This week's NEWS

What EPA told the senators about perchlorate didn't go down well... more legislation likely. Huge settlement reached in MTBE litigation by water agencies against a dozen oil companies, but Exxon Mobil and others decide to take their chances on federal court trial. "Locational annual averages of DBPs" gets attention in Arizona after media does its own sampling. The history of using chlorine for drinking water disinfection is highlighted during National Drinking Water Week.

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Federal Updates

• USEPA's Total Coliform Rule Distribution System Advisory Committee will meet May 21-22 in Washington D.C. (Federal Register, May 7); background information on the committee, including agenda and presentation from April meeting

State Updates

• Alaska proposes broad "clean-up" of safe drinking water regulations, including adoption of several federal rules by reference
• Louisiana state health lists all 2007 Consumer Confidence Reports by parish
  Commentary: All of the CCRs in the state appear to be identical except for the actual water quality parameter data and a few special notices. Most monitoring is conducted by the state laboratory.
• Massachusetts recognizes 32 water systems with awards during National Drinking Water Week

Perchlorate and TCE

• USEPA leader tells senators that they (EPA, not the Senate!) may not regulate perchlorate under Safe Drinking Water Act (Sacramento Bee, May 7); the written presentations made at May 6 U.S. Senate committee hearing on TCE and perchlorate
  Commentary: The opposing reasons given or suggested for why EPA may not set a drinking water standard are:
  • The Administrator of EPA may decide (in his sole judgment as specified by the SDWA) that setting a drinking water standard for perchlorate would NOT provide a meaningful opportunity to decrease health risk; or
  • Most of the perchlorate contamination of ground water in the U.S. is from military facilities and DOD doesn't want a drinking water standard;

Backflow Protection

• New state information on backflow protection requirements and testing:
  • Ohio (PDF file, 15.8 K)
  • Missouri

MTBE

• $423 million settlement in MTBE litigation involves 153 systems in 17 states; a dozen oil companies settle, but six more, including Exxon Mobil, choose to litigate in federal court (New York Times, May 8); some state stories:
  • 11 plaintiffs get $78 million in California (not counting $189 million that South Lake Tahoe and Santa Monica previously got) (Los Angeles Times, May 8) 
  • Long Island, NY, water suppliers to get $112.8M (Newsday, May 9)
  • Vineland, NJ, will net $10 million after legal fees (Bridgeton News, May 10)

Commentary: The settlement goes a long way toward moving the conflict over MTBE contamination out of the courts and into the implementation of treatment solutions. Cleaning up MTBE from ground water should be in everyone's best interest.  However, an important event in the history of this massive litigation effort occurred on the same day as the settlement, but was overlooked in the big news of hundreds of millions of dollars. On May 7, 2008, Judge Shira A. Scheindlin (who has been in charge of the federal cases since their assemblage under the federal umbrella) issued a decision (PDF file, 940 K) that excludes the testimony and reports of the plaintiffs' expert witness on taste and odor of MTBE from the federal cases. A key issue in conflict during the pre-trial reports and depositions has been the concentration of MTBE which can be detected by consumers in drinking water. The defendants' expert used a peer-reviewed paper that established a 15-ppb odor threshold concentration for MTBE. The plaintiffs' expert claimed that a large percentage of the population could detect MTBE at less than 1 ppb. The judge ruled that the plaintiff expert's "testimony is not 'the product of reliable principles and methods.'" The ruling will have a significant impact on the remaining federal cases. How this will play out in the federal court system remains to be seen.

• Maryland homeowners have waited over four years for a resolution to their MTBE problems (Baltimore Sun, May 9)

Disinfection Byproducts

• Mississippi utility blames high chlorine doses and notifies of DBP MCL violation; gets surprise visit from state utilities commissioner (Biloxi Sun Herald, May 9)
• TV station conducts its own THM sampling in Arizona cities; finds levels at individual locations above level allowed as annual average (ABC 15, May 13); responses to reports by Phoenix and Scottsdale

Water Treatment

• Chlorine Chemistry: 100 Years of Safer Lives (Editor's note: There is a fascinating history of the first application of chlorine for treating a public drinking water supply in Jersey City, NJ.)
• New 100-MGD submerged-membrane plant dedicated in San Diego County, CA (SDCWA news release, May 5)

Security

• San Francisco, CA, gets $8 million safe drinking water security initiative grant from EPA for pilot contaminant monitoring, detection, warning system (USEPA Region 9 news release, May 9)

Microbiological

• New Mexico town boil water order related to affordability of state-mandated filter/backwash system? (Pueblo Chieftain, May 5)
• New WHO report: Water Quality Interventions to Prevent Diarrhoea: Cost and Cost-Effectiveness
• Cost of Colorado salmonella outbreak begins to be determined (Pueblo Chieftain, May 2)

PFOA

• Trace levels of Teflon chemical found in ground water near New Jersey DuPont plant (News Journal, May 7)
• Preliminary results of West Virginia University study on C8 health effects discussed (Charleston Gazette, May 9)

Arsenic

• Post-mortem on Oregon city's arsenic scare; media and poor communications by city cited as contributing factors (Creswell Chronicle, May 7)
• Australian government to fund treatment plant to address elevated arsenic in surface water from old mine (Macleay Argus, May 9)
• Overview report looks at distribution of arsenic in drinking water around the world, issues, possible treatment scenarios (IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre, April 24)

NEWS CONTINUES BELOW

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PPCPs

• City's tests show traces of pharmaceuticals in Chicago drinking water (Chicago Tribune, May 10)

Invasive Species

• Where is Waldo, The Quagga Mussel? USGS program on quagga distribution in the U.S. is updated daily
• Conflicting interests: Recreational boating vs. drinking water facilities; California county weighs options of boat ban or inspections (San Jose Mercury News, May 8)

Radium

• Minnesota town's wells have slightly elevated radium levels (Rochester Post Bulletin, May 13)

Source Water Protection

• Pennsylvania groups hold workshop

Fluoridation

• Tennessee water agency begins fluoridation despite legal challenge (Maryville Daily Times, May 7)
• Massachusetts town rejects fluoridation by 3-to-1 margin (Yarmouth Register, May 7)
• Nebraska town will vote on fluoridation issue in November (NTV, May 8)
• Mandatory fluoridation legislation still pending in Pennsylvania (York Daily Record, May 13)
• Another California city begins fluoridating their drinking water (Sacramento Bee, May 13)
• Grand Rapids, MI, has fluoridated since 1945 and will make a routine review of their operation (Grand Rapids Press, May 7)

Bottled Water

• Seattle, WA, urges residents to drink tap water, not bottled (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, May 8)

Conferences

• Call for Papers has been extended to June 15–Sustainable and Safe Drinking Water in Developing and Developed Countries: Where Science Meets Policy, November 5-6, 2008
  "Following the Symposium on November 7 is a memorial symposium for Dr. Daniel A. Okun that will celebrate his life and achievements (which closely match the Symposium theme). Dr. Okun was hailed worldwide for his ground-breaking work in water resources management, including water supply, pollution control, water reclamation and reuse, watershed protection, and institutional approaches for water and sanitation in developing countries. The memorial symposium will take place from 10 AM - 5 PM on November 7, 2008, in the Redbud Room of the Friday Center."

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