Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
March 13, 2008
4. Water Quality
SEWAGE ISSUES:
Change to sewage rules may be costly; Sen. Boxer wants concerns over safety of waste disposal addressed - Ventura County Star
GROUNDWATER CLEANUP:
Visalia's water to be tested for chemical - Visalia Times Delta
DRINKING WATER QUALITY ISSUES:
Ridge water doesn't have drug problem - Paradise Post
City Officials Challenge Study On Water Quality - Downtown Gazette (
Little reaction to drugs in water; Firms prepare for flood of calls - Monterey Herald
WATER CONTAMINATION ISSUES:
Morro Bay blames water contamination on agriculture fertilizers - Associated Press
CLEAN WATER PRACTICE:
Editorial: Humans key to clean water -
SEWAGE ISSUES:
Change to sewage rules may be costly; Sen. Boxer wants concerns over safety of waste disposal addressed
By Cynthia Overweg, staff writer
A letter written by California Sen. Barbara Boxer to the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has some officials in
Camarillo Mayor Charlotte Craven is in
Officials on Boxer's environmental committee staff said Boxer is not yet calling for a revision of the Clean Water Act, but wants to be certain that public health issues surrounding the use of biosolids are fully addressed. She is asking the EPA to further explain contaminant issues, according to her staff.
Craven is attending a national conference on clean water issues and said she will ask for a meeting with Boxer, chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.
"We're not complaining about the Clean Water Act — it's done a great deal of good for our country — but if changes are made, the cost of paying for them has got to be spread," said Craven.
Boxer's inquiries to the EPA prompted local and regional water treatment facilities — members of the California Association of Sanitation Agencies — to send its own letter to Boxer suggesting she consider the benefits of properly managed biosolids before changes are made to the Clean Water Act.
Last month, Craven organized a meeting in
"We had 25 people in the room. We wanted to send the message that we need to be collaborators if she's going to revisit the Clean Water Act," said Craven, who added that in the past 15 years
Trish Holden, an environmental microbiologist at UC Santa Barbara, said contaminants in the environment, whether in biosolids or water, are a threat to public health.
"We have antibiotics all over the place, and pharmaceuticals are not effectively removed in wastewater treatment — this is a huge health issue and it hasn't been studied enough," said Holden.
She said the public does not understand the enormity of the issue or its own culpability.
"We flush drugs, medications and harsh chemicals down the drain and toilet every day — there's only so much a wastewater treatment facility can handle — we're all in this together," Holden said.
Waste is hard to dispose
The appropriate disposition of biosolids is an issue of growing significance because cities are running out of options on how to dispose of it, and must find alternative ways that make sense economically and scientifically, said Thousand Oaks City Councilman Dennis Gillette, a Ventura County Regional Sanitation District board member.
He said much of the county's sludge is hauled to a landfill in
Last year, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors approved the treatment and disposal of local biosolids at the Toland Road Landfill near
"No one will rest on their laurels and proclaim it's 100 percent safe in every direction, but what we're saying is the current system we have will take biosolids and purify them to a point that these other pathogens and contaminants simply can't survive," said Gillette.
Biosolids in agriculture
But others aren't so sure. It's the mere possibility of potential disease-causing pathogens in biosolids that keeps local farmers from going anywhere near it.
"All the studies I've seen show that biosolids have metals in it and sometimes carry bacteria that aren't completely killed off," said Earl McPhail, Ventura County agricultural commissioner.
"The EPA says you can use it on some crops like cotton or alfalfa, but I don't foresee a time when biosolids could be used on edible crops as long as people are concerned about food safety," McPhail said. "I wouldn't use the stuff on my lawn, either."
The future of biosolids is a debate that may gain momentum as what's called "emerging contaminants" become more understood, said Dana Kolpin, project chief for the U.S. Geological Survey, an arm of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
In a recent study of land-applied biosolids, Kolpin said that earthworms — from a soybean field in the
"We know contaminants were in the waste being applied. We know the worms were contaminated — the research needs to continue to see what this means to the worms, and what it means for a potential to go higher up the food chain," said Kolpin.
He said that while the use of biosolids can be beneficial because of the nutrients they provide to soil, there is also a lot of catch-up research work that needs to be done.
"These compounds degrade into other new compounds that can end up in reclaimed water and biosolids," said Kolpin.
Striking the right balance between protecting human health and the environment with the potential cost of added regulation is the central concern of all local sanitation agencies, said John Correa, general manager of the Ojai Valley Sanitation District.
