RANCHO MURIETA, CA, June 20, 2007 (Water Tech) — The water in over 700 homes here is brown due to a faulty routine pump test, but officials are saying the water is safe for drinking, a June 20 News10 story reported.

One resident said of the water in the story, “It's just completely brown. There's no way you could bathe a child in there, much less drink the water.”

The routine pump test on June 18 disturbed sediment, rust and other minerals, which discolored the water. Residents called to complain and were told of the problem, but a public notice was not issued until 24 hours later on the city’s Web site.

The Rancho Murieta Community Services District is flushing the water lines and is telling residents not to wash their clothes with the water; it is safe otherwise, the story said.

SAN FRANCISCO, June 22, 2007 (Water Tech) — San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is expected to sign an executive order June 22 that bans the city government from using public money to purchase bottled water for its employees, according to a June 22 San Francisco Chronicle article.

The order will eliminate the city’s $500,000 annual expenditure on bottled water. In 2006, the Chronicle reported that at that time the city spent more than $2 million for water, paper cups and dispenser rentals in recent years.

The mayor then made a promise to reduce spending on bottled water, the article said.

According to the article, Newsom wrote in the two-page executive order he is expected to sign, “All of this waste and pollution is generated by a product that by objective standards is often inferior to the quality of San Francisco’s pristine tap water.”

All city departments, all city concessions, city-funded events and functions in city buildings will be prohibited from using city money to buy bottled water by July 1.

By December 1, all city departments located on city property must switch from bottled water dispensers to dispensers that attach to taps or water pipes and use water that comes from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, San Francisco’s principal municipal source, the article said.

RESTON, VA, June 21, 2007 (Water Tech) — The US Geological Survey (USGS) published on its Web site in May a summary of a study conducted by a team of USGS scientists in which the scientists reported that pharmaceuticals in wastewater used for irrigation persist in soil for several months after the irrigation stopped for the season.

Scientists who conducted the study, which was reported in Volume 25, Issue 2 (February 2006) of the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, monitored three sites in Colorado from May through September 2003 to assess the presence and distribution of pharmaceuticals in soil irrigated with reclaimed water from an urban sewage treatment plant.

Scientists tested soil cores they had collected monthly before, during and after the irrigation season for the presence of 19 pharmaceuticals, such as caffeine, antibiotics and pain relievers.

Samples collected before the onset of irrigation in 2003 contained numerous pharmaceuticals, likely resulting from the previous year’s irrigation, the study said.

They also tested samples of reclaimed wastewater used for irrigation during their soil study to assess the input of pharmaceuticals from the wastewater.

All 19 of the pharmaceuticals in the study were found in soil cores. The four most commonly detected pharmaceuticals were the antibiotic erythromycin, the anticonvulsant carbamazepine, the antidepressant fluoxetine, and diphenhydramin, an antihistamine.

Scientists found that several of the pharmaceuticals detected in the soil cores increased in concentration during the study, suggesting that the soil retained or absorbed the pharmaceuticals.

They also found that several other pharmaceuticals appeared to be transported through the soil zone to greater depths.

LOS ANGELES, June 26, 2007 (Water Tech) — The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the state of California settled on June 21 with a private company, its owners and several federal agencies for nearly $1.7 million in cleanup costs at the San Gabriel Valley Area 2 Superfund Site, located near Los Angeles, according to a June 21 EPA press release.

The settlement is the latest in EPA efforts to clean up a major drinking water source in the region.

The settling parties are: Azusa Pipe and Tube Bending Corp., Frederick Tressel, Ronald Tressel, the Trustees of the Tressel Family Trust, the General Services Administration, Department of the Army, Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, Department of the Air Force, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the release said.

The parties in the settlement will pay $1,515,000 to the United States and $180,000 to the state for the remediation of contamination that includes trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchloroethylene (PCE) found in the San Gabriel Basin, a source of drinking water for Southern California, according to the press release.

The June 21 settlement is in addition to eight settlements announced in October 2005, which resulted in the repayment of $14.8 million in EPA and state past costs, the release said.

Under a separate EPA order, more than $100 million has been spent to clean up the area’s groundwater. As part of the project, four water treatment systems that treat 30 million gallons of water per day have been installed to provide drinking water for 85,000 households.

SALT LAKE CITY, June 26, 2007 (Water Tech) — Officials are unsure of how perchlorate got into a downtown artesian well, because there is nothing nearby that would be the source of the contaminant, a June 28 Salt Lake Tribune story reported.

Two water tests showed perchlorate levels of 4.6 parts per billion (ppb); because the level is low, the city’s health department does not think the public’s health is at risk.

However, officials are trying to find out how the well, which for over 100 years has been considered and cherished as a pure water source, ended up contaminated, the story said.

The city became aware of the perchlorate from the Department of Agriculture, which has been studying perchlorate in the state’s water supply after it was detected in milk at a level of 6.22 ppb.

The city is considering ways to let the public know about the contamination, the story said.

Multi-Pure Commentary:

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

NEW YORK, July 5, 2007 (Water Tech) — Bottled water lately has been a hot media topic, and is now reaching down into news sources aimed at grade-school children.

Scholastic News Online, which offers “daily news for kids,” according to its Web site, featured a “critical thinking” article entitled “Goodbye, Bottled Water?” on July 2.

The article summarizes recent developments regarding bottled water, particularly San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s decision to ban the purchase of bottled water with public funds for city employees.

The author uses that as a starting point to highlight other issues surrounding the bottles themselves, such as their production and where they go when they are empty.

Laura Spanjian of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission said in the article, “We must all do our part to reduce our carbon footprint and our impact on the environment. This is really a movement. And San Francisco wants citizens and students in other cities to be leaders of a movement to change how people think about bottled water.”

The article notes that Salt Lake City Mayor Ross Anderson asked its 2,500 city employees to voluntarily stop buying bottled water.

Patrick Thronson, communications director for Mayor Anderson, said in the Scholastic News Online article, “We are raising awareness [about] the serious environmental issues [related] to using bottled water.”

The article, which notes how many water bottles end up in landfills and not recycling centers, includes comment from the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) regarding a need for a greater push to recycle all consumer packaging.

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL, July 9, 2007 (Water Tech) — Scientists have discovered high levels of arsenic and other pesticides in thousands of shipments of muck, which were being removed from drought-ridden Lake Okeechobee.

According to a July 8 Associated Press story in the The Ocala Star-Banner, tests by the South Florida Water Management District and independent tests by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel newspaper found high levels of arsenic in the muck taken from the lake’s northern and eastern portions.

Chip Merriam, the district's deputy executive director, said in the story, “We are evaluating how and where we dispose of it ... so we don't create a new problem someplace else.”

One option includes using the muck as bases for parking lots. Some environmentalists worry the muck will be discarded too near the lake.

According to a Sun-Sentinel story, mounds of removed muck are being temporarily stored on land which is to become a water storage area that will filter water headed toward the lake.

Multi-Pure Commentary: