LOS ANGELES, September 24, 2008 (Water Tech) — Companies must pay $500K for Superfund cleanup

ATHENS, GA, September 25, 2008 (Water Tech) — Study: Iodinated DBPs more likely with chloramines

BAY CITY, MI, October 6, 2008 (Water Tech) — High lead in some Bay City, MI, tap water

MADISON, WI, October 7, 2008 (Water Tech) — Tests on drinking water wells prompt pesticide ban

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ, October 15, 2008 (Water Tech) — High lead levels detected at NJ school

WASHINGTON, October 15, 2008 (Water Tech) — Bottled water has same contaminants as tap: study

LOS ANGELES, October 13, 2008 (Los Angeles Times) — Bottled water versus tap: Which is safer to drink?

LOS ANGELES, September 24, 2008 (Water Tech) — The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has ordered seven companies to pay a total of $500,000 to help clean groundwater beneath a San Fernando Valley Superfund site that is contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchloroethylene (PCE), according to a September 22 EPA press release.

Plumes of industrial chemicals have leaked into the groundwater, forcing the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to take nearly half of its drinking water wells offline, according to an article in the Los Angeles Daily News.

The seven companies cited in the release are: Los Angeles By Products Co.; Pick Your Part Auto Wrecking; Waste Management Recycling & Disposal Services of California, Inc. dba Bradley Landfill & Recycling Center; Hawker Pacific Aerospace; the Wagner Living Trust; the Basinger B Trust; and the Basinger C Trust. These companies previously refused to enter into a $1.3 million voluntary settlement agreement to pump and treat groundwater in North Hollywood. Three companies did accept this agreement: Honeywell International, Inc.; Lockheed Martin Corp., Calmat; and California Car Hikers.

Solvent contamination was first discovered in the San Fernando Valley in the early 1980s. The North Hollywood groundwater treatment system has removed volatile organic compounds such as TCE and PCE since 1989, according to the release.

ATHENS, GA, September 25, 2008 (Water Tech) — Researchers have published for the first time a study that quantifies the levels of iodoacetic acid (iodo-acid) disinfection byproducts (DBPs) in North American drinking water treated with chloramines, producing a compound-by-compound toxicity analysis, according to a September 24 American Chemical Society (ACS) report.

Iodo-acid DBPs are more toxic to mammalian cells than bromoacetic acid, which is the most genotoxic (DNA-damaging) of the haloacetic acids (HAAs) regulated in the United States. Iodo-acid also has been shown to cause developmental abnormalities in mouse embryos, the study said.

The collaborative study is published in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology (ES&T) and led by researchers Susan Richardson from the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) National Exposure Research Laboaratory and Michael Plewa of the College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

In the study, analytical chemists, analytical biologists, engineers and toxicologists analyzed water samples from 22 US cities and one Canadian city. The study arose from their interest in the growing evidence showing that the formation of iodinated DBPs in drinking water may be higher when utilities use chloramines for disinfectants rather than chlorine, ozone, or chlorine dioxide. According to the study’s authors, the findings could present a conflict for water utilities seeking the best technique for disinfecting drinking water.

The research team found higher levels of iodo-acid disinfection DBPs at treatment plants with relatively short free-chlorine contact times, and the lowest level at a chlorine-only plant with long free-chlorine contact times, the report says.

Higher levels of iodo-acids also were found in coastal cities with higher levels of naturally occurring iodide in their source waters.

According to the report, the paper includes a simple engineering solution for water utilities to aid in determining the relative toxicity and occurrence of these DBPs. Then the utility can modify its disinfection approach to “produce very good water … that is less toxic and includes fewer DBPs,” according to Plewa.

BAY CITY, MI, October 6, 2008 (Water Tech) — Recent sampling has revealed that 20 percent of samples collected from residences throughout this city’s water distribution system have exceeded the federal maximum contaminant level for lead in drinking water, according to an October 6 article in The Bay City Times.

John A. DeKam, Bay City Water Treatment Plant superintendent, said in the article that lead plumbing in homes, including faucets, are to blame for the high levels of lead in 14 of 69 samples. The city’s water is in compliance with state and federal drinking water regulations, he added.

Regardless, the city must now follow US Environmental Protection Agency regulations and conduct public education; increase the sampling frequency and quantity; resume a program to remove the utility’s portion of any remaining lead service lines going to homes; and “further optimize” the city’s water treatment processes.

The city has been conducting a lead service line replacement program since 1999; DeKam said in the article that the city still has 4,040 lead service lines to replace.

MADISON, WI, October 7, 2008 (Water Tech) — The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) has proposed adding about 1,830 acres to the area in Columbia County in southern Wisconsin where the pesticide atrazine is banned, according to an October 5 article in the Star Tribune.

The DATCP says tests on drinking water wells prompted the proposal. The tests indicated that the continued use of the common pesticide would contaminate groundwater. Exposure to high levels of atrazine can cause problems with the heart, lungs and kidneys, and long-term exposure can lead to cancer, according to the article.

If approved, the expansion would go into effect during the 2009 growing season, according to an October 1 article in Wisconsin Ag Connection. The added acres would connect two previously existing atrazine prohibition areas.

