NEW YORK, March 10, 2008 (Water Tech) — Pharmaceuticals in water gain national attention
LISLE, IL, March 11, 2008 (Water Tech) — WQA, AP reporter comment on POU effectiveness
NEW YORK, March 11, 2008 (Water Tech) — Some utilities wary of reporting non-regulated contaminants
RIALTO, CA, February 21, 2008 (Water Tech) — San Bernadino County to clean up perchlorate
MADISON, WI, February 22, 2008 (Water Tech) — Illegal atrazine use detected in well water
RONKONKOMA, NY, February 25, 2008 (Water Tech) — Heightened MTBE threat for New York communities
WASHINGTON, February 26, 2008 (Water Tech) — 2006 pipe replacement raised lead levels
DANBY, VT, February 26, 2008 (Water Tech) — Vermont group charges chloramine hazards dismissed
WASHINGTON, March 4, 2008 (Water Tech) — Bill calls for tougher federal TCE standards
LISLE, IL, March 18, 2008 (Water Tech) — Tap water quality concerns consumers — survey
RESTON, VA, March 18, 2008 (Water Tech) — Trace pesticides in treated Oregon drinking water
Pharmaceuticals in water gain national attention
NEW YORK, March 10, 2008 (Water Tech) — At least 41 million Americans receive drinking water tainted by an array of pharmaceuticals, including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, caffeine, mood stabilizers and sex hormones, according to a recent investigative report by The Associated Press.
The report, covered in various media outlets ranging from The Washington Post to CNN to AOL News, confirms that the pharmaceuticals in drinking water sources and treated drinking water are in trace amounts. “Utilities insist their water is safe,” according to the report.
The AP report, stemming from a five-month inquiry, revealed that drugs have been detected in the drinking water supplies of 24 major metropolitan areas, from Southern California to northern New Jersey, from Detroit to Louisville, KY.
In the Washington, DC, area, for example, drinking water contains trace amounts of seven pharmaceuticals, including those administered to humans, used as an ingredient in soap products or administered to farm animals. The list, supplied to The Washington Post by water supplier Washington Aqueduct, includes caffeine; carbamazepine, an anti-convulsive to reduce epileptic seizures and a mood stabilizer for treating bipolar disorders; monensin, an antibiotic administered to cattle; sulfamethoxazole, an antibiotic that can be used to treat infections in humans and animals; and triclocarban, a disinfectant found in antibacterial soaps.
AOL News’ coverage of the report offers a snapshot of cities found to have pharmaceuticals in their drinking water. It also polls readers on their water beverage of choice (bottled vs. tap) and asks, “How concerned are you about the drugs found in drinking water?” Of 387,286 poll respondents, 57 percent answered that they drank bottled water.
Readers offering their opinion on how concerned they are regarding drugs in drinking water were offered three responses: “very,” “a little” and “not at all.” Of 373,628 poll respondents, the majority — 70 percent — said they were “very” concerned and just 9 said “not at all.”
As WaterTech Online™ has reported, the area of research into drinking water contaminated by pharmaceuticals is emerging and more reports nationally and internationally are detailing the potential impacts on aquatic and human life.
The Water Quality Association (WQA), a Lisle, IL-based association of water treatment professionals, has included pharmaceuticals, also known as endocrine disrupting chemicals, among “emerging contaminants” and noted that the water treatment industry will be looked upon as a resource for technology to remove the contaminants from drinking water, as WaterTech Online reported.
Multi-Pure Commentary:
Click here to read Multi-Pure’s Press Release
MULTI-PURE RESPONDS TO AP REPORT ON DRUGS IN WATER
WQA, AP reporter comment on POU effectiveness
LISLE, IL, March 11, 2008 (Water Tech) — In the wake of the recently released Associated Press report on pharmaceuticals in US drinking water supplies, the Water Quality Association (WQA), based here, has issued a statement saying residential point-of-use (POU) water treatment devices offer the “best protection” for drinking water.
The WQA statement, available on the association’s Web site, offers what it describes as facts for consumers to consider, such as: “Filtering systems in the home provide the highest technology available for treatment of drinking water.”
The WQA states that residential POU systems “act as a final contaminant barrier,” further purifying water for drinking that already is treated and meeting federal Safe Drinking Water Act regulations.
