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Water Quality Current News
SEATTLE, November 9, 2006 (Water Tech) – High lead levels in 35 Seattle schools
QUAKERTOWN, PA, November 10, 2006 (Water Tech) — Many PA systems fail new arsenic rule
AURORA, CO, November 13, 2006 (Water Tech) — High lead, copper levels in CO college campus water
VANCOUVER, CANADA, November 17, 2006 (The Vancouver Sun) — Two million told: Don't drink the water
TORONTO, November 29, 2006 (The Vancouver Sun) – Great Lakes pollution threatens drinking water
SUMTER, SC, December 4, 2006 (Water Tech) – Faucet devices temporary fix for 1,200 in SC
High lead levels in 35 Seattle schools
SEATTLE, November 9, 2006 (Water Tech) – More than 300 drinking fountains and sinks at 35 schools throughout the city are off-limits to students and faculty after tests on the water revealed elevated levels of lead, according to a November 9 article in The Seattle Times.
About 60 percent of the faucets and fountains exceeded the US Environmental Protection Agency's limit of 20 parts per billion (ppb) for lead in water, and the tap at one school's sink contained levels more than 90 times the district's standard of 10 ppb, the story said.
The affected fixtures have been taped over and marked with warning signs, and the schools are using bottled water until district officials complete an investigation, according to the story.
The district spent $13 million two years ago to replace pipes and fixtures in schools throughout the city after discovering lead in the fixtures, the report said.
Many PA systems fail new arsenic rule
QUAKERTOWN, PA, November 10, 2006 (Water Tech) — This year's new federal standard for the level of arsenic allowed in public water systems has meant that 52 Pennsylvania systems have exceeded the standard, although they would have complied under last year's allowance level, a November 10 story from The Morning Call reported.
The new standard is 10 parts per billion (ppb), five times lower than last year's standard of 50 ppb, the story reported.
One well that delivers 70,000 gallons of water per day tested positive for 11 ppb and remains in operation; the arsenic there is believed to be naturally occurring, according to the story.
Letters have been sent to affected residents warning them of the contamination and indicating that regulations for their water have changed, but the quality of the water has remained the same, the story said.
High lead, copper levels in CO college campus water
AURORA, CO, November 13, 2006 (Water Tech) — The water supply for 11 buildings on the Fitzsimons campus of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center has tested positive for high levels of lead and copper and officials are unsure of the source, a November 13 story on CBS 4 Denver reported.
Officials are saying the affected water is limited to those buildings, have ordered bottled water for 1,600 employees, and have ordered blood and urine tests on 19 employees; the story reported.
Samples taken in early October included one testing positive for 46 parts per billion (ppb) of lead; the US Environmental Protection Agency sets a maximum limit of 15 ppb, according to the story.
More tests are being done today, and officials have brought in bottled water for all of the employees until the problem is resolved, the story said.
Two million told: Don't drink the water
VANCOUVER, CANADA, November 17, 2006 (The Vancouver Sun) — One of the largest water warnings in the province's history was issued Thursday for Greater Vancouver's two million residents after torrential rains triggered dozens of landslides into the region's reservoirs, turning tap water cloudy and brown.
Hospitals, daycares and schools were ordered to boil tap water or use bottled water. Other residents were advised to boil tap water or use bottled water.
"I think they should be concerned with the level of turbidity," Vancouver medical health officer Patricia Daly told a news conference.
"Having said that, it's their choice. But if they ask my opinion, they shouldn't be drinking water from the taps with turbidity levels this high."
Daly said the boil-water order would be extended to the public only if there was evidence of contamination in the drinking water, or evidence that it is causing illness in the population "and we don't have that at the present time."
However, she said periods of high turbidity in drinking water are often followed by higher levels of gastrointestinal illnesses because chlorine is less effective at killing harmful organisms when they are coated with silt.
The turbidity level -- the amount of sediment in the water -- "is the worst they've seen, ever," Vancouver Health Authority spokeswoman Viviana Zanocco said earlier.
Great Lakes pollution threatens drinking water
TORONTO, November 29, 2006 (The Vancouver Sun) – A new study by the Sierra Legal Defence Fund, a Canadian environmental group, says untreated effluent that flows into the Great Lakes each year is threatening an ecosystem that supplies drinking water to millions of people, according to a November 29 article in The Globe and Mail.
Sierra Legal examined 20 cities in the US and Canada, analyzing municipal wastewater treatment and discharges into the Great Lakes basin and grading the cities in the categories of wastewater collection, treatment and disposal, the story said.
The study found the total untreated wastewater sent from the 20 cities into the basin topped about 98 billion litres (26 billion gallons) annually, with the worst offenders being the Canadian cities of Windsor, Toronto and Hamilton, as well as Detroit and Cleveland in the US, according to the article.
Outdated wastewater treatment systems and pipes incapable of dealing effectively with the vast amounts of effluent that flow through them are the source of the problem in many cities, the report noted.
Faucet devices temporary fix for 1,200 in SC
SUMTER, SC, December 4, 2006 (Water Tech) – About 1,200 homes in the Wedgefield-Stateburg Water District received free water treatment devices to attach to their faucets last week after state health officials detected elevated levels of a fuel additive in drinking water, the Associated Press reported in The Post and Courier on December 4.
Officials from the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control noted that levels of ethylene dibromide (EDB), a chemical used in aviation fuel, reached 10 times the level permitted in drinking water, but have dropped to about three times the allowed level since the district switched wells, according to the article.
The treatment devices are a temporary fix until the district begins buying water from the city of Sumter, a plan that is expected to start by February 2008, Sam Hopkins, a member of the water district board, said in the story.
Short-term exposure to EDB can damage the liver, stomach and reproductive systems, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Multi-Pure Commentary:
Multi-Pure Drinking Water Systems have been certified by NSF International, under Standard 53, to reduce Ethylene Bibromide (EDB), a VOC.
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