This week's NEWS

Total coliform rule is on the front burner and a BWA in Florida may provide more information to evaluate. USEPA publishes revisions to Lead and Copper Rule. Water quality researcher receives "genius" award.  When is it okay to poison a lake that is a drinking water source? And... Virginia gets all "funky" about reclaimed water.

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Federal Update

• TCRDSAC meets again! This time it's a public meeting in D.C. October 17-18 (Federal Register, October 1); AWWA gives a good update on what's happening with the Total Coliform Rule (PDF file, 28 K)
  Commentary: The members of the advisory committee and the supporting Technical Workgroup have set out a very ambitious schedule with 10 public meetings and many working meetings in the next year or less. There is a mountain of information available and forthcoming that will need to be sorted through. It is good to see that the committee will be keeping in mind the simultaneous compliance with other rules (i.e. GWR, LCR and D/DBPR).  The rule won't hit the streets until about 2011-12. Burning questions: What will happen to the total coliform test? Will there be a federal cross-connection rule?
• AWWA's assessment of the USEPA drinking-water regulatory schedule? (PDF file, 23 K)

State Updates

• State drinking water newsletters:
  • Idaho's October Drinking Water Newsletter (PDF file, 345 K)
  • Maine's Fall Service Connection  (PDF file, 538 K)
  • Vermont's Fall Waterline  (PDF file, 705 K)
  Commentary: Vermont highlights WARN, the new mutual-aid model that is getting increased attention across the U.S. Information is available at WaterSC's website.
• Annual state reports to USEPA on PWS Compliance reports:
  • Arkansas (PDF file, 246 K)
  • Idaho (PDF file, 882 K)
  • Montana (PDF file, 151 K) 
• California workshop on PHGs for Molinate and TCP changed to November 26

Awards

• Virginia Tech Professor Marc Edwards named a MacArthur Fellow (Virginia Tech News, September 26); the "genius award" of $0.5 million recognizes Edwards' unique contributions to drinking water quality (Roanoke Times, September 25); why MacArthur selected Edwards; about the MacArthur Fellowship program?

Lead

• USEPA's final revisions to the Lead and Copper Rule; the final pre-Federal Register-publication rule (PDF file, 318 K); Fact Sheet and Economic Analysis (PDF file, 555 K)
  Commentary: The revised rule includes important changes in sample site selection, reporting results to consumers, getting state approval of treatment changes, lead-line replacement, and, particularly, public education.
• North Carolina utility sees significantly lower lead results after change in water treatment chemical (Lexington Dispatch, October 1)
• Brown University science students find high lead values in older campus buildings in Rhode Island (Brown Daily Herald, October 1)

Arsenic

• Irish health officials send seemingly conflicting messages about town's arsenic levels: It isn't dangerous, but don't drink it! (Gorey Guardian, September 26)
• California desert agency's well is "a shade too high" in arsenic but blending puts delivered water below MCL (Antelope Valley Press, September 29)
• California school faces Catch 22: Arsenic or nitrate? (Manteca Sun Post, September 29)

Radiological

• USGS reports on a study of uranium and radon occurrence in northern U.S. aquifers
  Commentary: In the abstract, there is a reference to "the USEPA Alternative Maximum Contaminant Level (AMCL) of 4,000 pCi/L." The word "proposed" should have preceded the AMCL. 
• Wisconsin city's $31.5 million radium removal project gets underway (Fond du Lac Reporter, September 30)

Boron

• USGS study evaluated use of boron isotopes, tritium, and water chemistry to identify human vs. natural sources of boron in ground water

Legal Matters

• Appeals court rules California county can be sued for failing to perform "mandatory duty" to notify residents about high naturally occurring fluoride levels in a public water system (Monterey Herald, September 28)

Compliance

• California city cited by state for nitrate, uranium, arsenic, and manganese violations (Modesto Bee, September 28)

Water Treatment

• Texas city switches back to chloramines after two-month hiatus on free chlorine related in part to BWA (Corpus Christi Caller-Times, September 22) (Note: See related story under Microbiological)
• California water treatment plant gets $12 million "efficiency" upgrade, including new sedimentation basin (Stockton Record, September 29)
• United Water New York submits Hudson River treatment plans to state (Journal News, October 2)
  Commentary: United Water New York's website indicates that the treatment will be desalination via reverse osmosis membranes. The proposed treatment is likely to provide some sense of relief for those who are concerned about unusual contaminants, such as PCBs and strontium.
• Canadian health officer calls for filtering town's surface water; high TTHMs and lack of reliability of only chlorination are cited (CBC News, September 27)
• Ohio residents relate health problems to pink water from potassium permanganate (WBNS, September 27)

