This week's NEWS

A clearly necessary boil water advisory and epidemiological efforts and all of those micro risk- assessment terms are defined! AMWA politely asks Congress to butt out... of water treatment decisions. Does slowing down the replacement of lead service lines in D.C. make good sense? And speaking of lead, should your neighbors know what the results of your lead tests are? What the TCR/DS advisory committee is hearing/seeing is worth hearing and seeing. Check it out! Ireland EPA flexes its new enforcement muscles.

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Federal Updates

• Excellent presentations by the Technical Working Group to EPA's TCR/DS advisory committee at January 2008 meeting are available

State Updates

• Minnesota's Spring 2008 Waterline newsletter (PDF file, 6 pages)
• Oklahoma's statewide ground water monitoring results (PDF file, 45 pages)
  Commentary: Wow! There are statistics for everyone. Just when we were worried about "kurtosis" in the water, we find out that it "...refers to the peak sharpness of a distribution curve."

Distribution System Issues

• Research: Pipe scales release hazardous metals into drinking water (Environmental Science and Technology, January 23); EPA has some excellent papers available on this topic
  Commentary: Of interest is the thought that EPA could regulate this aspect of delivered water quality under the Distribution System rubric of the TCR/DS rule currently being developed. (See the final presentation under the Federal Update item above)
• Century-old water mains in Massachusetts impact water quality: They're running out of Red-B-Gone! (Attleboro Sun Chronicle, January 27)

Microbiological

• In telephone survey of small sample of West Palm Beach, FL, residents, 12% say drinking water during September episode made them sick (South Florida Sun-Sentinel, January 25)
• Finnish city still trying to eliminate Norovirus from water system (Helsingin Sanomat, January 28)
• Small North Carolina water system customers get BWA and react to the chlorine taste (Greensboro News-Record, January 27)
• Now here's a BWA that was really necessary! Manure lagoon pipe break spills waste into Maryland source water (Frederick News-Post, January 29) (Editor's Note: Check out the notification method used!)
• USEPA thesaurus of terms used in microbial risk assessment
  Commentary: It will be helpful to have this reference handy when you are lying in bed at night engrossed in a comprehensive epidemiological study of a waterborne disease outbreak. And... where else could you find out that when your boss tosses out "ceteris paribus" at coffee break, he just means "other things equal."

Water Treatment

• Storm at Lake Tahoe plugs intakes to California water district's "shining star" UV treatment system (Nevada Appeal, January 29)

Disinfection Byproducts

• High chlorine used to "bleach" brown water in some Mississippi systems results in elevated TTHMs... 29 PWSs exceed MCL (Jackson Clarion Ledger, January 28)

Security

• AMWA tells Congress to leave water treatment to water managers (AMWA news release, January 23); Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Act of 2008 (PDF file, 2.11 MB); House Committee on Homeland Security markup information
  Commentary: AMWA's letter emphasizes the difference between drinking water entities and for-profit chemical manufacturers and stresses the need to "maintain protections in existing law that prevent the federal government from interfering with local choice in water treatment methods."

Conferences

• Another symposium in GRAC's Groundwater Contaminants series: Site Closure Strategies,  February 20-21 in Concord, CA (PDF file, 4 pages)
• There are a lot of water quality topics on tap at USDA-CSREES 2008 National Water Conference, February 3-7 in Sparks, NV

Chloramines

• Vermont state legislator ponders possible legislative responses to complaints about chloramine use (Burlington Free Press, January 25)

Invasive Species

• Calcium is limiting water quality factor for invasive mussels (Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 2008:6)
• San Francisco Bay area utility bans boats on reservoirs as precaution against invasive mussels (San Francisco Chronicle, January 24); California Department of Fish and Game website on zebra and quagga mussels

Legal Matters

• Former New York City DEP employee pleads guilty to falsifying water quality data (Mid-Hudson News, January 24)
• Arizona DEQ and mining company reach agreement to resolve sulfate contamination of ground water (Sierra Vista Herald, January 26); the Consent Order (PDF file, 15 pages)
• New York state attorney general sues to recover costs to cleanup New York City ground water contamination (NY Newsday, January 24)
• Lawsuit for property damages only re-filed in North Carolina after personal injury claims dismissed (Burlington Times News, January 27)

Lead

• Washington, DC's water agency wants public input on possible cutback of lead line replacement; orthophosphate treatment has been effective (Washington Post, January 26)
• Canadian city won't make home lead-sample test results public... but should they? (Windsor Star, January 29)
• You should not drink hot water from the tap! Sez who? (New York Times, January 29)
  Commentary: No "experts" are cited by this "science reporter," but most water system water quality staff will concur. It's all about the effect of temperature on chemical reactions. One "expert" opinion can be found on pages 76-77 in the helpful little book "Plain Talk About Drinking Water," which should be in every water library.