"There's a shampoo that's used to kill lice and the active ingredient is one of those things that doesn't come out of the water — it's a proven toxic chemical that can't be removed in a treatment plant," Correa said.
The only way to keep such products out of the environment, Correa said, is to stop using them. "We need to be doing everything we can to get them outlawed."
In 1995, he said, his water district got an $18 million, 20-year state loan to upgrade its treatment plant. "If you give me a new mandate, who will pay for it?" he asked. #
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/mar/13/change-to-sewage-rules-may-be-costly/
GROUNDWATER CLEANUP:
By Jim Houck, staff writer
A state project starts today to test
The substance, perchloroethylene, known as PCE or "perc," is used in dry cleaning and as a degreaser in auto shops.
State officials and Phil Mirwald, district manager for California Water Service, which provides
Mirwald said the company conducts weekly tests of its water. Wells are tested less frequently, he said. Any time tests show a contaminant in a well greater than permitted by state regulations, the well is either equipped with a filter or taken out of service. For PCE, the maximum allowable level is five parts per billion.
"CalWater is not the source of past contamination," Mirwald said.
In past years, some
The state agency directing the project, the Department of Toxic Substances Control, said CalWater tests in 2005 found PCE in amounts below the maximum permitted by the state Department of Health in 14 wells. In seven wells, the contaminant exceeded the maximum.
In the next week, a contractor hired by the agency will use a hydraulic ram to punch 2-inch rods into the ground at 25
The rods will stop at first groundwater and extract a sample that will be tested for PCE.
The 25 locations were determined by earlier tests of soil samples to determine the amount of PCE vapor in the ground.
The state's goal, said project manager Mike Vivas, is to find the sources of PCE in groundwater and the parties responsible.
While PCE is still used by most dry cleaners, federal and state regulations have focused on keeping it out of the environment.
Regulations limit the kind of dry-cleaning machines and restrict the way wastewater and other PCE-contaminated materials can be disposed. #
http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080313/NEWS01/803130323/1002/NEWS01
DRINKING WATER QUALITY ISSUES:
Ridge water doesn't have drug problem
By Paul Wellersdick, staff writer
Rest assured the Ridge has clean water, free from pharmaceuticals that have been found in trace amounts in millions of Americans' drinking water.
The Associated Press reported Monday that antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones have been found in 41 million Americans drinking water. Paradise Irrigation District and the Del Oro Water Company do not test for pharmaceuticals nor are they required to by either federal or state laws. PID Water Treatment Plant Superintendent Rick Terrano said the Ridge's water is clean.
"We're not that vulnerable to this type of pollution," Terrano said. "No, in fact, our water quality is pretty high. We don't see a lot of bacteria even I would not suspect our water systems to have any of the problems you read in the papers."
The evidence of pharmaceuticals in municipal water supplies is not a new concept, but the article by the AP sparked interest from the country, Terrano said.
"It's been around for quite a while," he said. "It started showing up years ago in fisheries." PID was made aware of the potential for problems years ago through trade journals in the water industry, Terrano said.
"We've read about it in our trade journals for several years," Terrano said. "It's not like it's a big shock."
The articles stated fish had problems with their sex orientation, Terrano said. Several years ago, Terrano read that small doses of hormones in the watershed affect the way fish develop. Fish may have been found with both male and female sexes, he said. Though there has been a lot of research on the subject the information is hard to digest, he said.
"Unless you get into a lot of dry reading, and research papers you won't see a lot on it," he said adding until the recent article by the AP.
The AP article stated, "male fish are being feminized, creating egg yolk proteins, a process usually restricted to females." Though the article and local officials say there is no evidence prolonged exposure to low levels of pharmaceuticals has any effect on humans.
How are the drugs making it into drinking water? What happens is people go through their medicine boxes and flush the expired pills, Terrano said. When people flush expired drugs town the toilet, the drugs make it through the treatment process and end up in people's water down stream. The same holds true when people take the prescribed amount because not all of the drugs are absorbed into the body and some are transferred through urine into the water.
"They're pretty vigorous (drugs)," he said.
Though drugs may have been found in some municipal water, the levels of the drug doses are low. The real news is science has become so refined that scientists are able to measure ever smaller amounts of chemicals in water, Terrano.
"I've read these are measured in parts per trillion or billion," he said. "They're finding minute or trace amounts."
Though PID doesn't test for drugs in its water, Terrano said the district has a pristine watershed, with no major water treatment systems up stream.
