Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
October 9, 2007
4. Water Quality
PERCHLORATE:
State to limit toxin in water - San Gabriel Valley Tribune
Rialto lawsuits raise questions - Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
REGUALTION:
Vista,
DRINKING WATER:
In Rialto, UV rays treat the water - Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
PERCHLORATE:
State to limit toxin in water
By Elise Kleeman, staff writer
As of Oct. 18,
That amount is about the same as a tablespoon of ink in an Olympic-sized pool.
The change, lauded by some environmentalists, will make
But there are also concerns that even the seemingly minuscule amount set by the new limit is still too high.
Perchlorate has been shown to block the release of thyroid gland hormones critical for normal growth and nervous system development, making it particularly dangerous for pregnant women and young children.
"We believe there is really no safe level of rocket fuel in our drinking water," said Bernadette Del Chiaro of the advocacy group Environment California. "We are disappointed."
The Association for California Water Agencies, however, supports the new standard. It notes that the state's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment has declared that the six-parts- per-billion limit would cause no ill effects even after 70 years of water consumption.
"Six parts per billion has been a good, health-effective, cost-effective number," said Krista Clark, the association's director of regulatory affairs. "There's no justifiable reason to have a standard lower than that. To treat lower than that would be to spend public tax dollars on a standard that provides zero net health benefits."
However, the chemical's health impacts remain under debate.
In a 2002 study, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommended a maximum limit of one part per billion for perchlorate in drinking water, a limit which
The EPA estimates perchlorate contamination exists in at least 25 states.
In
In
At a treatment plant on the laboratory grounds, water drawn from beneath the surface has perchlorate levels of about 400 parts per billion, said Steve Slaten, the plant project's manager for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
After treatment, he said, the water is returned to the ground with a concentration of less than two parts per billion.
Drinking water from wells in
Although some of
Six parts per billion "is what we originally thought that the maximum contaminant level would be, so we were already keeping that in mind," he said. "When we blend (water sources), we always put a big safety factor in there."
But although
Still, he said, "personally, I have concerns that six parts might not be fully protective for the health of pregnant women and children."
Despite a historical reluctance to advocate for more regulatory standards, he said, MWD is supporting legislation by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Rep. Hilda Solis, D-El Monte, that would press the federal government to establish its own perchlorate standards.
"I think it's progress that a level has been set because it gives a standard that we can really work with, and now I think a lot of clean up programs that have really lagged can get going," he said. #
http://www.sgvtribune.com/news/ci_7108503
By Jason Pesick, staff writer
"Well, I think we have to get a little bit smarter about how we take on legal battles," said City Councilman Joe Baca Jr.
Recent lawsuits - one to get local water contamination cleaned up, another to gain a better theoretical understanding of state law - raise the question: Is Rialto a little trigger happy when it comes to going to court?
Last week, word came from the Fourth District Court of Appeal that the city lost its appeal against its police officers' union. The case involved the minutiae of how a city can go about eliminating its police department.
In September 2005, the Council voted to replace its Police Department with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's office. It went back on that vote less than a year later but kept fighting the lawsuit, even bringing in an outside law firm to help.
The union beat the city in San Bernardino County Superior Court when it filed suit, saying
Councilman Ed Scott said the League of Cities encouraged
"Basically, the main reason (
Baca disagreed.
"I have a hard time paying for legal fees when the issue was already moot," he said.
And then there's perchlorate, the toxic substance contaminating the local drinking water.
A number of agencies are affected by perchlorate, but
So far, that's cost the city and its water department customers, who are paying a perchlorate fee on their bills, at least $15 million.
"They're not experienced or in the business of cleaning up the basin," said Barry Groveman, an attorney for the West Valley Water District, another local water purveyor.
Councilwoman Winnie Hanson said the city has a special responsibility to pursue the suspected polluters in part because the source of the pollution is in
"We knew we had to," she said. #
REGUALTION:
Vista,
By Matthew Rodriguez, staff writer
The fine money could be better spent on buying new sewer lines, they said.
The San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board proposed the fine last week for the two cities, which jointly own the sewer line that ruptured.
The break in late March and early April sent 7.3 million gallons of raw sewage into the lagoon between
Vista owns nearly 90 percent of the faulty sewer line and would pay that portion of a fine;
The cities issued a news release yesterday saying the amount could affect their capital improvement programs.
In addition to citing the hardship the fine could cause, the cities said in the release that they plan to submit more information on the spill to the regional board.
The cities plan to provide an accounting “that demonstrates that the spill repairs and clean-up response actions have already cost the cities a considerable amount,” the news release said.
Glenn Pruim, public works director for
The proposed fine, city officials said, could be better spent on improving the lines. “A million dollars still buys a lot of pipeline,” said Larry Pierce,
“All the work that we do on the sewer system to keep it maintained and the right size ultimately is to protect the environment from a sewer spill and to be able to provide that service,” Pierce said.
Two Vista City Council members said the proposed fine was too high.
“The way I look at it, it was an accident,” Councilman Steve Gronke said. “We shouldn't have to pay a fine if it was an accident.”
Gronke said the city worked to clean up the spill “as diligently as we could.” He said the proposed fine, though, is much less than the $73 million the board gave in its report as the possible maximum.
The spill was caused by a rupture in a 24-inch pressurized sewer line that sends sewage from the Buena Vista Pump Station to a treatment plant in
Councilwoman Judy Ritter said the proposed fine could end up costing residents.
“It may impact sewer fees,” she said. “Absolutely it is a concern.”
Ritter said the money from any potential fine could be spent improving the city's ability to monitor its sewer system or replacing some of its pipes.
“I can think of a lot of things a million dollars could do for our sewer system,” she said. “I don't want to take the chance that something else is going to fail.” #
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20071006/news_7m6reply.html
DRINKING WATER:
In
By Jason Pesick, staff writer
But there's no chlorine or other chemicals in the tubes - just light.
"The UV is emerging technology for drinking water," said Ken Sikorski,
Shining light on water might seem a fruitless cleaning method, but ultraviolet light disrupts the DNA of organisms in the water.
Though it takes more energy to run a UV system than dosing water with chlorine, which the plant generates on-site, there are no byproducts. Chlorine produces leftover disinfection byproducts, which are carcinogens and can be harmful to people.
"You have to use them in combination," he said.
Whether it's done by light, chemical or both, disinfection is only one part of the overall treatment process.
Roemer, which opened in 1995, can treat 14.4 million gallons of water a day. The water comes in from Lytle Creek and the State Water Project and then makes its way to pretreatment. During pretreatment, the plant removes 80 percent of the solids in the water, Sikorski said.
Then the state water and the water from Lytle Creek are blended together before being filtered and disinfected. After being sent to another reservoir to sit for a few more hours, it moves on to customers around northern
UV treatment is gaining in popularity among sewage treatment plants in addition to water treatment plants, said Kurt Berchtold, assistant executive officer of the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board.
"Chlorine is a very hazardous chemical, so there are significant dangers and risks associated just with having tanks of that around." #
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