New York City wells are center of federal MTBE trial
NEW YORK , August 7, 2009 (Water Tech) — Contaminated drinking water wells in the New York City borough of Queens are the subject of a new trial in US District Court in Manhattan, according to an August 7 article in The New York Times.
Judge Shira A. Scheindlin is presiding over the case, which opened August 4. Lawyers for the city are arguing that oil giant Exxon Mobil knew that the gasoline additive MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ether) would contaminate groundwater when the company used it as a replacement for lead in gasoline as an octane enhancer.
Lawyers for the city have said that 39 of 68 wells in Queens show MTBE contamination; however, the focus of the trial is five contaminated wells that can yield about 10 million gallons a day to supplement drinking water in emergencies or droughts. City officials have said a $250 million treatment facility would have to be built to make the water in the wells drinkable, the Times reported.
Exxon Mobil is contending that the wells are contaminated by other industry in the area and has argued that the city does not intend to build the treatment plant and has other projects under way to provide other backup sources of water, the article said.
A jury must rule on several elements of the case, including whether the city intends to build the treatment plant, the extent of MTBE contamination and the size of any punitive damages, according to the Times article.
Multi-Pure Commentary:
Multi-Pure Drinking Water Systems have been certified by NSF International, under Standard 53, to reduce MTBE.
New CA lead rule still vague, industry says
LISLE, IL, August 7, 2009 (Water Tech) — As the deadline approaches for starting enforcement of new requirements in California for lead-free drinking water products, that state’s regulators still haven’t decided which products will fall under the rule or what the certification requirements will be for those products, the head of the national water treatment industry trade association has warned its members.
In an August 6 letter to members of the Water Quality Association (WQA), the group’s executive director, Peter Censky, said the new lead requirements are set to go into effect on January 1, 2010.
Depending on when the new rules are laid down, “there may be little time between the publication of the regulations and the date they take effect,” Censky wrote. WQA members include manufacturers of drinking water treatment equipment, some of whose products made of metal would likely have to conform to the new rule. Censky noted that even companies who don’t make or sell metal products could be indirectly affected.
“WQA has been working with its lobbyist and members in California to further define these issues and, it is hoped, to ease the burden on companies,” Censky’s letter said. Until that happens, companies won’t know how much lead their products will be allowed to contain.
Polluted groundwater prompts bottled water, new wells
PAW PAW, MI, August 10, 2009 (Water Tech) — As groundwater contamination here may be lingering, village residents continue to question the safety of their drinking water, relying on bottled water for drinking and cooking, according to an August 9 Detroit Free Press article.
The contamination stems from food processors, including beverage giant Coca-Cola, spraying wastewater onto open fields. In 2000, Coke struck a deal with Michigan officials, which called for the company to pay a $50,000 fine; build a $7-million water treatment system; stop spraying; investigate the contamination plume; give affected residents a permanent source of clean drinking water; and clean up the contamination.
According to the article, part of a Free Press series on the pollution of water supplies by food processors, the bottled water Paw Paw residents drink was to be a “temporary” solution to the problem. As WaterTech Online® reported, Coke told residential well owners in 2007 that their wells were contaminated, and then supplied residents with bottled water coolers after its 23 years of spraying practices were considered the source of the contamination.
Army looks for chemicals in private well water
FORT MEADE, MD, August 14, 2009 (Water Tech) — The US Army’s Fort George G. Meade is asking residents who live around the installation to continue participating in a water-testing program to potentially identify sources of contamination in private drinking water wells, an August 14 story in The Capital said.
The Army is testing groundwater sources around Fort Meade for carbon tetrachloride, tetrachloroethene and trichloroethene after high levels of the cancer-causing chemicals were found in two wells at the post. The chemicals, formerly used in industrial cleaners, are thought to have come from an old landfill on the post that was capped nearly a decade ago, the story said
Earlier this year, officials from Fort Meade, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Anne Arundel County Health Department conducted the tests on private residential wells within a 1-mile radius of the contamination site.
Multi-Pure Commentary:
Multi-Pure Drinking Water Systems have been certified by NSF International, under Standard 53, to reduceCarbon Tetrachloride (a VOC).
Turbidity prompts water-use restrictions
GLOUCESTER, MA, August 19, 2009 (Water Tech) — Turbidity problems here have resulted in a ban on all outdoor water use and a call for residents and businesses to limit indoor use, according to an August 18 Gloucester Daily Times online report.