"We haven't actually tested for them," he said. "We don't have the waste water recycling systems."
The reason being that there are no major population centers up hill from the Ridge, he said. For example,
"You just have to look at their source of water," he said citing
He doubted such a water source would have any pollution, he said. But the AP article stated
"I hope they don't just shotgun this," he said. "I think we in
PID Manager George Barber said he too has known about the information.
"We got the heads up," he said. "We are fortunate enough in
The septic systems on the Ridge don't likely contribute to drug pollution in water either, Barber said.
"That's debatable, it's probably not supposed to."
Though the Ridge probably doesn't have to worry, regulations may still spring up from the issue of drugs in water.
"It's not something we've tested for, but I don't think it's a problem," he said. "It's very common for an issue like this to escalate into a testing requirement. We're certainly concerned and paying close attention. (But) in this case we don't have a major exposure to the watershed."
Also there have been no studies to show that the trace amounts are harmful to humans, Barber said.
"I'm not saying it's a non-article," he said. "Local communities want to know how that relates to them."
Vance Severin, deputy director of Butte County Environmental Health said
"One thing that is fairly striking, is the context is awfully different than how we get our water in
The traces are found downstream of waste water treatment plants that let small levels of the drugs to pass though, he said.
"Similarly," he said, "PID uses surface water from the
Though
"In essence they should be taken back to where they bought them, where they can dispose of them properly, or take them to the household hazardous waste facility in north
"I honestly don't think this information is available," he said. "I don't believe it's a high level risk or we'd have more information on it." Some prescriptions are more dangerous than others if they are hazardous they are labeled as such, he said. Huerta said some drugs are even radioactive.
"They are radioactive by nature and are made that way to be traced in the body," he said. "Some are corrosive and are labeled as such."
Severin said people should keep in mind the drugs were intended for use by people.
"They are prescribed for use in the human body," he said. "I think the message here is that even where it is detected it's in low levels."
Severin also said drug presence in water is not new. "It's not something new, it's not the fact that there are pharmaceuticals that can pass through the treatments plan to drinking water. It's the fact that we can trace and measure it," Severin said. "We don't have a reason to believe it is a problem, but people can do the responsible thing and dispose of their prescriptions properly." #
http://www.paradisepost.com/ci_8558504
City Officials Challenge Study On Water Quality
Downtown Gazette (
By Harry Saltzgaver
The Associated Press released the nationwide report on Monday. Southern California and
A Metropolitan Water District treatment plant in the
The drugs found at the plant were Mebprobamatem, an anti-anxiety medication and Phenytoin, an anti-epileptic medication. Both were found in parts-per-trillion levels — meaning it would take drinking millions of gallons of water in one day to come near the dosage for a single pill.
The Long Beach Water Department has never sampled for these two particular pharmaceutical compounds, the department said in a release. However, it did participate with the United States Geological Survey in a study conducted in 2006 in which three of the city’s active groundwater wells were sampled for many different trace pharmaceutical, steroid and pesticide compounds. None of these compounds were detected.
The AP report said the presence of drugs in the water was explained to traces making their way through sewer, water treatment, then into the groundwater and back into the water supply.
There are no regulations or standards for pharmaceutical drugs in drinking water. Kevin Wattier, Long Beach Water Department general manager, said the department would continue to closely monitor all aspects of water quality, however. #
http://www.gazettes.com/water3132008.html
Little reaction to drugs in water; Firms prepare for flood of calls
By Larry Parsons, staff writer
Local health and water officials had all their talking points ready for an expected deluge of calls about reports that the drinking water of more than 40 million Americans is laced with minute amounts of pharmaceutical drugs.
But the widespread detection by The Associated Press of trace amounts of everything from antibiotics to sex hormones in water systems across the country hasn't provoked much reaction from
Water company officials and the county's public health officer said Wednesday they had fielded only a few media calls, but nothing from water consumers about the results of the five-month AP inquiry that examined 24 major metropolitan areas.
"I expected something bigger," said Jim Smith, district manager for the California Water Service Co., which has about 29,000 residential and commercial customers in the
Perhaps that's because the issue of tiny amounts of pharmaceuticals — measured in quantities of parts per billion or trillion, far below the levels of medicinal doses — raises questions with no ready answers.
There are no established safety levels for the drugs in drinking water, nor are there requirements to even test for them.
"It is an emerging issue," Smith said, after declaring that his company meets "all drinking water standards we have to."
