This week's NEWS

Chloramines: 68 million people can't be wrong... can they? Squeaky wheels get disproportionate amount of grease. Only in California: Larger systems issue their Public Health Goal reports. You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant... or if you start a man-in-the-street blog on fluoridation. And yes, Dorothy... you are in Kansas! Good neighbor policy still applies in Iowa. The new anti-bottled water mantra: "It's not what you drink... it's what you drink it in!"

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State Updates

• Colorado's Summer 2007 Aqua Talk  (PDF file, 495 K)
• Nebraska's July Water Spout  (PDF file, 158 K)
  Commentary: Bacteriological sampling issues are a common theme in these two mid-USA states' drinking water program newsletters. Colorado's fresh new newsletter features interesting pieces on investigating positive coliform results, including a special form (Word document, 83.5 K) and Nebraska "spouts" about sampling plans.
• An updated, current version of California's Drinking Water Law book is available    
• Mandated state agency reports on PWS violations: For Oklahoma (PDF file, 158 K) and for Pennsylvania (PDF file, 552 K)
  Commentary: "Section 1414(C)(3)(A)(i) of the amended federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) requires States with primacy to prepare and submit to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) an annual report on public water system violations."

Security

• S. 1968, the Water Security Act of 2007, would fund security measures; here is the statement by the primary sponsor, Senator Inhofe (R-OK)
• Arkansas utility says legislative mandate to use alternative disinfectants would increase cost of water (Springdale Morning News, August 13)

Water Violations

• Iowa town gets BWA after state notes multiple violations (Des Moines Register, August 9); state will take legal action; big neighbor utility pitches in with lots of help (Iowa DNR, August 10); BWA lifted by state (Des Moines Register, August 14)
  Commentary: The bright spot of this incident is the way the Des Moines Water Works responded with emergency help and ongoing training assistance for its smaller neighbor.
• EPA Region 6 issues compliance orders to owner of six small private systems for multiple violations (USEPA Region 6 news release, August 10)

Microbiological

• Small Colorado town residents told to boil water for eight days while turbidity levels are high. Eight days? (Rocky Mountain News, August 8)
• North Carolina community residents advised to boil their water after E. coli detection (HULIQ, August 14)

"Do Not Drink" Advisory

• Two-week-long advisory after diesel fuel spill into clear well lifted for Canadian system (Peterborough Examiner, August 14)

Chloramines

• Pennsylvania utility delays switch to chloramines at two water treatment plants to respond to objections (Carlisle Sentinel, August 11); Pennsylvania township supports the delay (Patriot News, August 2); Q&A on chloramines (Patriot News, August 10)
• Georgia city switches a few of its customers to chloramines (Savannah Morning News, August 14)
  Commentary: Savannah's mix of surface and ground water supplies is interesting as is the reason for switching to chloramines for only a small percent of just those customers served by the aptly-named "Industrial and Domestic Treatment Plant." Apparently most of the water from the water treatment plant goes to industrial services where the residence time in the system is short.  
• San Francisco's experience with using chloramines examined in presentation made at June 2007 AWWA ACE

Water Treatment

• Missouri town must initiate permanent chlorination of system; health officials look into reports of disease (Springfield News-Leader, August 8)
• Plane crash delays Georgia water filter plant debut... it missed the plant! (Atlanta Journal Constitution, August 9); information on the new plant
• Connecticut city upgrades its water treatment plant with ozone and switch to sodium hypochlorite (Journal Inquirer, August 9)
• New Jersey township opts for blending to lower calcium and sodium levels (North Jersey Record, August 10)

NEWS CONTINUES BELOW

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C8 (PFOA)

• C8 blood levels down for people who avoided water with the chemical (Marietta Times, August 14)

Lead

• Small North Carolina town takes six months to issue state-mandated notice after one sample is above lead action level (Burlington Times News, August 10)

Water Quality Reports

• CCRs: In Massachusetts, it appears that one customer's reading of a town's CCR focused the media's attention: Failure to test chlorine all year termed "minor" (Milford Daily News, August 11)
• PHGs in California:
  • Thousand Oaks' mandated "triennial" PHG report gets media attention (Thousand Oaks Acorn, August 9)
  • Fullerton's council hears about high costs associated with eliminating sub-MCL levels of contaminants (Orange County Register, August 8)

  Commentary: California's unique law requires that systems serving more than 10,000 prepare a detailed report comparing system water quality with the PHGs (Public Health Goals) that are somewhat, but not precisely, akin to MCLGs at the federal level. The reports are required every three years and must provide the governing board with information on how much it would cost to essentially reach non-detect levels of all contaminants.