Joe Harrison, WQA technical director, told WaterTech Online™ that one important point for consumers to consider is that water treatment technologies effective at removing pharmaceuticals, such as reverse osmosis, are cost-effective when working at POU. “When you go to a home, we can apply these high technologies and they don’t become too expensive because we’re only treating 1 or 2 percent of the water at the most,” said Harrison.
While there are no federal safety standards on pharmaceuticals in drinking water and currently there is no ANSI-accredited certification program for product performance for pharmaceuticals, the WQA offered this:
“Many point-of-use technologies have proven effective for some of these emerging contaminants. Nanofiltration and reverse osmosis systems removed drugs tested by the Colorado School of Mines at full-scale facilities in Arizona and California. Activated carbon, distillation, ozonation, and advanced oxidization have likewise shown promise in removing many of these contaminants.”
The WQA statement echoes what AP investigative reporter Jeff Donn told The NewsHour’s Ray Suarez during a March 10 interview regarding the AP’s five-month inquiry into pharmaceuticals in drinking water supplies across the United States. The NewsHour is broadcast on PBS.
Suarez asked Donn what consumers can do to remove trace amounts of pharmaceuticals from their home drinking water. Donn said that while home water treatment systems “are not designed” to remove pharmaceuticals, “they may remove some of them.”
Donn also suggested consumers concerned about contaminants in their drinking water have their water tested by an independent local water chemistry laboratory.
Water quality experts are examining pharmaceuticals and other emerging contaminants, such as those found in personal care products and pesticides, as WaterTech Online™ reported.
Some utilities wary of reporting non-regulated contaminants
NEW YORK, March 11, 2008 (Water Tech) — Although many water departments are aware of trace amounts of pharmaceuticals in their water, they often do not release information about those substances, a March 10 Associated Press story said. The utilities and others cite various reasons behind their decisions not to provide the information, according to the story.
Water utilities are not required by federal or state law to report the presence of substances that are not designated as regulated contaminants, and pharmaceuticals are not so designated. However, some water agencies also contend that, if such substances were detected, customers who do not understand or know how to interpret test results might become unduly alarmed, according to the AP.
“They hear something has been detected in source water and drinking water, and that’s cause for alarm — just because it’s there,” Elaine Archibald, executive director of California Urban Water Agencies, an 11-member organization comprised of the largest water providers in California, was quoted as saying in the story.
Although federal law requires water providers to distribute annual “consumer confidence reports” that reveal levels of federally regulated contaminants, many contaminants, including pharmaceuticals, are not regulated, the story said.
San Bernadino County to clean up perchlorate
RIALTO, CA, February 21, 2008 (Water Tech) — The City Council of Rialto announced Tuesday night that it will receive $4 million from San Bernadino County to clean up perchlorate in the city’s groundwater supply, reports the Press Enterprise.
According to the newspaper, after a closed-door session of the council, City Administrator Henry Garcia read a statement saying, “The council has voted unanimously to authorize the mayor to execute a settlement agreement with the county of San Bernadino under which the county will remediate the western plume of perchlorate, and pay $4 million to the city of Rialto.”
Earlier in the meeting, states the story, the council also approved formation of a joint-powers authority with the city of Colton, the county, Fontana Water Co. and the West Valley Water District. The intent is to “develop, facilitate, finance and implement groundwater treatment programs in the Rialto Colton Basin.”
The city filed a lawsuit against the US Department of Defense about the perchlorate contamination, and is also trying to get several companies to take financial responsibility for cleaning up perchlorate contamination caused over the past 55 years.
Multi-Pure Commentary:
Multi-Pure’s MP750 Plus RO has been certified by NSF International, under Standard 58, to reduce Perchlorate.
Illegal atrazine use detected in well water
MADISON, WI, February 22, 2008 (Water Tech) — Atrazine, an herbicide used on corn crops, has been found in varying levels in a private well near Arlington, WI, and farmers who tend nearby fields have been fined more than $14,000 for illegal applications of the pesticide, according to a February 21 Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) press release.