The AP report said drug contamination has been found in lakes, rivers, reservoirs and other waterways throughout the world, while researchers don't know what risks are posed by the pharmaceutical cocktails in water supplies.
"I can tell you that we are going to be willing to participate in any future research," Smith said. "It is an issue that needs to be addressed."
Risk lower in county
The drug-contamination report already is prompting calls for congressional hearings, screening of water supplies and campaigns for the safe disposal of unused prescription drugs. The governor of
The medicinal drugs get into water supplies in two ways. Some pass unused through the body; others may be flushed down the toilet. Subsequent wastewater treatment and drinking-water treatment may not eliminate the drugs, which then are transported to consumers' taps.
The chances of such contamination may be lower in
Underground layers of sand and gravel that surround the aquifers provide very good natural filters to protect groundwater from chemical contamination, Smith said.
Still, he acknowledged the possibility of pharmaceuticals being leached — traveling through the soil — into underground water.
To prevent that from happening in
"At this point, putting unused prescription drugs in the trash is not prohibited," he said. The district's landfill north of
The state is moving away from allowing pharmaceuticals to be dumped into the trash and local landfills, he said.
"These stories have really stimulated some soul-searching as to best management practices," he said.
The district accepts discarded pharmaceuticals at its hazardous waste collection center, and drugstores and other retailers are beginning to take back unused drugs for appropriate disposal, he said.
Cal Am already tests water
California American Water, the water company for about 38,000 customers on the
"We meet or exceed all the requirements,"
"The conversation is healthy," she said. "If standards are set ... we will be in compliance."
Dr. Hugh Stallworth, county health officer, said he wasn't aware of any testing in the county of drinking water for pharmaceutical contamination. He said far more research is needed to determine if traces of pharmaceuticals pose a health threat.
"We definitely need to look at it," he said. "The public is not going to be satisfied with (the response), 'We don't know enough.'"
But Stallworth said there are other health-related factors that probably have far more bearing on people's health.
"People often get more afraid about things in the environment that they can't control, like radiation or pharmaceuticals contaminating water," he said. "What we know is there are enough things in behavior and the environment that will actually improve health — like quitting smoking, eating more fruits and vegetables, getting physical activity and losing weight." #
http://www.montereyherald.com/local/ci_8556984
WATER CONTAMINATION ISSUES:
Associated Press – 3/13/08
City officials are asking
Beginning in November 2006, nitrate levels in area wells exceeded drinking water standards.
The city hired San Luis Obispo-based Cleath and Associates, which found nitrogen-based fertilizers were to blame.
City officials are now asking farmers to voluntarily stop using nitrogen-based fertilizers. #
http://www.sacbee.com/114/story/782713.html
CLEAN WATER PRACTICE:
Editorial: Humans key to clean water
Our view: We must use our sophisticated water-testing technologies to solve the problems they uncover
How pure is our drinking water? It depends on your definition of "pure."
According to an Associated Press report this week, Americans' drinking water contains traces of a vast range of pharmaceuticals designed to treat almost every imaginable ill. Two of the compounds showed up in water from a
But don't panic. By our calculations, you'd have to live a little over 8,500 years to accumulate the equivalent of one dose of Prozac, sex hormone, aspirin or whatever.
What's impressive about the report is that newly developed technology can measure substances in such tiny amounts as parts per trillion, rather just billions or millions. That makes it harder to look at a glass of water in quite the same way as before, but easier to monitor water quality for unimaginably tiny contaminants.
In a five-month investigation, the AP learned that drugs have been found in water supplies of 24 major metropolitan areas from Southern California to Northern New Jersey, from
What that means, in effect, is just about everywhere. In Southern California, for example, the AP report mentioned
Even though the traces of pharmaceuticals are tiny, there is cause for concern, at least for particularly sensitive organisms. Mary Buzby, director of environmental technology for Merck & Co., has said it is possible such traces could impact human health. Drug traces in waterways have caused growth abnormalities in aquatic life and earth worms.
What can be done about this issue at home? Not much. Bottled water is no better than tap water, and home filters don't help, except perhaps for relatively sophisticated reverse osmosis systems. We've learned the hard way, from acid rain, that even water that falls from the skies isn't always pure.
But one thing would help at least a little. Don't throw unused drugs down the toilet or down the drain; put them in the trash. Water is a closed system, and humans affect it for the worse. We need to find ways to do less harm.
Rather than just react with alarm at the recent findings, we should insist that the latest techniques be used to help resolve the problems they find. #
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