EDs and PCPPs

• New report on potential endocrine-disrupting compounds in drinking water (AwwaRF news release, August 7)

Arsenic

• California district gets new contracted build-and-operate water treatment plant to remove arsenic: 8.5 MGD ion exchange at $175 per acre-foot (San Bernardino County Sun, August 14)

Aesthetics

• Algae is culprit behind T&O in DC's drinking water; algaecide used in reservoir (WJLA, August 11) and in Tennessee town where carbon is focus of corrective effort (WMC TV, August 13)
• Southern California city's old main replacement program is gradually paying off with fewer colored water complaints (Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, August 10)
• Albany, NY's water a winner in regional taste contest (Albany Times Union, August 11)

Polonium 210

• Nevada DEP offers well owners in one county assistance with well testing for radioactivity (PDF file, 62 K) as well as Information on Polonium and CDC FAQ's (PDF files, 35 K and 25 K)

Fluoridation

• Fluoride shortage has U.S. and Canadian cities scrambling (CanWest News, August 11); supply woes have caused interruptions in Ottawa's treatment in recent months... cost of treatment chemical has doubled (Ottawa Citizen, August 11)
• Cape Cod town's plan to start fluoridating water may face referendum (Cape Cod Times, August 10)
• Kansas newspaper asks, "Do you think fluoride should be added to public water sources?" (Lawrence Journal World, August 11) (Warning: Do not open and read all of the reader comments unless you are prepared to grieve about the state of education in the U.S.)

Perchlorate

• Proposed California regulatory order may require cleanup to pre-existing levels, not just to health-based standard (Gilroy Dispatch, August 12)
• Massachusetts perchlorate well treatment facility delayed again (Republican, August 12)
• Judge rules for industries re: California state regulatory agency's planned compliance hearing (Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, August 14)
• Study shows perchlorate is in water at Vermont quarry where blasting has been extensive (Rutland Herald, August 8)

Nitrate

• Texas town seems to have nitrates: Come rain or come shine (San Marcos Daily Record, August 10)

Desalination

• $87 million Texas desalination plant is dedicated (El Paso Times, August 8); El Paso plant and training center
• Good news from Yuma, AZ, desalting plant: Membranes fine after long idle period (Arizona Republic, August 10)
• Cyprus plans three desalination plants by 2013 (Cyprus Mail, August 3); some residents near one proposed "temporary" plant angry; fear impact on tourism (Cyprus Mail, August 10)

Bottled Water

• "Water, water everywhere, but guilt by the bottleful" (New York Times, August 12), and, of course, alternative-product companies are piggybacking on Americans' plastic-water-bottle remorse (Los Angeles Times, August 14)

Water Reuse

• Anti-recycling group's full-page ad: Toilet To Tap (PDF file, 1.16 MB)
  Commentary: Actually, the group purports not to be "against" recycling, but rather they are against reuse that doesn't provide for "full" treatment – treatment systems that remove everything! They hold up the Orange County, CA, treatment system as the minimum necessary for any recycling project.
• Victoria, Australia's desalination chief favors including recycled wastewater in drinking water mix (The Age, August 10)

Water Research

• AWWA publication available: Long-Term Effects of Disinfection Changes on Water Quality

Source Water Protection

• Third Annual State Source Water Protection Workshop will be September 19 in San Diego (PDF file, 539 K)
• USEPA's August Watershed News
• Watershed groups looking for legislation to protect Connecticut drinking water sources (Redding Pilot, August 10)

Conferences

• AWWA's Distribution System Symposium Conference will be September 23-26 in Cleveland; here is a list of the technical sessions at DSS that are of particular interest re: Water Quality (PDF file, 58 K)

Private Wells

• The New England Private Well Symposium will be December 3-4 in Rhode Island
• Wisconsin 12-year study finds private wells have contamination problems (Beaver Dam Daily Citizen, August 8)
• Survey finds harmful agents in Maine private well water (North Kennebec Valley Morning Sentinel, August 9)
• Illinois officials testing water for Hinckley private wells (Aurora Beacon News, August 11)
• Free arsenic and nitrate tests offered to Wisconsin private well owners (Appleton Post-Gazette, August 13)
• Steps are being taken to solve TCE and PCE ground water contamination in Chico, CA, area (Chico Enterprise Record, August 9)

International

• Greek town finds "higher-than-expected levels of carcinogenic depleted chromium"  in source samples (Ekathimerini, August 10)
• Arsenic is latest toxin to leak into a Chinese river source of drinking water (International Herald Tribune, August 13)

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