This week's NEWS

TCR advisory panel kicks off its review. Water agency and AMWA respond to EWG report on its selective DBP sampling of DC's water. Taking off from an old cliché: Implementing a cross-connection control program can look, sound, and feel like making sausage. Pressure continues to bring water utilities' chemical treatment facilities under Homeland Security rules. Perchlorate exposure and occurrence assessed in research reports.

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Federal Updates

• The new Advisory Committee to EPA on changes to the Total Coliform Rule and Distribution System met on July 17-18 (AMWA, July 23); the meeting agenda (PDF file, 42 K)
  Commentary: New information will be posted at EPA's TCRDS website, where there is a complete list of committee members.
• USEPA BOSC's Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals sub-committee meets in August and September (Federal Register, July 20)

State Updates

• Arizona proposes major overhaul of state's drinking water regulations; focus will be to "incorporate federal rules by reference;" here is the draft rule (PDF file, 2.67 MB)
• Vermont is working with PWS on how to regulate new and existing "consecutive systems;" a meeting is set for July 31
• Ohio has two new drinking-water-policy arrows in their quiver:
  • Disinfecting new water facilities (PDF file, 22 K)
  • ASTM vs AWWA pipe standards (PDF file, 62 K)
• USEPA has given Wisconsin tentative approval for its revised arsenic rule (Federal Register, July 20)

Disinfection Byproducts

• Reactions to alarmist report by watchdog group about DBPs in D.C. water:
  • EWG sampled D.C. water during annual one-month switchover to free chlorine (Environmental Working Group, July 19)
  • Media reaction: New fears raised over safety of D.C. water (Washington Post, July 19)
  • D.C. officials say tap water is safe (Washington Post, July 20)
  • National water association criticizes EWG and the media for misleading the public (AMWA news release, July 19)
    Commentary: There is no public health or regulatory agency that would tell all consumers of any water system with one-time grab-sample DBP data similar to what was found in this report to install POE/POU carbon filtration systems... even if they are cheaper than buying bottled water. The jury is still out on most of the short-term health effects issues cited as justification for the extreme recommendation.

Chlorine: Security 

• Exemption of water utilities' chlorine facilities from Homeland Security oversight continues to be criticized (Boston Globe, July 24); testimony from a hearing of a key House committee on chemical security on July 24 is available.

Chlorine: Safety 

• Explosion at Colorado water treatment plant related to chlorine handling (Kansas City Star, July 20); Water District urges conservation as water treatment plant repairs are made   
• Washington: State fact sheet on handling chlorine gas safely (PDF file, 169 K)

Water Treatment

• Alaska city chooses UV to meet EPA's LT2ESWTR requirements (Kodiak Daily Mirror, July 17); Kodiak's CCR (PDF file, 869 K) describes its filtration avoidance status
• New Jersey town's new well water plant will address benzene as well as iron problem with combination process (Gloucester County Times, July 22)
• $48 million improvements to Napa, CA, water treatment plant: Bigger plant, better water with addition of ozone (Napa Valley Register, July 22)

Arsenic

• Wisconsin gets tentative EPA approval for its arsenic regulation (USEPA Region 5 news release, July 23)
• Epi study suggests potential mechanism for association of arsenic exposure and cardiovascular disease (Environmental Health Perspectives, July 17)
• Skepticism greets more India government promises to provide ground water treatment (Statesman, July 23); funding announced for surface water treatment to replace ground water (Statesman, July 23)

Microbiological

• California town will try flushing option to deal with coliform contamination in well (Manteca Bulletin, July 18)
• Nova Scotia issues summer BWAs for numerous non-community systems (Chronicle Herald, July 24)

Cross-Connection Control

• Florida backflow prevention valve controversy: A storm of questions! A drought of answers? (Tampa Bay Observer News, July 19)
  Commentary: This situation illustrates what happens when cross-connection control is ignored for a long time and then enforcement is implemented without adequate communication and education. It is not an easy task to explain to a homeowner why an "auxiliary supply" (a pond) of non-potable water with a pumping system poses a threat. This is magnified when the agency first requires (appropriately) evidence that there is no direct connection between the two piping systems and then the agency demands (appropriately) that a backflow device be installed... and tested... and maintained. Aggrieved parties want the county to show them the "dead bodies" to prove there is a risk. Other issues raised included equal protection under the 14th Amendment ("Why doesn't my neighbor have to install a device to protect me?"), defective devices, fiscal hardship, and opportunism – by the county to fund their program and by plumbers to get work.

