' and paying them $50 each to have their blood tested for the chemicals. It is commonly considered unethical to solicit for legal business."   
• USEPA and California settle for $1.7 million more in San Gabriel Valley ground water cleanup (USEPA Region IX news release, June 21)

TCE 

• Cleanup of Delaware TCE plume could cost $10 million (Salisbury Daily Times, June 24)

NEWS CONTINUES BELOW

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Radiological

• South Dakota rural system receives EPA funding that will address radium concerns at housing projects (USEPA news release, June 20)
• New Jersey city's second treatment plant to remove radium goes online in New Jersey (Gloucester County Times, June 26)
  Commentary: The treatment process is described as a "...system where porous filters treated with barium can attract and collect the radium particles."

Lead

• Early results indicate polyphosphate treatment is working in Wisconsin city (WBAY-TV, June 25); Neenah, WI's annual report describes new water treatment plant recently brought online
• USEPA prepares to lift ban on lead ammo at Camp Edwards, MA (Cape Cod Times, June 21)

MTBE

• Judge agrees: Junkyard must close (New Hampshire Union Leader, June 25)

PFOA (C8)

• Testing of private wells for C8 in Ohio and West Virginia continues; findings will dictate next phase (Marietta Times, June 22)
• Judge says C8 Science Panel can make reports public but doesn't have to (Times West Virginian, June 22)

Fluoridation

• Oregon mandatory fluoride legislation goes... nowhere! (Mail Tribune, June 21)
• Florida city considers yet another delay in fluoridation saga: Approved in 2003, treatment ready to go in 2006, another vote in 2008? (Treasure Coast Palm, June 23)

Source Water Protection

• Ag fertilizers shown to be source of nitrates in coastal California aquifer (Ventura County Star, June 24); health impact of nitrates (Ventura County Star, June 24) 
• Fish study in Pittsburgh, PA, area raises red flag about "estrogens" in downstream drinking water sources (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 21)

Water Reuse

• Australia National Water Commission's new report Using Recycled Water for Drinking (PDF file, 80 pages)
  Commentary: This excellent introductory paper should be very valuable in meeting its announced purpose: "This paper is presented by the National Water Commission for the purpose of informing discussion."  As in other places where direct reuse for drinking has been proposed, the public perceptions may be more important than the science. The report addresses this (p. 51) and the media focuses on it, to wit: Recycled water has to beat the 'yuck' factor (Sydney Morning Herald, June 20)
• Funding approved for 11 more Southern Australian recycling projects... total is 425 (Sydney Australian, June 26)
• Cities in Florida county are leaders in use of reclaimed water for irrigation (Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, June 24)
• Irrigation systems in Cheyenne, WY, continue to be switched over to reclaimed water... with purple pipe (Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, June 25)
• Georgia city's recycled water system not available for lawn watering until storage tank is installed (Braselton News, June 20)

Desalination

• Cost for Melbourne, AU, for proposed desalting plant expected to be high because worldwide technology demand exceeds supply (The Age, June 24)

Bottled Water

• San Francisco mayor puts a halt to bottled water at city facilities (San Francisco Chronicle, June 22); bottled water industry group says mayor's ban ignores important facts (IBWA news release, June 25) 
• In the meantime, in the beautiful Rocky Mountain town of Basalt, home of historical charcoal kilns and Gold Medal trout streams, the lack of a dishwasher makes bottled water the lesser of two evils (Aspen Times News, June 26)

International

• The UK Drinking Water Inspectorate's Report on Drinking Water in England and Wales in 2006
  Commentary: This report is interesting for the amount of detail provided on specific companies and incidents that occurred, but also for the self-assessment of the DWI. The "prosecutions and cautions" section suggests that only one enforcement action may have been taken in the past two years.
• New $4.2 million water treatment plant dedicated for Canadian First Nation community (Canadian NewsWire, June 21)
• Editorial: Japan celebrates 50th anniversary of city water law and commends water workers (Japan Times, June 22)
• World Water Week, August 12-18 in Stockholm, is more than a worldwide conference

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