Bottled Water vs. Tap Water

RIALTO, CA, January 17, 2008 (Water Tech) � Rains and perchlorate concern CA community

SANTA FE, NM, January 18, 2008 (Water Tech) � Arsenic deadline for eight NM cities extended

SCOTTSDALE, AZ, January 18, 2008 (Water Tech) � Private AZ utility under fire after TCE event

FAYETTEVILLE, NC, January 18, 2008 (Water Tech) � Benzene contamination prompts city hookup

GAINES TOWNSHIP, MI, January 18, 2008 (Water Tech) � Superfund site contaminated our well � MI families

WASHINGTON, January 30, 2008 (Water Tech) � Perchlorate review intensifies

By Janet Majeski Jemmott
Reader's Digest (February 2008)

Growing Thirst
Remember the drinking fountain, that once ubiquitous, and free, source of H2O? It seems quaint now. Instead, bottled water is everywhere, in offices, airplanes, stores, homes and restaurants across the country. We consumed over eight billion gallons of the stuff in 2006, a 10 percent increase from 2005. It's refreshing, calorie-free, convenient to carry around, tastier than some tap water and a heck of a lot healthier than sugary sodas. But more and more, people are questioning whether the water, and the package it comes in, is safe, or at least safer than tap water�and if the convenience is worth the environmental impact.

For complete article, go to:
www.rd.com/special-reports/the-environment/rethink-what-you-drink/article.html

RIALTO, CA, January 17, 2008 (Water Tech) � Experts here are concerned that recent torrential rain storms could have worsened existing perchlorate contamination of the city�s drinking water source, according to a January 15 article in The Sun.

A plume of perchlorate, a chemical most commonly used in rocket fuel and suspected of causing thyroid problems in humans, is present in Rialto�s groundwater from an industrial area north of the 210 Freeway.

Kevin Mayer, US Environmental Protection Agency regional perchlorate coordinator, said in the report that the rains could have a positive effect by diluting the contamination, or, on the downside, rains could flush it into groundwater.

Mayer also said it�s possible that rain in the mountains could raise the water table, allowing the water table to �catch� perchlorate resting above it and further contaminating the water. Tilting of the water table also is possible, and this could speed up growth of the contaminant plume through the groundwater.

Multi-Pure Commentary:
Multi-Pure�s MP750 Plus RO has been certified by NSF International, under Standard 58, to reduce Perchlorate.

SANTA FE, NM, January 18, 2008 (Water Tech) � Water systems in eight New Mexico cities have been given an additional year to meet the new US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standard for arsenic in drinking water of 10 parts per billion (ppb), a recent Associated Press report in the Las Cruces Sun-News said.

New Mexico had already received an extension of the compliance deadline to the end of 2007 due to lack of funds to meet the standard, which took effect in January 2006. But the cities of Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Rio Rancho, Los Lunas, Desert Sands, Bosque Farms, La Mesa and Espanola will now have until the end of 2008, the report said.

Santa Fe, the state capital, has been temporarily meeting the new arsenic standard by diluting its high-arsenic well water with other supplies, that city�s water agency director, Gary Martinez, was quoted as saying. The city is seeking a longer-term solution, and �the cost is really the driver,� Martinez said.

Multi-Pure Commentary:
Multi-Pure�s MP880 Series has been certified by NSF International, under Standard 53, to reduce Arsenic V.

SCOTTSDALE, AZ, January 18, 2008 (Water Tech) � A private water utility here is under fire for not notifying all of its 5,000 ratepayers individually that a malfunction at a treatment facility may have allowed TCE to enter the drinking water supply, according to a January 18 East Valley Tribune article.

This is the second time in three months Arizona American Water Co., which serves Scottsdale and nearby Paradise Valley, has had to advise its customers to drink bottled water after a potential TCE problem. In November, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that the utility�s drinking water supply may have contained 9 parts per billion (ppb) of TCE from a south Scottsdale Superfund site, as WaterTech Online� reported. The EPA maximum contaminant limit for TCE is 5 ppb.

FAYETTEVILLE, NC, January 18, 2008 (Water Tech) � Fourteen homes here with benzene-contaminated well water soon will receive city water, according to a January 29 News 14 report.

The groundwater contamination, blamed on chemical leaks from a nearby gas station, has been ongoing since the 1980s.

Some residents, while pleased the City Council voted to approve the plan, voiced frustration at how long the process has taken.

Each homeowner will owe $5,000 toward the $300,000 project. The remainder of the cost is being paid for by the city, which annexed the area several years ago.

Multi-Pure Commentary:
Multi-Pure Drinking Water Systems have been certified by NSF International, under Standard 53, to reduce Benzene, a VOC.

GAINES TOWNSHIP, MI, January 18, 2008 (Water Tech) � Current residents and a former owner of a home located one-quarter mile away from the site of the former Berlin & Farro dump, once a Superfund site, say that the site has contaminated the home�s well water and it is causing their cancer illnesses, according to a January 29 article in The Flint Journal.

The families� pleas to state and federal officials to again investigate the 40-acre site, once contaminated with volatile organic compounds, PCBs and pesticides, are now being heard.

State and federal agencies said they may take another look at the site they declared toxin-free 10 years ago and will take water samples from the home�s private well.

The former home�s owner, Beth Agle, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer when she lived in the house. It is now owned by the Voelker family, who have had two cases of cancer since moving in, the article said.

WASHINGTON, January 30, 2008 (Water Tech) � Recently released research based on the US Food and Drug Administration�s (FDA) ongoing Total Diet Study, in which dietary intake of perchlorate is analyzed, has US lawmakers and advocacy groups intensifying their call for a national drinking water limit for the chemical that is most commonly used in rocket fuel.

According to the FDA�s analysis of 285 foods, the average 2-year-old is exposed daily to more than half of the US Environmental Protection Agency�s (EPA) recommended maximum dose of perchlorate from food alone. Children in at least 28 states also are exposed to perchlorate in tap water.

According to advocacy group Environmental Working Group (EWG), which says it also analyzed the FDA study, �Analysis of FDA�s new data shows that every proposed or final drinking water standard fails to protect 2-year-olds from routine, daily, unsafe exposure to perchlorate when combined food and water exposures are considered.�

In the EWG analysis, the group quoted a 2006 study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in which the CDC concluded that the EPA�s reference dose for perchlorate in drinking water allows for exposure that can have significant effects on the thyroid gland.

According to the EWG, �These important findings from the CDC demonstrate that EPA�s current reference dose is not health-protective. � EPA should promptly establish a safety standard for perchlorate in tap water that accounts for findings from the CDC that show that exposures to perchlorate at levels far lower than the EPA�s current safe dose have significant effects on the thyroid gland. In addition, a health-protective drinking water standard must account for widespread, significant exposures to perchlorate from food, especially among children.