DENVER, April 14, 2008 (Water Tech) — POU devices examined for drug-removal capabilities

ST. PAUL, MN, April 14, 2008 (Water Tech) — Taste and odor issues decrease for MN city

WASHINGTON, April 15, 2008 (Water Tech) — Feds fail to develop drugs-in-water research plan

PINCONNING TOWNSHIIP, MI, April 16, 2008 (Water Tech) — Spent POU filter gets officials’ attention

ANNVILLE, PA, April 22, 2008 (Water Tech) — PA school district considers treatment options

LOS ANGELES, April 24, 2008 (Water Tech) — Water woes for L.A. school district

LOS GATOS, CA, April 24, 2008 (Water Tech) — Addition in CA town to fight Crypto in fountain

POU devices examined for drug-removal capabilities

DENVER, April 14, 2008 (Water Tech) — An April 9 article in The Denver Post examined the usefulness of home water treatment devices in removing trace levels of pharmaceuticals in drinking water.

The article, which referenced the March Associated Press report that the drinking water supplies of 24 major metropolitan areas contain trace levels of pharmaceuticals, included an interview with Joseph Harrison, technical director for the Water Quality Association, based in Lisle, IL. WQA members include manufacturers of water treatment equipment.

To address consumers’ concerns about what they can do at home, Harrison said in the article, “The best advice I could give people is use a reverse osmosis device with activated carbon. You would definitely get a lot of pharmaceuticals out with that technology.”

Harrison added that the WQA is working with NSF International, the standards organization based in Ann Arbor, MI, to establish pharmaceutical standards for water filtration systems.

The article included a synopsis of water treatment device options, from pitchers to point-of-entry systems.

Taste and odor issues decrease for MN city

ST. PAUL, MN, April 14, 2008 (Water Tech) — An 18-month, $9.6 million project undertaken by St. Paul Regional Water Services, which supplies water to 417,000 customers in this city and its suburbs, has yielded tastier water that smells better, according to an April 14 Pioneer Press article.

Musty-smelling and -tasting tap water used to be the norm here each spring as algae blossomed on the lakes that supply this city’s drinking water, the article said. In 2006, St. Paul Regional Water Services, after receiving 187 complaints, decided to do something about it. The agency began a project at its Maplewood headquarters to cut down on off-taste and off-odor in the water.

The agency, which worked with students from the University of Minnesota, selected granular activated carbon (GAC) to reduce taste and odor problems in its supply. Twenty-four large filters were installed over a period of about 18 months, the article said.

Steve Schneider, general manager of St. Paul Regional Water Services, said in the article, “We’re very pleased with the initial results.”

Schneider added that the new filters will be changed out every few years. He estimated they cost the consumer about 2 cents to 2.5 cents per 100 gallons.

Meanwhile in nearby Minneapolis, organic matter is entering the city’s supply and despite treatment, the water has an off-taste and off-odor. City spokesman Matt Laible said in the article the city is receiving several complaints daily.

Feds fail to develop drugs-in-water research plan

WASHINGTON, April 15, 2008 (Water Tech) — Documents obtained by The Associated Press (AP) reveal that a White House task force was aware of public concern about pharmaceuticals in drinking water supplies, and that it failed to meet its December deadline to produce a federal plan to research the issue of pharmaceuticals in drinking water, according to an April 14 AP story.

The AP, which reported in March that at least 41 million Americans receive drinking water containing an array of pharmaceuticals, said it obtained task force-related documents under the Freedom of Information Act.

The documents reveal that the task force, which includes representatives from nine federal agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency, Agriculture Department and the Food and Drug Administration, failed to develop mandated reports and recommendations for coordination among federal agencies on a national plan to research pharmaceuticals in public drinking water supplies, AP said.

According to the AP, the working group on pharmaceuticals in the environment was formed two years ago through the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. It has met several times, and in March 2006, then-task force coordinator Kevin Geiss wrote: “There has been considerable congressional interest in this topic.”

While the AP has reviewed more than 70 pages of the task force’s documents, such as e-mails and weekly reports, it was not able to obtain the task force’s agendas and minutes because the White House classified them as internal documents, meaning they cannot be released. The group’s annual report is in draft form, which makes it also unable to be released, the AP reported.

Spent POU filter gets officials’ attention

PINCONNING TOWNSHIIP, MI, April 16, 2008 (Water Tech) — A local resident who had been complaining about his water took a dirty, spent point-of-use water treatment filter to a public meeting to finally make his point, according to an April 16 article in The Bay City Times.

Pinconning Township resident Joe Holbrook gave the filter belonging to his son-in-law, who lives next door, to Bob Hill from the Bay County Environmental Health Division. The filter got Hill’s attention, and soon the county sampled Holbrook’s water supply.

Sample results indicated that the water contains “atypical” levels of bacteria. In response, crews from the Bay County Department of Water and Sewer flushed and resampled the lines.

Holbrook and his son-in-law said they plan to continue to use a POU water filter, according to the article.

ANNVILLE, PA, April 22, 2008 (Water Tech) — Officials at the Annville-Cleona School Board are considering treatment options for elevated levels of lead and copper at the district’s North Annville Elementary School, according to an April 22 Midstate News article.

District officials initially thought the elevated lead and copper levels in the school’s water supply were due to contaminated groundwater around the school. To determine the exact cause, the school district signed a consent order with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and moved forward on an environmental assessment.

Local environmental consultant firm ARM Group, Inc., which performed the assessment, found the cause to be corrosion of the school’s water system.

Stephen Fulton, vice president of environmental services for the ARM Group, said in the article that the problem could be fixed with a water treatment system that would reduce the acidity of the water. Such a treatment system would cost between $8,000 and $10,000, he added.

Students and staff will continue to drink bottled water while the district considers its options, which include closing the school.

Multi-Pure Commentary:
Multi-Pure’s MP750 Plus RO has been certified by NSF International, under Standard 53, to reduce Lead and under Standard 58, to reduce Copper.

LOS ANGELES, April 24, 2008 (Water Tech) — Water from one drinking fountain at a San Fernando Valley elementary school, which is part of the Los Angeles Unified School District, has tested positive for high levels of lead, according to an April 23 Daily News article.

David Brewer III, school district superintendent, said in a news conference that he is holding staff accountable for this latest drinking water safety infraction.

Brewer said at a news conference that school staff at the Woodlake Elementary School responsible for flushing water fountains and keeping logs will be held accountable for their negligence.

Reports indicate that there are concerns about the safety of the water in 26 of the district’s schools, the article said.

LOS GATOS, CA, April 24, 2008 (Water Tech) — The Los Gatos Town Council voted last week to spend $34,500 to design an addition to a treatment system to keep Cryptosporidium out of an interactive fountain at the town’s Plaza Park, said an April 29 article by the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, as carried on The Mercury News Web site.

After people playing in a similar fountain in nearby San Jose came down with Crypto infections in 2006, the local county health department had ordered all of its municipalities to install ultraviolet disinfection systems for these types of fountains, the article said.

Total cost of the treatment addition in Los Gatos will be $350,000, and completion of the project is expected over the coming winter, according to the article. The fountain will be operating this summer, but the town has meanwhile installed signs urging people not to drink fountain water and warning against allowing children in diapers to play in the fountain.