| August 8, 2007 – Volume 8, No. 32 |
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This
week's NEWS
TCE
Act of 2007 =
Toxic Congressional Entervention: They want new
rules... and they want them now!
Largest U.S. water supplier ready
to start fluoridating as
other utilities face treatment
chemical shortages. Hawaiian
PUC thinks T&M can
make it without any F!
Florida town tried to flush
all the coliform from
well but will resort to disinfection. Cross-connections with
non-approved water sources
in the spotlight. Bottled
water: Show me the money! Negative
press on bottled water continues
and industry fights back.
Quick Links Navigation:
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State Updates
- Idaho
adopts federal Stage 2 D/DBPR and LT2 ESWTR by
reference while California
closes in on adopting its own version of the
IESWTR
- Hawaii's
capacity development (TMF) report to
the Governor (PDF
file, 409 K)
Commentary:
Hawaii's drinking water primacy
agency highlights successes in getting
some smaller systems into compliance and capable
of staying there. Even if a system
has the T (technical) and the M (managerial)
components, they can't do the deal
without the F (financial). Ironic that
another state agency may be the problem
for small investor-owned utilities: "As
an example, a small water system
serving 1,005 service connections
recently filed for a rate change
for improvements and their cost to
date is $195,000. The
small water systems in low to medium
communities need a simplified and low-cost
method to file rate changes with the
PUC. The SDWB did meet with the PUC
in the past on this issue, however
the PUC stated that it would not
change their procedures for small
water systems."
Water Advisories
Water Treatment
- New
acronyms needed for opposition to Nevada
town's water treatment plant: CRAP
doesn't want TEWTP shoved down their
throats? (Reno
Gazette Journal, August 3)
Commentary: Better
that than the alternative! (Note: The so-called TEWTP is apparently
the city's proposed arsenic-removal plant.)
- Elizabeth,
MN, gets state help in financing of
new water treatment facility (Fergus Falls
Daily Journal, August 4)
- Some
Maui, HI, residents will be switched
to chloramines with change in water
treatment plant serving their area (Maui
News, August 4)
Commentary: To
say the Maui drinking water system
is complex would be an understatement. Maui Water
provides a
helpful table in their CCR to help consumers understand
where their particular system gets its water.
- Regional
agency looking for $50 million to serve
23 systems in four Arkansas counties;
ten systems on public notice for radium,
uranium, high fluoride, etc. (Arkansas
Democrat Gazette, August 5)
- Ammonia
leak from Texas city's water treatment
plant causes evacuation; "for
want of a valve... all the gas was
lost" (Wichita
Falls Times Record News, August 6)
Microbiological
TCE
- Senators
Clinton and Dole introduce bill to
require EPA to adopt new TCE MCL (White
Plains CitizeNetReporter, August 1); S.
1911; Senator
Dole's interest focused on Camp Lejeune, which is the
subject of an ongoing NAS
project
Commentary: As
with other contaminants
(can you spell perchlorate?), there
are some who feel EPA is dragging its
feet in reacting to a
July 2006 NRC
report (PDF file, 235 K) that
says TCE may be more harmful
than previously
thought.
The proposed answer
is to make science and
regulations happen according
to a political schedule.
The bill lays down a very
tight timeline for EPA
to issue a revised health
advisory, propose
a new MCL in one year,
and finalize it six months
later. And
how long did it take
a Senate staffer to come
up with the oh-so-clever
title: "This Act
may be cited as the
'Toxic Chemical Exposure
Reduction Act of 2007'
or the `TCE Reduction
Act of 2007.'" EPA
will be reviewing
the TCE MCL in 2008 regardless
of this legislation.
Polonium-210
Uranium
MTBE
- ConocoPhillips
pays $25,000 penalty related to non-cleanup
of 2002 Massachusetts gasoline spill (Worcester
Telegram, August 2)
Commentary: "The
energy company,
headquartered
in Houston,
was cited by the Department of Environmental Protection
for submitting a final cleanup report last year without
having installed a treatment system approved
by the state
three years
ago."
It
doesn't seem the penalty is appropriate
to the crime - maybe some oily executive
should be doing time?
Disinfection
Byproducts
| NEWS
CONTINUES BELOW |
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Malcolm
Pirnie Water
Utility Strategic Planning Services
 Malcolm
Pirnie can help you understand the business, regulatory,
societal, and utility trends that will position your utility
for success. The water utility industry is more dynamic
than ever before. Important trends in population growth,
contaminant measurement, regulations, training needs,
bottled water, infrastructure replacement, privatization,
and other areas will define the utility of the future.
Understanding these trends is an integral part of utility
strategic planning. Malcolm Pirnie has consulted for numerous
organizations to both understand these trends and position
themselves for future success.
For more information on these
services, please contact Ed Means at emeans@pirnie.com or
visit mcguireinc.com/strategicplanning.
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Cross-Connection
Fluoridation
Perchlorate
Bottled Water
- Bottled
water: A River of Money! (MSN, August 3)
Commentary: Among the fascinating tidbits in this lengthy
article are the following: "And
in Fiji, a state-of-the-art factory spins out more than
a million bottles a day of the hippest bottled water on
the U.S. market today, while more than half the people in
Fiji do not have safe, reliable drinking water. That means
it is easier for the typical American in Beverly Hills or
Baltimore to get a drink of safe, pure, refreshing Fiji
water than it is for most people in Fiji." AND "...people
tell me, 'You guys have done some great marketing to get
customers to pay for water,' " Jeffery says. "But
we aren't that smart. We had to have
a hell of a lot of help from the consumer." AND ONE MORE: "Bottled
water is not a sin. But it is a choice."
Arsenic
Perfluorochemicals
Source Water Protection
Infrastructure
Desalination
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