This week's NEWS

Water treatment news galore: From the farm to the biggest city, addressing radium and turbidity with operator ingenuity. Is the water too hot to touch? Not even close. Don't bad-mouth the tap water in order to sell... anything! Is it time to regulate manganese as a primary contaminant?  Reclaimed water system's worst fear happens in North Carolina. What's in the bottle – yes, the bottle – and where did it come from?

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Federal Updates

• USEPA's Region 8 touts its enforcement actions against mostly small systems in four of the six states in the region, including:
  • Wyoming (where the state does not have primacy)
  • Utah 
  • Montana 
  • North Dakota  
• USEPA wants more information from drinking water labs about Proficiency Testing (Federal Register, July 26)
  Commentary: A well-intentioned requirement, initiated by Congress a while ago, makes this exercise necessary. EPA (like other U.S. government entities) has to get a "number" from the Office of Management and Budget before asking (mandating?) that regulated entities (i.e. labs) provide information (meaning hours of paperwork). And EPA has to say how much this effort will cost. Hence, the following enlightenment from the FR notice: "...However, as this collection does exist under another expiring ICR... the requested burden under this ICR effectively offsets the decrease in burden in the currently approved ICR from which it is being removed." Oh, well. It's only $1.8 million.

State Updates

• Alaska's Summer 2007 Northern Flows newsletter (PDF file, 1.1 MB)
• Texas proposes extensive changes to state rules to implement federal microbial and disinfection byproduct rules (PDF file, 883 K); hearing set for August 30 (PDF file, 91.1K); reason, scope, and impact of the changes (PDF file, 348 K), and... 
• Washington considers how a new rule (including arsenic MCL) will impact small systems (<15 services)

Security

• The August WaterSC E-Newsletter (PDF file, 73.7 K)
• AWWA seminar focuses on rapid detection of contaminants and early warning systems; August 22-23 in Portland, OR
• USEPA reports on research into security issues

Legal Matters

• Florida Attorney General sues POU water treatment dealer for scamming elder customers (Northwest Florida Daily News, July 24); the lawsuit (PDF file, 25 K) is an interesting read!
  Commentary: The essence of the Attorney General's lawsuit, which is "...brought pursuant to the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act," is that "defendants have made unsubstantiated claims, directly and implicitly, regarding the harmful health effects caused by drinking tap water or even bottled water." The AG also focuses on the frequently used tactic of doing water tests: "...[tests] performed by Defendants always show a need to purchase a water system. The test is a sham, created solely to sell products." The lawsuit says that the company engaged in practices that ".... were unethical, oppressive, unscrupulous or substantially injurious to consumers." Go get 'em, AG!

Water Treatment

• New York City gets ten-year extension of filtration waiver from USEPA for its Catskill/Delaware supply (EPA Region 1 Press Release); mayor says decision affirms confidence in New York City water and will save billions (Staten Island Advance, July 31)
• Illinois city's water treatment plant operators take lead in finding solutions to turbidity problem (Macomb Journal, July 24)
• California city's $24 million water treatment plant upgrade to 42 MGD features membranes (Maryville Appeal-Democrat, July 26); adjacent community with excessive nitrate (and maybe arsenic) in their ground water may hook up to city water (Appeal-Democrat, July 27)
• Texas city gives residents preliminary notice on planned switch from chloramines to free chlorine (Corpus Christi Caller-Times, July 28); city's website provides details on switchover, along with information on lifting of a recent BWA that likely was a factor in the decision to make the switch
• Rural South Dakota agency recognized for project to bring good, safe water to farms and homes (Sioux City Journal, July 30); expanded RO water treatment plant and 80 miles of pipeline
• What's new with nanotechnology and water treatment (Fortune, July 26)

Radium

• Wisconsin town has new water treatment plant to remove radium from 1.5 million gallons for $1.7 million using manganese compound (Tomah Journal, July 30)

Microbiological

• Cryptosporidiosis Outbreaks Associated with Recreational Water Use – Five States, 2006 (MMWR Weekly, July 27)
  Commentary: It is important for the drinking water community (i.e. utilities, regulators, consultants, etc.) to keep an eye on disease outbreak investigations and reports regardless of the source and cause. The disease-detective investigations must always start by including drinking water as a possible source until it can be eliminated by epidemiological assessments and testing of water, food, etc. It is noteworthy that several of these outbreaks were not immediately reported, but were determined only through routine communicable disease surveillance by health agencies.
• Small Pennsylvania system has to shut down system to replace valve; precautionary BWA in effect... but for how long? (Traverse City Record-Eagle, July 28)

Public Notification

• Warning: Don't touch the water! An overreaction by California school district or the media? (Manteca Bulletin, July 26)
  Commentary: It is not clear who is overreacting by suggesting that "touching" water with nitrates and uranium above MCLs carries some risk that should be avoided. Is it the newspaper's reporting? Or the school district which "...has been providing waterless hand sanitizers in bathrooms ever since the elevated levels were discovered."  It certainly wasn't the state, since their regulation requires only the following health concern be included in a public notice about an exceedance of the uranium MCL: "Some people who drink water containing uranium in excess of the MCL over many years may have kidney problems or an increased risk of getting cancer."
• New Jersey utility warns its customers that sodium levels are too high; salting of roads in winter blamed (Bergen County Record, July 31)