Wisconsin’s pesticide law identifies areas in which certain pesticides cannot be used. Dennis Kelley, of Arlington, and his son, Christopher, run Kelley Farms, 2,800-acre operation. Approximately 2,000 acres of the farm are in an atrazine prohibition area, the release said.
Dave Fredrickson, DATCP pesticide compliance director, said in the release, “The pesticide investigation began because levels of atrazine in a private well near Arlington were ‘bouncing around’ when they should have been stable or declining because atrazine was not supposed to be used in the area. We also received an anonymous suggestion that someone might be applying atrazine on area fields.”
DATCP investigators traced sales records of local pesticide dealers and determined the Kelleys were using atrazine on cornfields within prohibition areas.
Multi-Pure Commentary:
Multi-Pure Drinking Water Systems have been certified by NSF International, under Standard 53, to reduce Atrazine, a VOC.
Heightened MTBE threat for New York communities
RONKONKOMA, NY, February 25, 2008 (Water Tech) — A recently released study shows that aquifers which supply the drinking water for this Long Island community face a greater threat then previously thought from the fuel additive methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), according to a February 23 Newsday article.
The New York state Department of Environmental Conservation released a study on February 22 that showed MTBE plumes from previously undetected petroleum spills migrating toward aquifers that supply public drinking water.
The study, which was conducted between 2002 and 2006, included the installation of monitoring wells at 52 gas stations in Nassau and Suffolk counties. Each are within 1-1/2 miles of public drinking water supply wells, and none of the stations had a known history of MTBE spills, the article said.
Although the state banned MTBE in 2004, the study showed new MTBE spills in groundwater at 32 of 52 gas stations that were monitored between 2002 and 2006. Two of the sites require immediate remediation, which DEC says will cost a combined $2.25 million, the article said.
Multi-Pure Commentary:
Multi-Pure Drinking Water Systems have been certified by NSF International, under Standard 53, to reduce MTBE.
2006 pipe replacement raised lead levels
WASHINGTON, February 26, 2008 (Water Tech) — A February 23 story in The Washington Post revealed that although city drinking water lead levels rose sharply following a 2006 lead pipe replacement program, this knowledge has only recently become public.
Three years ago, the story says, the Washington DC Water and Sewer Authority (WASA) launched a $93 million plan to replace 35,000 lead pipes throughout the city. The result was an increase, rather than a decrease, in drinking water lead levels, says the story. The increase was explained as being caused by disruption and freeing of lead scale and shavings in the system during the replacement process.
The problem was uncovered when Marc Edwards, a Virginia Tech professor of civil and environmental engineering and a 2007 MacArthur Fellow, obtained WASA test results through a Freedom of Information Act request and analyzed the data.
The article quotes DC Council member Jim Graham, who chairs the committee that oversees WASA, as saying, “We’ve spent $93 million, we’ve torn up all these neighborhoods, and it appears that the situation is worse than when we started. This raises serious concerns about what WASA has been doing all this time, wittingly or unwittingly.” Graham also voiced concern about hearing about the problem from an independent scientist instead of WASA itself.
Edwards calculated the lead levels in the water at 658 homes during the post-replacement period averaged 260 parts per billion, according the article. The US Environmental Protection Agency requires that when lead is at or above 15 parts per billion in a public water system, the system must take steps to control the water’s corrosiveness.
“Partial lead service replacement has been a complete waste of money and has actually made things worse,” Edwards was quoted as saying. “It should be stopped.”
Vermont group charges chloramine hazards dismissed
DANBY, VT, February 26, 2008 (Water Tech) — Vermont government agencies are not taking complaints of chloramine-related health problems seriously, charges a February 25 press release issued jointly by People Concerned About Chloramine (PCAC) and Vermonters for a Clean Environment (VCE).
The press release bases its charges on government documents uncovered through Freedom Of Information Act requests.
The excerpts from the documents and the press release are available on the VCE Web site.
“What we have found is evidence of a coordinated attempt to use state agencies to ignore the health impacts people are suffering and instead be the mouthpiece for the CWD (Champlain Water District),” Ellen Powell, coordinator of PCAC, is quoted as saying in the release. “The records show few if any discussions about how to get to the bottom of the hundreds of complaints that have come in, but instead discussions about how to ‘win’ the fight to defend chloramine. We’re not trying to ‘win’ anything, just help people be able to drink the water in their own homes.”