Microbiological

• Corpus Christi, TX, council will get consultant's report on cause of recent BWA-related problem; monitoring changes will be recommended (Corpus Christi Caller-Times, September 29)
• Research shows normal drinking water levels of free chlorine will inactivate pathogenic avian flu virus (Emerging Infectious Diseases, PDF file, 39 K)
• West Palm Beach issues BWA after thirteen samples positive for fecal organisms; chlorination and flushing underway (South Florida Sun Sentinel, September 30); search for the cause: construction sites, sewage spills, etc. (Palm Beach Post, October 1); Boil-water order disrupts life (South Florida Sun-Sentinel, October 2)

NEWS CONTINUES BELOW

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Aesthetics

• Aussies say it clearly: "Damn that algae - it's a blooming nuisance" (Sydney Morning Herald, September 27)

Source Water Protection

• California Fish and Game poisons drinking water lake to kill invasive Northern Pike (Sacramento Bee, September 26)
  Commentary: The state is optimistic that, unlike the 1997 effort, this well-planned and executed assault on the dreaded pike will be successful. Already this year's operation has not seen a repeat of the highly vocal local opposition. The state drinking water primacy agency is fully involved in assuring that there will be no unacceptable residual remaining from the treatment with a rotenone-type chemical (CFT Legumine) before use of the lake as a source of drinking water is resumed.
• AwwaRF issues two RFPs on small system issues: One relates to cost-benefit of source water protection programs (AwwaRF news release, September 26; PDF file, 28 K)

Perchlorate

• California city's perchlorate-contaminated ground water is serious but not likely to be declared a "state of emergency" (Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, October 2)
• Defense contractor agrees to $8+ million settlement for cleanup of ground water contamination from 30 years of munitions testing at Massachusetts military base (Cape Cod Times, October 2)

Fluoridation

• Pennsylvania lawmakers consider fluoridation mandate; utility takes neutral stance but will continue to fluoridate in recently acquired system (York Dispatch, September 27)
• Juneau, AK, voters will decide on drinking water fluoridation (Juneau Empire, September 27); pro-fluoride campaign expenditures outweigh opponents (Juneau Empire, September 30)
• Effort to amend Corning, NY, city charter to prohibit fluoridation moves forward; city council voted to start fluoridating in May 2007 (Corning Star-Gazette, September 28)
• Ohio city council votes on adding fluoride to drinking water as mandated by state law for 5000+ person systems (Dayton Daily News, October 1)
• Not everyone is happy about drinking water fluoridation coming to Southern California (Malibu Times, September 26)

PCE and TCE

• ATSDR study indicates no link between TCE in environment and disease incidence in Massachusetts county (The Republican, September 29); draft of the study (PDF file, 3.61 MB)
• Arizona cities take precautions after TCE found in nearby industrial area wells (Scottsdale East Valley Tribune, September 28)
• Senate passes DOD appropriations rider requiring Navy to notify millions of past-Camp Lejeune Marines and dependents about TCE (Springfield Republican, September 30)

Desalination

• Southern California desalination plant will have back-up plan for operation during low-flow periods at power plant on site (San Diego Union Tribune, September 27)

Water Reuse

• Virginia proposes state regulatory scheme to promote recycling (Hampton Roads Virginian Pilot, September 29)
  Commentary: Perhaps Virginia will contribute to the reclaimed water lexicon with this definition, compliments of the news reporter: "Recycled water is essentially treated wastewater - minus the bacteria and funk."  Now all we need is a good workable definition of "funk!" 
• Debate on water recycling in San Diego: A "where are we now" primer (San Diego Union Tribune, October 1)
  Commentary: From the readers' comments accompanying this article, it is clear that the Padres' late-inning collapse under the weight of the Rockies has turned loose the wolves to address other issues in the city.

Conferences

• The Water Environment Federation's Annual Conference to be held in San Diego October 13-17
  Commentary: There is a lot for drinking water devotees to digest at WEFTEC (aka The Water Quality Event), including sessions on "Impact of WW treatment on DW quality," UV disinfection of reclaimed water (PDF files, 93.8 K and 89.4 K), and a number of papers on arsenic, uranium, and emerging contaminants of concern. 

Bottled Water

• California regional water agency resolves: No more district $$$ for bottled water (Santa Clara Valley WD news release, September 25)

Private Wells

• Last Cape Cod town without a public water system rejects $76 million project (Cape Cod Online, October 2)
• Benzene found in one Wyoming private well (Wyoming DEQ news release, September 26; PDF file, 190 K) 
• Temporary water system provided to Maryland owners of contaminated wells (Annapolis Capitol, October 1)

International

• NBC's nightly news specials on "Thirsty Planet" (msnbc.com)
• Pakistani NGOs get USAID funding for drinking water and hygiene projects (Pakistan Daily Times, September 27)

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