This week's NEWS

Chicago watches the watchers... contracted water treatment plant security caught sleeping on the job! Half a million people in Norway had to boil water after parasites found in drinking water. Those bigger-than-bacteria parasites pop up in other strange ways and places... but they're not as big as guinea worms! Canada takes a look at chlorine and provides great operator training program. Mark your calendar for WQTC!

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• Illinois city may extend reverse osmosis to cover its surface water as well as ground water (Macomb Journal, October 14)
• South Carolina regional water treatment plant switches to mixed-oxidant process for disinfection (News release, October 21); the Anderson regional water treatment plant process
• Ohio community starts lime softening of hard reservoir water (Delphos Herald, October 22)
• NASA developing distillation-membrane system to recycle astronaut urine (CTV, October 21)
• South Carolina town does annual flushing; plans to change chlorine and SO2 injectors (Orangeburg Times Democrat, October 21)
• Canadian city considers public-private plan for two water treatment plants with up-to-$140 million price tag (CBC News, October 23)

Iron and Manganese

• Massachusetts tri-city agency's ozone-membrane plant under construction (South Coast Today, October 16)

Compliance

• Smaller Oklahoma water systems finding that compliance with drinking water quality rules is expensive - is consolidation the answer? (Muskogee Daily Phoenix, October 22)
• South Dakota town with private wells looks for hookup to adjacent system (Rapid City Journal, October 19)

Security

• Private security firm is fired for "sleeping on the job" at Chicago water treatment plants (Chicago Sun Times, October 22); firm was hired by city despite being ranked last by water agency (Chicago Sun Times, October 23); but "No Access" allowed to Chicago's water intake structures (Chicago Tribune, October 17)

Microbiological

• Finding of waterborne-disease parasites triggers BWA to about 500,000 in Oslo, Norway:
  • Both Giardia and Cryptosporidium found in city's water samples (Aftenposten, October 17)
  • Sampling by private pharmaceutical company provided first alert to city (Aftenposten, October 18)
  • Area of concern is served by one of city's water treatment plants; health advisory info provided (Oslo Kommane, October 19)
  • BWA may have to stay in effect for weeks; new treatment planned in 2008 (Aftenposten, October 18)
  • No... BWA is lifted after assessment of water sampling (Aftenposten, October 22)
• More on parasites:
  • Giardia found in Virginia spring after rain event; water agency shuts it down and plans filtration (Staunton News Leader, October 20)
  • No one "otter" kill river otters just because they "might" carry Giardia (Paradise Post, October 20) and in Massachusetts, beavers may get the "trap" because they threaten a well? (Metrowest Daily News, October 18)
  • Cryptosporidium finding results in closure of raw source water canal for Sydney, AU (Acquire National News, October 20)
• Coliform bacteria:
  • E. coli found in California school's water was not 0157:H7 (Bakersfield Californian, October 19)
  • Unchlorinated Minnesota city's water system gets chlorine after 12 of 41 samples are total coliform positive (Rochester Post-Bulletin, October 20)
  • Positive coliform results in small Massachusetts system lead to state sending in a chlorinator; were the "leaves" to blame? (Springfield Republican, October 20)

Waterborne Disease

• Persistence Pays Off in Guinea Worm Fight (Journal of American Medical Association, October 24/31); more information on the guinea worm disease: Dracunculiasis

Public Notification

• Some of North Carolina utility's customers didn't get the word on BWA (Fayetteville Observer, October 22); the notice (and lifting of BWA) were posted on utility's website

Chlorine

• Canada posts chlorine document for consultation; the guideline technical document: Chlorine in Drinking Water
  Commentary: Readers may want to check out this Health Canada document to see what it does include, since it "...does not propose a guideline for chlorine in drinking water... It does not review the benefits or the processes of chlorination, nor does it assess the health risks related to exposure to by-products formed as a result of the chlorination process."  It might be compared to the information developed for USEPA's promulgation of the MDRL for chlorine as part of the DBP rules.

Disinfection Byproducts

• Montana water district exceeds MCLs for HAA (by a lot) and TTHM (by a little): UV treatment planned (Liberty County Times, October 17)

Legal Matters

• California county's lawyers are reviewing $400 million claim that jail employees were exposed to arsenic health risk (Merced Sun Star, October 17)
• Judge throws out industry's suit against California city which, itself, is seeking legal redress for perchlorate ground water contamination (Riverside Press Enterprise, October 17)
  Commentary: Although they are named in a federal lawsuit concerning the same issue, the judge ruled that "...Goodrich didn't have legal standing in the claim it brought this year against Rialto and the City Council. Goodrich does not have an interest in uncontaminated waters within Rialto. Its interest is clearly in avoiding or shifting the cost of cleanup."

Lead

• USEPA observes National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week 2007
• Canadian city opts for caustic soda to increase pH and decrease corrosion of lead service lines (London Free Press, October 20)

Fluoridation

• Delay in fluoridation start-up at the one South California wholesaler's water treatment plant that serves San Diego County; other four regional plants on schedule (San Diego Union Tribune, October 19)
• South Carolina water district gets CDC fluoridation award (Myrtle Beach Sun News, October 22)

Perchlorate

• Elevated perchlorate found deeper in California aquifer; local water agency and residents hope findings don't delay cleanup of shallower aquifer (Morgan Hill Times, October 20)

NEWS CONTINUES BELOW

Malcolm Pirnie Perchlorate Services Malcolm Pirnie has been active in perchlorate issues since discovery of the contaminant in drinking water in 1997. Since then, we have been a consultant to numerous water systems, worked with both manufacturers of treatment technologies and potentially responsible parties (PRPs), and given expert witness testimony on perchlorate-related matters. For more information on these services, please contact Mike McGuire at either mmcguire@pirnie.com, or visit mcguireinc.com/perchlorate.

Operator Training

• Mobile unit will help train water operators in remote Canadian areas (Thunder Bay's Source, October 18); more information from the Walkerton Clean Water Centre

TCE

• Poultry vaccine plant found to be source of TCE contamination of Delaware community's drinking water (Cape Gazette, October 12)

PFBA

• Drinking water advisory is issued for small Minnesota community; results of legislatively mandated home filter study awaited (Minneapolis Star-Tribune, October 17)

Source Water Protection

• Threat from fuel distribution terminal to Dayton, OH, ground water source is assessed (Dayton Daily News, October 19)
• "From Bad to Thirst: How the nation's breadbasket is poisoning its own water supply" (Grist Magazine, October 16) (Editor's note: This article, which is one of a multiple-part series about food and farming, is from an environmental-advocacy publication and certain biases peek through. Be forewarned!)

Bottled Water

• Chicago jumps on anti-bottled water wagon: A tax on water? A tax on plastic? Or... just a way to capitalize on a popular issue to raise money? (USA Today, October 17)

MTBE

• One New York county's results from statewide MTBE testing program hint at good news (Poughkeepsie Journal, October 22)

Conferences/Webcasts

• AWWA's Water Quality Technology Conference is coming up November 4-8 in Charlotte, NC
• Total Coliform Rule Revisited webcast will be November 14

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