Annette Smith, executive director of the VCE, said in the release, “There was no evidence that any of the health concerns raised are being taken seriously. For the past two years we have been seeking a partner in the government to get to the bottom of the health issues. Today we’ve made a formal request for a meeting with the governor to share our concerns, review these documents, and ask for his direct intervention to ensure that the health issues get addressed.”
Multi-Pure Commentary:
Multi-Pure Drinking Water Systems have been certified by NSF International, under Standard 53, to reduce Chloramine.
Bill calls for tougher federal TCE standards
WASHINGTON, March 4, 2008 (Water Tech) — Legislation calling for the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to tighten its maximum contaminant level (MCL) drinking water standard for the degreasing chemical trichloroethylene (TCE) was scheduled to be introduced March 4 in the US House of Representatives, according to a press release issued by US Rep. John Hall, D-NY, one of the bill’s sponsors.
The proposed bill, called the Toxic Chemical Exposure Reduction Act or the TCE Reduction Act, also is sponsored by US Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-NY. It is the House companion to similar legislation filed last year in Congress by Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY.
According to the press release, the TCE Reduction Act addresses both groundwater contamination and vapor intrusion caused by trichloroethylene and would require the EPA to:
Issue a revised health advisory for TCE within 6 months of enactment
Issue revised draft health standards for TCE in drinking water within 12 months of enactment, and final drinking water standards within 18 months
Issue a health advisory standard for TCE vapor intrusion within 12 months of enactment
Establish an integrated risk information system reference concentration for TCE vapor which is protective within 18 months of enactment
Ensure that all standards set under the bill fully protect susceptible populations (including pregnant women, infants and children) from the adverse health affects of TCE.
Hall announced introduction of the legislation on March 3 in Hopewell Junction, NY, a community whose public drinking water system is contaminated by TCE. He said, “Growing scientific evidence shows the danger TCE pollution poses to people. Yet the EPA continues to drag its feet instead of setting a new standard that would help the residents of Hopewell Junction and similar communities throughout the country.”
Multi-Pure Commentary:
Multi-Pure Drinking Water Systems have been certified by NSF International, under Standard 53, to reduce TCE, a VOC.
Tap water quality concerns consumers — survey
LISLE, IL, March 18, 2008 (Water Tech) — The majority of consumers responding to the 2008 National Consumer Water Quality Survey indicated that they are concerned about both the quality of their household water supply and of their drinking water, according to information published by survey sponsor Water Quality Association (WQA), based here.
The WQA, which offered a peek at survey results in its “WQA Update 2007/08,” reported that 55 percent of survey respondents said they were “concerned about the quality of their household water supply.”
Fifty-nine percent of survey respondents said they were “very concerned about the quality of their drinking water,” according to the WQA, which is making the research summary available for purchase at its WQA Aquatech USA convention and trade show.
The WQA reported that 22 percent of consumer survey respondents said their main water quality concerns regarded “contaminants in tap water.”
Trace pesticides in treated Oregon drinking water
RESTON, VA, March 18, 2008 (Water Tech) — Treated drinking water from Oregon’s Clackamas River contains trace levels of pesticides, according to results of a recently released US Geological Survey (USGS) study, in which the Clackamas River Water Providers and the Clackamas County Department of Water Environment Services cooperated.
Information on the study, available in the USGS Scientific Investigations Report 2008-5027, Pesticide Occurrence and Distribution in the Lower Clackamas River Basin, Oregon, 2000-2005, was released by the USGS in a March 18 press release.
The treated drinking water samples were collected from a drinking water treatment plant that uses the Clackamas River as a raw water source. One or more of 15 pesticides were detected in nine of 15 samples of drinking water. According to the USGS, all of the detections in drinking water were “far below” existing US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) drinking water standards and other human health benchmarks.
The UGGS said its study also found a variety of pesticides in water samples from the lower Clackamas River mainstem and tributaries, with more pesticides detected in the tributaries than the mainstem.
The herbicides atrazine and simazine were the most commonly detected. High-use herbicides such as glyphosate and triclopyr/2,4-D, the active ingredients in RoundUP™ and Crossbow™, respectively, also were frequently detected, reported the USGS.