Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
March 12, 2008
4. Water Quality
WATER QUALITY ISSUES:
Water cleaning technologies present challenges - some work better than others - Associated Press
Drug disposal examined as water purity issue; Area pharmacies offer 'take back' programs for medicines - Associated Press
WASTEWATER ISSUES:
Dixon agrees to pay wastewater fine - Vacaville Reporter
WATER QUALITY ISSUES:
Water cleaning technologies present challenges - some work better than others
Associated Press – 3/12/08
By Justin Pritchard, staff writer
"It's an efficient, cheap water supply -- and it's the best quality," says Deshmukh, amid the hiss of machines at the state-of-the-art facility.
Performing the recycling transformation requires a battery of treatments.
Wastewater strained and disinfected at an adjacent sewage treatment plant is first filtered through tiny straws. Then, in a process called reverse osmosis, the water is forced across a spiraled sheet of plastic with holes so small that little else can slip through. In the final phase, the water is zapped with ultraviolet light.
The three-step operation is one of the most sophisticated cleansing systems anywhere. While the incoming water contains minuscule levels of prescription drugs, tests for any traces of a half-dozen pharmaceuticals, conducted as the treated water leaves the plant, detect nothing.
The end product supplies more than 500,000
The cleansing procedure illustrates how difficult -- and expensive -- it is to scrub virtually every iota of contaminant from our supplies.
The standard ways of cleaning water are not designed to snare the tiny amounts of prescription drugs that survive digestion, and then, with a flush of the toilet, begin their journey toward
It's not an academic exercise: According to an Associated Press investigation, scientists have found that water piped to tens of millions of people nationwide contains minute concentrations of dozens of pharmaceuticals from tranquilizers to painkillers to antibiotics.
While scientists have not definitively established that people are harmed by these drugs, laboratory tests have shown tiny amounts can have ill effects on human cells. And the fact that they are being consumed in combination, over many years -- at any level -- worries some researchers.
If those fears are borne out by future studies, it could lead communities and water providers to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on more advanced treatments to improve on the commonplace regimen of filtration and disinfection with chlorine.
A large-scale reverse osmosis system is expensive. It costs Orange County about one-eighth of a penny per gallon -- or $15 month for the 12,000 gallons used by a typical family of four, a price that doesn't include overhead charges, such as construction, salaries and maintenance.
Officials at the Greater Cincinnati Water Works say their granular activated carbon filtering system costs 93.6 cents per month for the typical family of four.
Following a parasitic outbreak, the Southern Nevada Water Authority in
The extra cost of reverse osmosis is nearly impossible to justify because at this point there are no confirmed human health risks posed by pharmaceuticals, according to David Rexing, water quality research and development manager at the
"How do we strap the customer with that cost?" asks Rexing.
Unlike the other treatments, reverse osmosis requires several gallons for every gallon it produces, with the excess an undrinkable brine -- and that creates "a bigger environmental issue" than the presence of trace pharmaceuticals, according to Paul Westerhoff, an engineering professor at
The cheaper ozonation process isn't designed to remove pharmaceuticals, though it does take care of many compounds. Still, tests at the
At the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which serves 18.5 million people, tests at one of its five plants show that ozonation failed to remove a tranquilizer and an anti-epileptic drug from the finished drinking water, according to an ongoing study.
That district and the Southern Nevada Water Authority both draw from the Colorado River, which, tests show, can contain several hundred parts per trillion of pharmaceuticals including the active ingredients in medicines to treat depression and anxiety. The drugs get there because wastewater plants that drain into the river use basic treatments designed to remove microbes and industrial contaminants, not pharmaceuticals -- the same scenario in many rivers nationwide.
Even in
"The cost isn't acceptable right now," Yves Levi, a pharmacist and professor of public health at Paris-South 11 University, said in an interview in French. "No one knows if the risk is considerable or not."
Another advanced process at drinking water treatment plants, the use of carbon filters, also lets some pharmaceuticals through.
Some of the most detailed testing was done at the Passaic Valley Water Commission in
Although the treatment decreased pharmaceutical concentrations, some samples heading into drinking water pipes contained all or some of the following: the painkiller codeine, an anti-convulsant drug, the remnants of a drug to reduce chest pains and caffeine.
Lead researcher U.S. Geological Survey hydrologist Paul Stackelberg said he expected tests at the same type of treatment plant anywhere in the nation would produce similar results. #
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/03/12/news/nation/16_12_153_11_08.txt
Drug disposal examined as water purity issue; Area pharmacies offer 'take back' programs for medicines
Associated Press – 3/12/08
By Sandy Kleffman, staff writer
It used to be simple. Consumers were told to flush their old medications down the toilet.
Now that is considered a serious mistake in light of reports of pharmaceuticals in drinking water.