Multi-Pure Commentary:

Multi-Pure Drinking Water Systems have been certified by NSF International, under Standard 53, to reduce TCE, a Atrazine.

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ, October 15, 2008 (Water Tech) — High lead levels discovered on October 8 at Woodfern Elementary School, located here, have prompted school officials to ban the use of drinking fountains and take other precautionary measures, according to an October 14 article on www.mycentraljersey.com.

The school uses well water and tests for various contaminants each year. In two of 10 tests, the water tested “higher lead levels” than acceptable.

All water fountains have been covered or disabled, and containers of fresh water have been placed next to the fountains, the article said. Bottled water also is being delivered to the school. School water is being used for cooking.

McGowan Well Water Compliance Mgt. LLC is assisting school officials in developing a remediation plan, according to the article.

State requirement dictates that the water cannot be retested until the beginning of January 2009. The precautions will be in effect until that time, according to the article.

WASHINGTON, October 15, 2008 (Water Tech) — “Drink filtered tap water” is one recommendation made in a study released October 15 by advocacy organization Environmental Working Group (EWG), based here, that found contaminants in 10 popular brands of bottled water.

Of the 10 brands of bottled water tested, just two brand names were released in the report: Wal-Mart’s Sam’s Choice and Giant Food Supermarket’s Acadia. All brands tested met federal safe drinking water standards; however, the two brands named violated a state of California standard for disinfection byproducts (DBPs) that is stricter than the federal standard.

According to the report, “Two of 10 brands tested, Wal-Mart’s and Giant’s store brands, bore the chemical signature of standard municipal water treatment — a cocktail of chlorine disinfection byproducts [DBPs], and for Giant Water, even fluoride. In other words, this bottled water was chemically indistinguishable from tap water. The only striking difference: the price tag,” the researchers wrote.

According to the report, the study’s lab tests on 10 brands of bottled water detected 38 chemicals and other contaminants, such as bacteria, caffeine, the pain reliever acetaminophen, heavy metals and minerals, as well as other “tentatively identified industrial chemicals” used as solvents, plasticizers and propellants. The researchers said that some of the chemicals may have leached into the water from the plastic water bottles.

The International Bottled Water Association (IBWA), headquartered in Alexandria, VA, responded to the EWG report, calling it “sensationalized science.” IBWA President Joe Doss said in the group’s October 14 press release, which was published in anticipation of the release of the EWG report, “The testing results show that only two bottled water brands didn’t meet a California state standard for one regulated substance.”

Doss noted that the California state standard for DBPs, 10 parts per billion (ppb), is eight times lower than the US Food and Drug Administration standard of quality for bottled water and the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) maximum contaminant level for tap water at 80 ppb.

According to an October 15 Associated Press (AP) story on the report, “Wal-Mart said its own studies did not turn up illegal levels of contaminants. Giant Food officials released a statement asserting that Acadia meets all regulatory standards.” Giant Food also noted that Acadia is sold in mid-Atlantic states, so it does not need to meet California state standards.

The IBWA noted that the EWG report labels total dissolved solids, for which the EPA has established a non-enforceable secondary drinking water standard, as a “contaminant.” According to the IBWA, “While total dissolved solids are not permitted in distilled bottled water, they are important for the taste and character of spring and mineral water.”

In the EWG report, researchers write that the success of bottled water in the United States has been driven in part by concerns over tap water quality. The researchers, based on their findings, recommend policy changes, such as holding bottled water products to the same standards that publicly supplied water must meet and expanding resources dedicated to protecting source waters.

The researchers also offer advice for consumers searching for safe drinking water: Use a carbon filter — either a point-of-use device or a pitcher — to remove many of the contaminants found in public water supplies. They also recommend consumers drink filtered tap water out of a stainless steel bottle and lobby policymakers to improve and fund source water protection programs.

Multi-Pure Commentary:

News about the quality of bottled water, combined with the high cost of bottled water and the environmental concerns about bottled water give consumers many reasons to drink tap water filtered by a Multi-Pure Drinking Water System.

LOS ANGELES, October 13, 2008 (Los Angeles Times) — Those ubiquitous plastic water bottles have been increasingly vilified in recent years. Los Angeles, San Francisco and Santa Barbara, among others, have banned them from purchase with city funds. A few trendsetting restaurants, and even some markets and hotels, have banned them too.

The trend has left many consumers wondering: Isn't bottled safer than tap?
"Bottled water isn't any safer or purer than what comes out of the tap," says Dr. Sarah Janssen, science fellow with the Natural Resources Defense Council in San Francisco, which conducted an extensive analysis of bottled water back in 1999. "In fact, it's less well-regulated, and you're more likely to know what's in tap water."

Bottled and tap water come from essentially the same sources: lakes, springs and aquifers, to list a few. In fact, a significant fraction of the bottled water products on store shelves are tap water -- albeit filtered and treated with extra steps to improve taste.

To read complete story, click on the link below:

www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-he-nutrition13-2008oct13,0,4063450.story

Multi-Pure Commentary: