WASHINGTON, September 20, 2007 (Water Tech) — Contaminated water qualifies some for Superfund
SAN BERNARDINO, CA, September 24, 2007 (Water Tech) — CA’s new perchlorate rule takes effect Oct. 19
SAN JOSE, CA, September 25, 2007 (Water Tech) — CA city considers ‘homegrown’ water supply
CLARK, WY, September 26, 2007 (Water Tech) — Benzene contaminates WY well, threatens others
WASHINGTON, September 26, 2007 (Water Tech) — EPA revises rule on lead in drinking water
CHITTENDEN COUNTY, VT, September 27, 2007 (Water Tech) — Chloramine switch draws Vermonters’ ire
SAN DIEGO, September 28, 2007 (Water Tech) — Californians speak out on water crisis
SARATOGA, CA, October 1, 2007 (Water Tech) —Roadkill dumped in ravine could be threatening CA supply
GAMBRILLS, MD, October 1, 2007 (Water Tech) — $1M fine for contaminating MD groundwater
Contaminated water qualifies some for Superfund
WASHINGTON, September 20, 2007 (Water Tech) — The US Environmental Protection Agency announced in a September 19 press release that seven new hazardous waste sites have been added to the National Priorities List (NPL) for investigation and cleanup, and some of the sites are deemed a threat to drinking water supplies.
The list sets priorities under the federal Superfund program that addresses complex uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites in the United States.
Contaminants found at the final and proposed sites include arsenic, barium, benzene, beryllium, cadmium, cesium-137, chromium, copper, 1,1-dichloroethane, dioxins, lead, mercury, naphthalene, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, polychlorinated dibenzofurans silver, tetrachloroethene (PCE), thorium-230, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, trichloroethene (TCE), zinc and other metals, the release said.
EPA also is proposing to add 12 other sites to the list. Some of the new NPL and proposed NPL sites have groundwater and surface water contamination that pose a threat to drinking water supplies.
The Five Points PCE Plume Site near Woods Cross City, UT, which was added to the list, consists of a groundwater plume of PCE that is threatening four municipal wells.
The San German Ground Water Contamination site in Puerto Rico, which EPA proposes to add to the list, consists of seven public drinking water wells that are contaminated with PCE and TCE.
The addition of one site, the Hidden Lane Landfill in Sterling, VA, to the proposed list has local residents concerned.
ABC 7 News reported on September 19 that some residents living near the site are relying on residential water treatment devices to remove any potentially harmful contaminants.
CA’s new perchlorate rule takes effect Oct. 19
SAN BERNARDINO, CA, September 24, 2007 (Water Tech) — A new statewide standard for perchlorate in drinking water was made official on September 19 when the law was signed by California Secretary of State Debra Bowen, a September 21 Press-Enterprise story said.
The rule sets the standard for perchlorate at 6 parts per billion, or 6 micrograms per liter.
Perchlorate has contaminated dozens of wells in the Inland Empire, a region of California east of Los Angeles, according to the story.
The regulation also requires that customers are warned of the possible health hazards related to the consumption of the chemical, which has been used to manufacture rocket fuel and fireworks.
Multi-Pure Commentary:
Multi-Pure’s MP750 Plus RO has been certified by NSF International, under Standard 58, to reduce Perchlorate.
CA city considers ‘homegrown’ water supply
SAN JOSE, CA, September 25, 2007 (Water Tech) — City officials here were set to meet on September 25 with the Santa Clara Valley Water District to discuss the potential of expanding delivery of the city’s recycled water to faucets, according to a September 25 article in The Mercury News.
San Jose has used recycled water for non-potable uses for a decade.
The “toilet-to-tap” proposal is being led by the San Jose South Bay Water Recycling Project, a water reclamation program established under federal and state auspices to re-establish salinity levels of the saltwater marsh in the southern tip of San Francisco Bay.
“This is a homegrown resource. It is the most reliable supply you can have,” the project’s division manager, Eric Rosenblum, said in the article.
The plan calls for treated recycled water to be blended into existing stream and groundwater aquifers.
Linda Sheehan, executive director of the California Coastkeeper Alliance, based in Fremont, CA, said in the article, “Recycled water is going to be a critical component of California’s water future.”
She noted that recycled water used for drinking will need to be rigorously tested for both traditional contaminants, such as bacteria, and emerging contaminants, such as trace amounts of pharmaceuticals and hormones.
Benzene contaminates WY well, threatens others
CLARK, WY, September 26, 2007 (Water Tech) — A natural gas well blowout here in 2006 is to blame for the high levels of benzene recently detected in a private drinking water well adjacent to the blowout site, according to a September 26 Billings Gazette article.
The well’s benzene levels are seven times higher than the maximum amount allowed by federal drinking water quality standards, the article said.
Windsor Energy’s Crosby 25-3 well experienced a blowout that lasted 58 hours in August 2006.
It caused the benzene-tainted groundwater plume that now threatens other residential wells.
The state Department of Environmental Quality is overseeing the company’s voluntary cleanup efforts, which include monitoring tests to be performed more than quarterly and active remediation to begin in April 2009.
Multi-Pure Commentary:
Multi-Pure Drinking Water Systems have been certified by NSF International, under Standard 53, to reduce Benzene, a VOC.
EPA revises rule on lead in drinking water
WASHINGTON, September 26, 2007 (Water Tech) — The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is finalizing seven targeted regulatory changes to the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations (NPDWR) for lead and copper, known as the Lead and Copper Rule (LCR or 1991 Rule), according to a September 26 EPA press release.
Monitoring, treatment processes, public education, customer awareness and lead service line replacement are among the changes designed to provide greater protection of public health by reducing exposure to lead in drinking water, EPA said.
Through the revisions, water suppliers will be required to provide consumers with information to help them make decisions about how to limit their exposure to lead in drinking water.
EPA, which published its signed notice of the revisions on September 25, said the revisions will take effect 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.
Chloramine switch draws Vermonters’ ire
CHITTENDEN COUNTY, VT, September 27, 2007 (Water Tech) — Several residents here complained to state leaders and federal health officials on September 26 about rashes, lesions, and burning, itchy eyes they suffered after the Champlain Water District (CWD) switched from using chlorine to chloramine, a September 26 WCAX-TV story said.
People Concerned about Chloramine (PCAC), a group of residents served by the CWD, was formed by Ellen Powell, a South Burlington resident. She said she experienced health problems when the CWD in 2006 switched from chlorine to chloramine as a way to reduce production of disinfectant by-products (DBP) that can occur in standard chlorination.
Powell said in the story, “We have at least 50 people who have removed themselves from exposure to the water and their symptoms went away.”
According to a story in the Burlington Free Press, residents criticized the Vermont Health Department for defending the use of chloramine while representatives from the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) listened.
PCAC is not alone in its quest to quell chloramine use. Residents of Palo Alto, CA, were scheduled to meet with EPA officials in September and one group in Hampden Township, PA, successfully delayed its town’s switch to chloramine.
Californians speak out on water crisis
SAN DIEGO, September 28, 2007 (Water Tech) — Two new polls, one statewide and one in the San Diego area, have now tallied residents' opinions about California's water crisis and what to do about it, and the results should give the state's political and water agency leaders plenty of food for thought.
In one poll, conducted by Competitive Edge Research, San Diegans were asked about the potential of a water shortage and what conservation efforts they’ve taken. They also were quizzed on whether using treated recycled water was a good option for dealing with shortages, according to a September 27 KPBS report.
Water recycling was respondents’ least favorite option, when given a choice of using desalination, mandatory rationing or water recycling to deal with shortages.
John Nienstedt of Competitive Edge Research told KPBS that a significant number of respondents, after receiving more information about water recycling, were willing to change their minds.
The “toilet to tap” issue is hot right now in San Diego; the city’s mayor is against it while the city’s attorney is for it.
Roadkill dumped in ravine could be threatening CA supply
SARATOGA, CA, October 1, 2007 (Water Tech) — For more than 10 years, California Dept of Transportation (Caltrans) workers have been dumping roadkill into a ravine on the San Jose Water Co. property, despite a “No Littering” sign, and now the company is worried the water supply is vulnerable.
According to a September 29 Mercury News story, thousands of deer, raccoon and other carcasses were dumped over a cliff onto the property. Many of the carcasses and skeletons ended up in Saratoga Creek as a result.
John Tang, a spokesman for the company, which supplies water to more than 1 million people, said in the story, “This is an important issue. It could have an impact on the water supply.”
A Caltrans spokeswoman said the agency was notified about the roadkill dumpings by a KPIX television reporter on September 27. Residents have been saying that the Saratoga creek is cloudy and foamy. John Cherbone, Saratoga’s public works director, said the creek has tested for high levels of fecal matter in the past.
Cherbone said in the story, “At this point, we don’t know if carcasses of dead animals or whatever have any connection to what we’ve been looking at. But we’ll certainly be looking at that moving forward.”
$1M fine for contaminating MD groundwater
GAMBRILLS, MD, October 1, 2007 (Water Tech) — The Maryland Department of the Environment fined Constellation Energy and the operator of its fly ash dump site here $1 million on October 1 for contaminating drinking water, according to an October 2 article in the Baltimore Sun.
As part of the penalty, the power company and dump owner BBSS Inc. are required to clean up the contaminated groundwater, which has seeped into private wells.
Constellation, which temporarily connected six homes to the Anne Arundel County public water system, will provide permanent hookups for 40 homes with potentially contaminated wells.
State records show that there was the potential for contamination at the Gambrills dump site as early as 1998.
In October 2006 the county launched a 10-month investigation into the extent of the pollution and found 23 of 83 private wells tested contaminated with components of fly ash, the article said.