safedrinkingwater.com NEWS -- August 27, 2008 -- Volume 9, No. 35

August 27, 2008 – Volume 9, No. 35

This week's NEWS

How many bacteriological samples are needed... to be enough? Dustup in Florida over implementation of backflow prevention device requirements shows once again: Cross-connection control can be messy! New health-effects questions raised about arsenic in drinking water. International effort to evaluate bioassay methods for some potential endocrine disruptors shows progress. It's summertime; do you know where your cyanobacteria are? Political water in Denver is refreshing!

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Quick Links Navigation:

• Federal Updates
• State Updates
• Microbiological
• Arsenic
• Cross-Connection Control
• Disinfection Byproducts

• Endocrine Disruptors
• Political Waters
• Perchlorate
• Lead in the Environment
• Cyanobacteria (Blue-green
algae)

• Fluoridation
• Invasive Species
• Infrastructure
• Desalination
• General Information
• International

Federal Updates

USEPA conducts water testing preparedness exercise with labs in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska (USEPA Region 7 news release, August 25)

State Updates

Nebraska's August Water Spout newsletter (PDF file, 168 K)
Iowa's 2007 water system compliance report shows improvements in D/DBP-rule
compliance; the full report (PDF file, 750 K)
Report on USEPA's review of Montana's drinking water program (PDF file, 500 K)
Commentary: This is the report that precipitated Montana Governor Schweitzer's action to increase staffing of the state drinking water primacy agency as reported in last week's NEWS.

Microbiological

Boil water advisory issued for Wareham, MA (South Coast Today, August 23); emergency chlorination of the system will continue for awhile as post-mortem review is set (South Coast Today, August 26); and BWA likely to be lifted soon after three consecutive days of negative samples (South Coast Today, August 26)
Commentary: It was just a year ago... that Wareham suffered through eight days of a BWA after E. coli findings. A city official says there is something about this time of year that leads to these events?
Multiple Massachusetts boil water advisories put spotlight on frequency of sampling (Avon Messenger, August 26)
Commentary: This local news story misses the real reason for wide variation in frequency and number of coliform samples in different water systems. It's all about size... and cost! The larger the system (as measured by the population served), the more samples required by the federal and state bacteriological regulations. This makes sense, since more people are at risk and larger systems are more complex and spread out. There is a bit of irony, however, since larger systems are also, in general, attended by qualified operators a much greater portion of the time and usually employ more sophisticated automatic equipment to continuously monitor water quality and treatment processes. The sampling frequency will surely be reviewed as part of the current USEPA TCRDS rule process. (Editor's Note: Before all of the small water systems and their competent operators light up the switchboard, note that we said: "In general," not "in all cases.")

Arsenic

Arsenic Exposure and Prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes in US Adults (Abstract, Journal of the American Medical Association, August 20); the JAMA report prompts this type of hyperbolic headline: Is Your Drinking Water Giving You Diabetes? (US NEWS and World Report, August 26)
Research looks at the relation of certain dietary intakes to excretion of arsenic in humans (Environmental Health Perspectives, August 20)

Cross-Connection Control

Florida system's requirements for backflow devices spurs backlash (Tampa Tribune, August 25)
Commentary: Cross-connection control is an extremely important aspect of protecting drinking water quality and the health of consumers, but it is not simple and it's not easy. The difficulties are illustrated by the fact that the USEPA has never (yet) attempted to regulate cross-connections. The states have been left on their own to cover this waterfront... taking the plumbing codes a step further. One of the most difficult issues is deciding whether to require meter protection, and what level of protection to require, when there is an unapproved, alternative source of water on the premises for irrigation use... and when there is no direct connection between the systems (...or at least there isn't supposed to be!).

Disinfection Byproducts

Australian research looks at NDMA formation during chlorination of water containing a variety of nitrogenous compounds (Australia's Cooperative Research Center; PDF file, 950 K)
Research looks at possibility that some disinfection byproducts could cause a particular pregnancy effect (American Journal of Epidemiology, Vol. 168, no. 5)
Commentary: The study showed some correlation of the adverse effect with nitrates, but "...there was no significant relation with exposure to trihalomethanes."

Endocrine Disruptors

Global water research group's report describes international effort to evaluate bioassays for assessing estrogenic activity (Global Water Research Coalition; PDF file, 3.3 MB)

Political Waters

Denver combines technologies to get water to conventioneers without too many plastic bottles (Denver Post, August 24)
Commentary: Where else would they combine technologies borrowed from beer-making (think Coors!) and dairy farming to develop a water delivery system to comfort those afflicted by overheated rhetoric at a political convention? Even Gunga Din is invoked!

Perchlorate