Nitrate

• California county re-activates its advisory water panel; will seek funding for nitrate and other studies (Fresno Bee, July 23)

Perchlorate

• Perchlorate Exposure of the U.S. Population, 2001-2002 (Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology, July 2007)
  Commentary: "...We found perchlorate in all human urine samples tested, indicating widespread trace-level perchlorate exposure in the general population. We estimated daily perchlorate dose and found that the 95th percentile of estimated dose is less than the EPA RfD. ...These data provide the first population-based assessment of the magnitude and prevalence of perchlorate exposure in the U.S."
• Widespread Accumulations of Natural Perchlorate in Southwestern Soils (USGS website)
• New Jersey town plans to install ion-exchange system to remove perchlorate from well; source of contaminant not known (Montclair Times, July 18)
• Massachusetts school is on bottled water; plans to install a filter to remove perchlorate (Milford Daily News, July 24)

NEWS CONTINUES BELOW

Malcolm Pirnie Water Resources and Water Rate-Setting Services Malcolm Pirnie offers clients assistance in developing strategies to protect, enhance, and secure water resources. Malcolm Pirnie's staff has extensive practical experience in the development of groundwater storage and conjunctive use programs, water management and incentive programs, and water rates. Our staff also has a wide range of experience as facilitators in helping utilities to develop strategic and water resources plans through consensus-based decision-making processes. For questions regarding any of these services, please contact Ed Means in our Orange County office at (949) 450-7921, or visit www.mcguireinc.com/waterresources.

Aesthetics

• 'Well from hell' provides hot water to Arizona city neighborhood; it's not all bad: Low arsenic, soft water, and it's cheap! (Arizona Republic, July 18)
• Work continues on smelly water in D.C., Virginia (WTOP, July 24)

TCE and DX

• USEPA orders Raytheon and USAF to perform additional treatment of contaminated ground water at Tucson Airport Superfund Site (USEPA Region IX, July 13)

Blue-Green Algae

• Test indicates Quebec town's water is "toxin-free" but "no-drinking" advisory stays in effect until more tests are done (Montreal Gazette, July 20)
• Blue-green algae raises concerns in several Canadian provinces (Regina Leader-Post, July 22)

Lead and Copper

• Small New Mexico town failed to do LCR sampling (Las Cruces Sun-News, July 22)

PFOA/C8

• "Miniscule" levels of C8 found in Marietta, OH, water (Marietta Times, July 20)

Fluoridation

• Pro-group's proposition to get fluoride restored to Juneau water is certified for October election (Juneau Empire, July 20)
• North Carolina town council votes to stop fluoridation... 30+ days of treated water in storage (Blue Ridge Times-News, July 21)
• State health agency actively promotes drinking water fluoridation in Mississippi communities (Jackson Clarion-Ledger, July 21)

Water Reuse

• Arizona Water Reuse 2007 conference in Flagstaff, July 30-31, introduces new terminology: CPC = Compounds of Potential Concern (PDF file, 523 K)
• California students embrace treated reclaimed water... but they still won't eat their spinach (Orange County Register, July 19)

Desalination

• UK's first desalination plant gets approval; will start up in 2009 (BBC News, July 18)
• Santa Cruz, CA, agencies break ground on pilot desal plant... commenters look for conspiracies! (Santa Cruz Sentinel, July 20)
• One of the United Arab Emirates invites "offers" to build a 100-MGD desalination plant (Turkish Daily News, July 24)

International

• British flooding lessens but many still without drinking water (International Herald Tribune, July 24)

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