Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
April 10, 2007
4. Water Quality
WATER TREATMENT PLANT ISSUES:
Valley water plants at risk; Study: Rail cars easy terror target - LA Daily News
TOXIC METALS:
Panel fears mercury lost in Bay - Contra Costa Times
POSSIBLE EXPANSION:
AmCan treatment plant nearly full; Heavy storm water runoff puts new facility almost at capacity - Vallejo Times Herald
WATER TREATMENT PLANT ISSUES:
Valley water plants at risk; Study: Rail cars easy terror target
LA Daily News – 4/9/07
By Harrison Sheppard, staff writer
The study by a progressive think tank identified 37 plants that transport chlorine gas by rail, leaving them vulnerable to attack and jeopardizing millions of residents nearby. The report noted that at least 25 plants nationwide have converted to safer purification methods in the past six years.
"It's an entirely preventable hazard," study author Paul Orum said Monday. "Safer and more secure alternatives are available and more affordable."
Among the sites that still use chlorine gas are the Department of Water and Power's Los Angeles Aqueduct Filtration Plant in Sylmar and the Metropolitan Water District's Joseph Jensen Filtration Plant in Granada Hills.
Also in the
The study was produced by the Center for American Progress, based in
Chlorine gas is used for water purification but can be deadly when inhaled. Orum said a rupture, either by accident or attack, could endanger people within 14 miles in urban areas or 25 miles in suburban and rural areas, depending on wind conditions.
The report says 2 million people live within range of the two plants in the Valley, while about 305,000 people live near the
Kim Thompson, chairwoman of the Granada Hills North Neighborhood Council, said she and other residents have long worried about the chlorine-filled rail cars stored at the plants. She said Jensen plant officials have refused requests to install alarms to alert residents if there is a gas leak.
"I'm personally scared," Thompson said. "I know it's dangerous. Common sense and a high school chemistry class will tell you storing that much chlorine (is risky)."
MWD officials said residents would be alerted to a leak by local agencies, such as the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Safer methods
The study noted alternatives for purifying water, including liquid chlorine bleach, which does not disperse into the air if spilled, and ultraviolet light.
Converting to safer methods costs the equivalent of $1.50 per customer per year, the authors said. They noted that in the
But some utility officials said the two alternatives are not as effective as chlorine gas, particularly for facilities as large as the DWP and MWD plants.
David Nahai, president of the city's Department of Water and Power board, said liquid chlorine requires 20 times the volume in transportation as chlorine gas, meaning there would be 20 times as many rail tankers or trucks carrying the material.
"That's an additional public health risk, and you'd need additional security," Nahai said. "I don't think you eliminate the problem.
You might actually make it 20 times larger by switching."
Ultraviolet light alone, he added, has not proved to be effective in purifying water, especially for larger facilities.
Nahai said
The DWP also has increased security at all of its facilities since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, he said.
Eddie Rigdon, manager of water-system operations for the MWD of Southern California, said the agency is building a $100 million chlorine-containment facility at Jensen to house tanker cars and shield the community from any possible leaks. He said agency officials have considered ultraviolet light and other methods, but believe chlorine gas is the most effective.
"Over the years, we have done substantial studies on different disinfection treatments," Rigdon said. "One of the challenges we have is the sheer quantity and volumes of water we deal with. Chlorine (gas), along with ozone, is really the most effective."
Water for 18 million
The MWD treats and distributes up to 1.8 billion gallons of water every day, serving 18 million
This year, terrorists have repeatedly used chlorine-based truck bombs in attacks in
Last year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nu ez, D-
"Whenever you have toxic substances or other hazardous cargo being transported across long distances and through populated areas, there is a reason for concern," said Chris Bertelli of the California Office of Homeland Security.
Currently, he said, there are no known specific threats to rail systems in
Chlorine has been identified in the past as a potential threat, and some major chemical manufacturers last year launched an effort to replace their entire
The companies, including Dow Chemical and Occidental Chemical, created the Chlorine Rail Tank Car Development Coordination Panel last year to work on safer designs and enhanced security in human factors, routing and track conditions. #
http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_5630968
TOXIC METALS:
Panel fears mercury lost in Bay
Contra Costa Times – 4/10/07
By Paul Rogers, MediaNews staff
Hundreds of pounds of mercury from Bay Area oil refineries are unaccounted for and could be flowing into
Until now, old mercury mines in the hills of
On Thursday, staff members of the regional water board plan to order all five Bay Area refineries to measure the mercury concentrations in their crude oil and account for where it goes -- in the air, in waste water and in solid waste sludge -- or face fines of $1,000 a day.