So many people are left with a conundrum: What to do with their expired and unused drugs?
Answers can be hard to come by, but options for safe disposal do exist, including a handful of
"I would sure like to know what to do with this stuff," said Ed Berman, a 78-year-old retired CPA who lives in Rossmoor. "I'm sure half of Rossmoor is faced with the same problem."
Berman has old antibiotics and diabetes medication that he wants to get rid of, but his garbage company told him not to put it in the Dumpster. He went to four pharmacies but none had programs to accept such medications.
"So you're stuck with them," he said.
Not quite. The non-profit Teleosis Institute in
People can bring unwanted medications to 14 Bay Area pharmacies and health offices, including the Elephant Pharmacy on
The drugs should be returned in their original containers with personal information blacked out.
The unwanted medications will then be incinerated — considered the most environmentally safe disposal method.
Program manager Evin Guy said 40 percent of prescription medications go unused either because they expire, people don't like the side-effects, or doctors decide to prescribe something else.
Teleosis has been encouraging local health care providers to prescribe small starter packs of drugs instead of starting people off with a full 90-day supply.
The organization also asks those who return medications to fill out a form listing the drug's name, dosage, quantity and where it was obtained.
The goal is to figure out what is generating the most waste and attempt to reduce it at the beginning of the process, Guy said.
When customers pick up their medications, a flier is attached to each bag with information about the take-back program. The pharmacy will accept medications from everyone, regardless of where the drugs were purchased.
"The service to the community greatly outweighs the nominal cost," pharmacist Sharon Leaf said. "I think we all need to be more responsible for our environment. This is something that the industry as a whole is becoming much more aware of."
Leaf estimates that her pharmacy has handled 400 to 500 pounds of unwanted medications since the program began.
Teleosis is working to expand its network of participating pharmacies.
Other groups, including the East Bay Municipal Utility District, sponsor periodic drop-off days, often in connection with other events such as a mercury thermometer exchange.
On a state level, legislation signed into law last year requires the Board of Waste Management to develop a pilot program for pharmacies to take back medications, similar to the one Teleosis is sponsoring.
"The ultimate end is incineration," said Virginia Herold, executive officer of the state Board of Pharmacy. State officials hope to have the pilot program designed by the end of the year.
In the meantime, the Board of Pharmacy's Web site advises consumers to keep pills or capsules in their original containers, add water and something nontoxic such as sawdust, kitty litter, charcoal or powdered spices, seal the container with duct tape, put it in a cardboard box and place it in the trash.
But Guy of Teleosis and others disagree with this approach, arguing that incineration is best to avoid contaminating landfills and, eventually, the water supply. #
WASTEWATER ISSUES:
By Melissa Murphy, staff writer
The city of
On its consent calendar, the council unanimously decided Tuesday night not to appeal the fine for noncompliance of a Cease and Desist order issued in 2005 in regard to its wastewater plant.
Instead, the council has chosen to move forward with the Regional Water Board in hopes that it will accept its proposed revised Cease and Desist Order.
Paying the fine, according to Mayor Mary Ann Courville, allows the city to move in a more timely direction toward meeting deadlines imposed by the water board.
Appealing the fine would have added time and money to the city's water ordeal that has lasted for years, the council said.
The order was issued to
Vice Mayor Michael Gomez said that paying the fine saves the city money by not paying for legal services that would be required in an appeal process.
He also explained that even after an appeal, the Water Quality Control Board still has the right to raise the fine even higher.
In other action, the council voted unanimously to allow $85,000 from the Recreation Capital Fun to be used for the installation of Field Turf at the Jim B. Stevens Arena in
The City Council Chamber was full of soccer supporters, including players and coaches, in favor of the floor conversion.
According to Jeff Matheson, soccer wouldn't be the only sport using the facility and benefiting from the new floor. The council also approved adding volleyball lines to the floor.
Matheson said that the new floor, an outside turf material used indoors, should last for many years and even comes with an eight-year warranty.
The old floor, a
Soccer coaches had pointed to safety issues regarding the
The council also unanimously approved an expenditure of no more than $10,000 to redesign the city's Web site.
Although it's unknown at this time when the new Web site will be up and running, the council agreed that a redesign has been a long time coming.
During Tuesday's meeting 11
Each council member was allowed to appoint one committee member and the remainder was chosen by lot.
Those serving on the committee include Vicky Azevedo, Jack Caldwell, Planning Commissioner Mike Floyd, Chris Fong, Delores Garton, Jill Orr, Gary Riddle, Fire Chief Alex Rodriguez, Joan Schindel, Kathy Spridgen and Steven Rost. The alternates will be Stephen Sikes and Tiffany Wing with the Chamber of Commerce. #
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