NEWS CONTINUES BELOW

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TCE and PCE

• Scottsdale, AZ, will study options to replace private utility's water service in small portion of city after TCE incidents (Arizona Republic, January 23), and adjacent small city mayor doesn't want any solution to cut his city off from the bigger neighbor (Scottsdale East Valley Tribune, January 26)
• Arizona superfund site cleanup project is celebrated (USEPA Region 9 news release, January 24)
  Commentary: This worthwhile project seems to illustrate the principle of diminishing returns that is pretty much part of any ground water cleanup project. The added facility will treat 5 million gallons per year and remove 140 lbs of TCE. In the prior 14 years, almost 300 times as much TCE was removed from only 10 times as much water.

Arsenic

• Small New Mexico towns seek funding assistance from state legislature to address arsenic problems (Valencia County News-Bulletin, January 23)
• North Dakota towns collaborate to get more funds for arsenic treatment (Minot Daily News, January 24)
• Small private utility gets Arizona city's approval to install treatment facility at well (Prescott Daily Courier, January 27)
• Idaho city weighs options to address arsenic, including variations of treat and blend surface and ground water (Twin Falls Times-News, January 29); perspectives differ on the need for action (Twin Falls Times-News, January 29)
• Drinking Water Arsenic Exposure Modulates Gene Expression in Human Lymphocytes from a U.S. Population (Environmental Health Perspectives, January 23)

Perchlorate

• FDA report on perchlorate in food spurs calls for federal regulation (Chemical and Engineering News, January 24); info on that report (SDW.com NEWS, January 16)
• California city council fires their lawyer, who has advocated legal action on perchlorate issue (San Bernardino County Sun, January 28)

Fluoridation

• Customers ringing South Blount, TN, phones over fluoridation decision (Maryville Daily Times, January 24)
• January 25, 1945: Fluoridation – Better Teeth, or Commie Plot? (Wired Magazine, January 25)
• Colorado town residents will vote on whether or not to start fluoridation (Longmont Times-Call, January 26)
• Costs are major consideration in Canadian regional council's decision not to fluoridate... again; situation is complicated (Welland Tribune, January 26)
• Editorial: Northern California wholesaler should fluoridate; each of seven retail agencies must approve (Arcata Eye, January 29)

Desalination

• Tampa Bay, FL's major seawater desalination plant works out all of the kinks and now the ribbon-cutting will take place (WFTS News, January 25)
• Report shows growth in global market for desalting (Water Online, January 28)

Source Water Protection

• USEPA's January Watershed News
• Massachusetts town gets $500,000 grant to buy land within ground water recharge zone (Medfield Press, January 26)
• Watershed group's study on transfer of development rights gets mixed reaction... improved watershed protection is the goal (Ann Arbor News, January 27)

General Contamination

• In Michigan ground water, it's pCBSA... or is it: DDT + chlorobenzene = NAPL? (Morning Sun, January 27)

Gasoline and Water

• California city shuts down well in its ground water recovery program when 1.3 ppm MTBE found (Orange County Register, January 24) 
• Kalamazoo, MI, resumes pumping ground water from gasoline-contaminated ground water area with treatment (Kalamazoo Gazette, January 25)
• Massachusetts town pressures Exxon to pay for hookup and supply from adjacent town (Worcester Telegram, January 25)
• Minnesota officials ask: Are ethanol plants using too much water? (Minnesota Star Tribune, January 28)

Water Reuse

• Bangalore, India, officials promote recycled water for drinking purposes (Khaleej Times, January 24)
• Non-potable water reuse project initiated in Michigan city (Holland Sentinel, January 27)
• Orange County, CA, project treats wastewater for ground water recharge and eventual drinking water supply (Chemical and Engineering News, January 28)

International

• Ireland EPA issues report on effects of its new-found enforcement powers (IEPA News Release, January 24); the report shows many systems vulnerable to water quality problems (Irish Independent, January 22); the report: The Provision and Quality of Drinking Water in Ireland - A Report for the Years 2006-2007
• China sulfuric acid leak contaminates ground water supply and causes illness (International Herald Tribune, January 24)
• New drilled wells will make big difference in Ugandan villagers' life (London Guardian, January 27)

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