Manganese

• Swedish researcher asks if it's time to take another look at the WHO drinking water guidance for manganese (Environmental Health Perspectives, July 25)
• Commentary: The current WHO guidance is 400 ppb apparently, based on health concerns. The USEPA has no primary (health-related) drinking water standard; their non-enforceable secondary MCL is 50 ppb.
• Manganese dioxide deposits in pipelines are causing black water in Chinese city (Hindu, July 25)

Disinfection Byproducts  

• New book with titillating title: The Blue Death may paint a dark picture of public drinking water (Harper Collins); as an alternative, you might want to check out: Blue Death...the detective novel

Lead

• New Canadian fact sheet for consumers: Minimizing Exposure to Lead from Drinking Water Distribution Systems
• Some Canadian cities' consumers who bought recommended "pitcher filters" may need to upgrade to meet new NSF standard... but not all (Montreal Gazette, July 29)
• Pilot program will test innovative lead-bullet capture system at Camp Edwards in Bourne, MA (USEPA Region 1 news release, July 24) (Note: It is the bullet-catching membrane system that is rubberized, not the bullets!)

NEWS CONTINUES BELOW

Is Your Utility Considering a Switch to Chloramines? Malcolm Pirnie is on the cutting edge of developing and implementing techniques for converting to chloramines and managing nitrification. Our more than 20 years of experience in this specialty includes converting two systems serving 18 million people to chloramines, consulting on several others, and ensuring high-quality chloraminated water in dozens of other utility systems. If your utility is considering chloramines, or if you are experiencing nitrification or other issues with your current conversion, we can help. Please visit our website to learn more or contact Michael McGuire at mmcguire@pirnie.com for more information.

Recycled Water - Cross-Connection

• Cross-connections found between North Carolina city's RWW and drinking water systems:
  • Two families in Cary may have been drinking treated wastewater for months (ABC 11 TV, July 25)
  • Homeowners chagrined and talking "lawsuit" as city plans preventive measures  (ABC 11 TV, July 26) 
  • City will require testing before people move in to homes (Myrtle Beach Sun-News, July 28)
  • City answers FAQs about their fully permitted dual-water system program  

Water Reuse

• Out for comment: Australian Guidelines for Water Recycling: Managing Health and Environmental Risks (Phase 2): Augmentation of Drinking Water Supplies 
• Oregon proposes revised regulations for wastewater reuse for irrigation, industrial use, and impoundments (PDF file, 52.3 K); draft changes (PDF file, 124 K)
• Presentations from the June 2007 Idaho Wastewater Reuse Conference are available
• California city recycled water program gets $2.9 million state grant (San Mateo County Times, July 25)

Fluoridation

• Petition could put Corning, NY, city council's decision to start fluoridation on ballot for vote by citizens (Syracuse News 10 Now, July 26)
• Canadian regional system's stopping of fluoridation five years ago is questioned; no public notice? (St. Catherines Standard, July 27)
• The road to fluoridation in Watsonville, CA, is long and bumpy (Santa Cruz Sentinel, July 31)

Perchlorate

• Perchlorate in California water district's wells adds to need for rate increase to pay for treatment facilities (San Bernardino County Sun, July 28)

Desalination

• Finally! Proposed Carlsbad, CA, desalination plan will get a hearing before Coastal Commission (San Diego Union Tribune, July 26)

Bottled Water

• Pepsi and Coke take steps to let public know about where bottled water comes from and how it's tested (Reuters, July 26), IBWA states its position on source labeling, which is: Do it if you want to!
• NRDC's current views on the pros and cons of bottled water... well, maybe just the cons (CBS News, July 25)
• Some questions raised about antimony from PET plastic bottles (U.S. News and World Report, July 26); PET plastics industry group has a different view (NAPCOR website)

Water Research

• USGS study of drinking water wells in one Florida area finds low levels of some organic compounds but not exceeding DWS in finished water

MTBE

• First phase of project to remove 4100 pounds of MTBE from San Francisco Bay is underway (Drinking water is not involved)

Conferences

• AWWA Contaminant Monitoring Technologies seminar August 22-23 in Portland, OR
• AWWA Distribution Systems Symposium September 23-26 in Cleveland, OH
• NAWC's Annual Conference will be 9/30-10/3 in La Jolla, CA
• Tri-State Seminar on the River will be held September 27-29 in Primm, NV and the program is available (Microsoft Excel file, 47 K)

United Kingdom Flooding

• UK's Health Protection Agency provides post-flood advice
• Severn Trent updates consumers on when water service will be restored
• Major water treatment works repaired (BBC News, July 29)
• After the flood, stoicism tinted with a little anger; more than 300,000 people looking for alternative water supplies (Sunday Times, July 29)
• Taps on, but water isn't safe to drink (London Times, July 31)

International

• World Water Week in Stockholm (August 12-18) – Where the Water World Meets
• Taiwan study finds some water high in lead and arsenic (Taipei China Post, July 26)
• Chinese police and protesters clash over brewery's contamination of drinking water (Associated Press, July 29)
• Pakistan plans ten water quality labs in different cities to ensure clean drinking water (Associated Press of Pakistan, July 29)

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