This week's NEWS

How does membrane filtration fit into the LT2ESWTR regulatory framework? Six words to light up your daughter products: A drinking water standard for radon! California stringent lead-in-plumbing-fixtures standard may be under siege.  NO fluoride... NO notification...in N.O.  New Jersey joins California and New Hampshire with lawsuits to recover all kinds of MTBE costs. Consumer confidence is enhanced through effective communications.

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Federal Updates

• EPA posts Q&A re: their recent RFPs for training and technical assistance for small water systems 
• USEPA sets up information system for peer review of its endocrine disruptor screening program (EDSP) and a two-tiered approach of screening and testing assays (Federal Register, July 13)

State Updates

• Washington gives tips on controlling pests around drinking water facilities (PDF file, 213 K)
• New Mexico's draft FY 2008 Intended Use Plan for the DWSRF (PDF file, 1.73 MB)
• Iowa's July 2007 Information Mailing to public water systems (PDF file, 50 K)

Backflow Prevention Device Testing

• Tennessee has four videos available on backflow device testing

Water Treatment

• Membrane Filtration and the LT2ESWTR: Overview of the regulatory framework (Water Quality Products, July 2007)
• Utah water system gets EPA award for dual-purpose water treatment plant: Arsenic and perchlorate removal
• Microfiltration water treatment plant will serve two Montana Native American communities; contractor's garbage handling is important... it's grizzly country! (Great Falls Tribune, July 14)
• Opinion: Public discourse suggested on decision to re-open Tucson water treatment plant
  Commentary: The City of Tucson has demonstrated its intention and ability to communicate with its customers about water quality issues, as evidenced by its monthly update... with very current water quality info (PDF file, 1.74 MB), a regular construction update on their Clearwater ground water recharge project (PDF file, 1.43 MB) and its annual water quality report (PDF file, 135 K).  Notable was the city's "Decision H2O" outreach to its consumers to get input on the mineral blend of the city's water.
• Completion of water treatment plant to replace Middleton, NY's 1800-era facility is delayed with addition of UV as costs escalate (Times Herald-Record, July 13)

Perchlorate

• Editorial: It's time for Rialto, CA, to call in the EPA! (Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, July 16)
  Commentary: City officials face the "rock-or-a-hard-place" decision: Throw in their lot with USEPA and Superfund and wait, maybe, 17 to 27 years for cleanup to get started... OR... keep hiring attorneys to wage their own legal battle against... well, they have to find out who the enemy is first.

Microbiological

• BWA related to lightning strike and pipe failure in Virginia town finally lifted (Roanoke Times, June 30); city looks for major funding assistance to replace deteriorated cast-iron pipelines (Power Point, 18 slides)
• Small mountain systems in Australia told to boil water for a whole year (ABC News, July 13)
  Commentary: Usually you only have to boil water for one minute... but the year-long requirement appears to be related to averaging water quality sample results over a 12-month period – unusual for an acute health-effect indicator.
• Failing septic systems MAY have contaminated well at Wisconsin restaurant where Norovirus GI illness occurred (Green Bay Press Gazette, July 15)
• Nova Scotia hospital initiates Legionella treatment, but critics ask why it took so long (Chronicle Herald, July 11)

Annual Water Quality Reports

• Typo in CCR provides Utah town with opportunity to emphasize that water is safe, and customers need to help keep it that way (i.e. cross-connections and source water protection) (Toelle Transcript, July 15)
• Mountain Water Company's AWQR indicates study is underway on Class V storm water wells and risk to ground water aquifer in Missoula, MT

• New Jersey AG files major lawsuits against gasoline refiners and marketers in state court for MTBE damages (NJ OAG News Release, June 29)

Arsenic

• Mobile home park wants 100 grand to make hookup to city (WFIE News, July 13)
• Nevada city's proposed coagulation-filtration water treatment plant to reduce arsenic elicits negative reactions from some neighbors (Reno Gazette Journal, July 11)

Lead and Copper

• Editorial: Hold the line on California's very strict limit on lead in plumbing fixtures! (Sacramento Bee, July 16)
• AwwaRF report on effect of changing disinfectants on lead and copper

NEWS CONTINUES BELOW

Malcolm Pirnie Membrane Filtration Services The promulgation of the Long-Term 2 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule (LT2ESWTR) established the first federal regulatory framework for membrane filtration, including microfiltration (MF), ultrafiltration (UF), nanofiltration (NF), and reverse osmosis (RO) systems applied for rule compliance. Many states are expected to adopt this framework for membrane regulation as well. Working in conjunction with the USEPA, Malcolm Pirnie has been involved in the development of the Membrane Filtration Guidance Manual in support of the LT2ESWTR. As a result, the company has in-depth expertise with respect to the new regulatory framework and how it will be applied to both new and existing facilities. Malcolm Pirnie can lend its unique experience to provide assistance throughout the project development process, including planning, piloting, equipment procurement, design, construction, and start-up, to ensure system compliance. For more information, please contact Brent Alspach at BAlspach@pirnie.com.

Radon

• Will EPA regulate radon in drinking water? Maybe in 2009? (The Eagle Tribune, July 9)

NDMA

• Research: Study looks at relationship between free chlorine contact time and NDMA formation (Health Stream, June)

Benzene

• Health Canada's advisory committee recommends a Maximum Allowable Concentration of benzene at 1 ppb... compared to USEPA's 5 ppb

Manganese

• Contract operator takes over New Brunswick town's system and initiates water quality improvements (Sackville Tribune Post, July 11)
  Commentary: Changes made in the town's water treatment since May 1 include adding greensand to the filters to address Fe and Mn problems, adding caustic soda and a corrosion inhibitor, and improving chlorination reliability. The extent and significance of these improvements may give a clue as to why the town got a new operator.

PCE

• CDC's ATSDR uses water modeling and "historic reconstruction" to assess exposure to PCE in Camp Lejeune, NC, drinking water in 1950s-80s

Fluoridation

• No fluoride in New Orleans water since Katrina... and no one was told (Times-Picayune, July 11)
  Commentary: But New Orleans was not alone as ten other Louisiana systems have similarly been without fluoride. The hurricane recovery coincided with a nationwide shortage of fluoride chemical supply.
• Small Wisconsin town thinks about stopping fluoridation because of the cost of fluoride chemical... after 43 years (Milwaukee Sentinel Journal, July 15)

Aesthetics

• D.C. and Virginia drinking water from Potomac tastes "funny;" algae blamed (WJLA TV, July 11); Corps of Engineers initiates powdered activated carbon treatment of Washington Aqueduct

Desalination

• WHO's Guidelines on drinking water quality and environmental aspects of desalination

Source Water Protection

• The July 2007 Watershed News from EPA

Newsletters

• Australian Cooperative Research Centre's Health Stream Newsletter for June 2007

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