"In our mind there still is a mystery. We're trying to connect the dots and understand where mercury in crude oil ends up," said Bruce Wolfe, executive officer of the board.
Environmentalists think much of the mercury may be escaping as air pollution up the refineries' smokestacks, then washing into the Bay when it rains. If that is the case, scientific understanding of the source of mercury pollution -- the most serious toxic contaminant in the Bay -- would be turned on its head.
"This is huge," said Sejal Choksi, program director for San Francisco Baykeeper, an environmental group. "We might be looking at the main cause of the mercury problem in the Bay."
The 3,700 pounds of mercury that water board officials now estimate to be entering the refineries in crude oil every year is more than all other sources of mercury combined that flow annually in the Bay. That totals about 2,698 pounds a year.
The 3,700 pounds represents more than 15 times the amount estimated to be leaching from the old Almaden Quicksilver Mines near
The five refineries affected are Chevron, Conoco Phillips, Shell, Tesoro and Valero in Contra Costa and Solano counties. Every day, they refine roughly 760,000 barrels of oil into gasoline.
In 2005, the regional water board, a state agency in
Tupper Hull, a spokesman for the Western States Petroleum Association, said the refineries are working to learn how much -- if any -- of the mercury in crude oil ends up in the Bay.
"We're going to know the answer to that when the air study is completed,"
Mercury is a naturally occurring metal that is harmful to fish, wildlife and humans in high concentrations. It does not degrade in the environment.
Young children and pregnant women are most at risk from its effects, particularly for birth defects. For children, long-term exposure to mercury can impair physical coordination, decrease brain function and even cause mental retardation. In adults, it can impair hearing and speech, blur vision and damage the kidneys.
Around the Bay Area, government signs warn that it is unsafe to eat fish because of mercury poisoning. Health officials long have been concerned about immigrant communities and the lowest-income residents who eat fish from the Bay as a staple of their diets.
Until now, the main sources of mercury in the Bay are thought to have been long-closed mines in the
Along with the mines, other mercury sources include consumer products such as thermometers -- and even smog coal burning in
"The Bay is currently very polluted with mercury," Choksi said. "The mercury problem is so bad that fish in the Bay are unsafe to eat. We really need to get to the bottom of figuring out what is causing the problem."
"We have worked collaboratively with the water board up to this point to fully understand mercury discharges from the refineries," he said. "Once this air study is completed, we will have a very good and clear picture of the refineries' discharges into the Bay."
The board's new order this week will give the refineries until Oct. 31, 2008, to complete their studies. But it requires much more than the old order. It mandates that they test their oil for mercury, test air emissions, waste water emissions and solid waste.
In a report that will be presented to the water board Wednesday, Wolfe and other water board staff members note that the oil Bay Area refineries use has higher mercury concentrations than oil from other areas.
Most oil has mercury levels of 10 parts per billion. But oil from the
Water board staff members know that about 1,000 pounds of that goes to hazardous waste landfills out of the Bay Area as sludge when the refineries perform maintenance. The fate of rest is a mystery.
"We're saying it looks like this might be more significant than we thought before," Wolfe said. "We want a better understanding." #
http://www.contracostatimes.com/search/ci_5633421
POSSIBLE EXPANSION:
AmCan treatment plant nearly full; Heavy storm water runoff puts new facility almost at capacity
By Dan Judge, staff writer
The facility, completed in 2002, needs an upgrade that will cost an estimated $10 million and take about three years, Public Works Director Robert Weil said.
Far from surprising, he said the city long ago predicted the upgrade would be needed by now.
"It is not unexpected," Weil said.
The city has already hired RBF Consulting to examine the city's overall water system needs. When that is finished, Weil said, there will be a clearer picture of the price tag.
In any event, the cost of the upgrade will be borne by developer fees on new projects, he said. He conceded that some of that cost would probably be passed on to new home buyers.
"Expanding the plant won't affect the rate-payers and a lot of the development won't be homes, it will be industrial," he said.
Nevertheless, a rate hike is probably in the works, Weil said. A fee study is being conducted now.
"Both the water and wastewater operations have been losing money for the city of
While the growing population of
Deteriorating pipes in older sections of
The city has attacked the problem by replacing some of those pipes and has already improved capacity at the plant by 8 percent, Weil said.
"Now we're down to 72 percent," he said. "We would almost have again the capacity of the wastewater plant just be replacing pipes. We're gaining on the problem." #
http://www.timesheraldonline.com/todaysnews/ci_5634038
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