Officials issued the restrictions because of persistent murky water conditions, which shut down the Babson water treatment plant on August 15 and have resulted in a drop in pressure.
Director of Public Works Michael Hale said on August 18 that there was no immediate danger that customers would be left without water, and tap water was safe to drink.
The city was drawing water from Rockport, Manchester and Essex to make up for the shortfall, and the Gloucester Daily Times reported that it was “unclear how long their assistance can be sustained.”
Multi-Pure Commentary:
Multi-Pure Drinking Water Systems have been certified by NSF International, under Standard 53, to reduceTurbidity.
Water quality an issue for Oregon community
BEND, OR, August 20, 2009 (Water Tech) — The Bend Department of Public Works is investigating solutions to two potential threats to the city’s water supply: parasites and wildfire, KOHD.com reported August 19.
The drinking water treatment system, put in place more than 80 years ago, is not designed to handle mircoorganisms like Cryptosporidium, the report said. According to Bend Public Works Director Paul Rheault, “The more used our watershed west of town gets from the public participating up there, the greater the chance that this could get in our water supply.”
Multi-Pure Commentary:
Multi-Pure Drinking Water Systems have been certified by NSF International, under Standard 53, to reduceCryptosporidium (Cyst).
High atrazine in water unreported, NY Times finds
NEW YORK, August 24, 2009 (Water Tech) — Levels of the widely used herbicide atrazine have spiked well above the allowable maximum in many public water systems, sometimes for as much as a month at a time, but few water systems have reported those occurrences, an investigation by The New York Times has found. A report on the investigation was published in the August 23 edition of the newspaper.
The report also refers to new research suggesting that even levels of the chemical that comply with the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) maximum limit of 3 parts per billion (ppb) in public drinking water may be associated with birth defects, low birth weight and menstrual problems.
Multi-Pure Commentary:
Multi-Pure Drinking Water Systems have been certified by NSF International, under Standard 53, to reduceAtrazine (a VOC).
POU devices may help, Indiana says of atrazine
MUNCIE, IN, August 31, 2009 (Water Tech) — A spokeswoman for the Indiana Department of Environmental Management has advised residents who are concerned about levels of the herbicide atrazine in their tap water to consider using a point-of-use water treatment device, The Star Press reported August 31.
“While Indiana drinking water systems are held to strict standards set by the US Environmental Protection Agency, if residents have concerns, a tap filter can be a means to provide peace of mind,” Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) spokeswoman Amber Finkelstein is quoted saying.
Finkelstein was responding to concerns raised in a recent Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) report which said atrazine is found in many public water systems, especially those in the central United States where corn is a significant crop. In its report, the NRDC recommends concerned citizens use an individual home water treatment device that is certified to NSF/ANSI standards for drinking water to help reduce levels of contaminants in drinking water.
In Indiana, a state-led atrazine awareness campaign has resulted in reduced application of the chemical on corn crops, Leighanne Hahn, water quality specialist in the pesticide section of the state chemist’s office, said in the story. She noted that the campaign sought to inform pesticide applicators that atrazine acts one way when applied to the soil and a different way after it makes its way into water.
Multi-Pure Commentary:
Multi-Pure Drinking Water Systems have been certified by NSF International, under Standard 53, to reduceAtrazine (a VOC).
Plume with TCE migrates toward well field
MANCELONA, MI, September 1, 2009 (Water Tech) — A groundwater plume containing trichloroethylene (TCE) is heading toward a main source of drinking water for this community, and officials are scrambling to expand the public water system, according to an August 27 news report on UpNorthLive.com.
The plume, which originates in the area of a former auto plant in Mancelona, is traveling northwest toward the Cedar River Well Field. Michigan Department of Environmental Quality Senior Geologist Janice Adams is quoted saying that it is expected the TCE-contaminated plume, which moves at a rate of about 3 feet a year, will impact the well field in the next 10 years.
To reduce residents’ reliance on potentially contaminated well water, public mains are being extended. The price tag so far for the state to expand the water system is nearly $10 million. Adams said funding is in place to continue the monitoring and mains work during 2010, but after that, “monies from bonds are running out,” she said.
Multi-Pure Commentary:
Multi-Pure Drinking Water Systems have been certified by NSF International, under Standard 53, to reduce TCE (a VOC).
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