What's in your water? a Tennessee example: mixtures conjoined with Maine's findings about pollutants

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My comment addresses " mixtures " and can be viewed via url hereinwaybelow.

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What's in your water?

First of two parts

By: Pam Sohn

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2009/sep/20/whats-in-your-water/

Area residents turning on the tap can expect their water to meet federal

and state regulations, but that might not mean the water is free from

contaminants, water experts say.

Federal and state inspectors test water purity by using regulations

mostly set in the 1970s. Numerous chemicals have come on the scene since

then, but regulators are not required to test for many of them.

Opinions vary on whether that means tap water is safe. Inspections in

Southeast Tennessee during the past 18 months have resulted in 209

notices of violations at 15 of the region's 87 water systems.

A University of Tennessee at Chattanooga researcher who recently found

traces of pharmaceuticals in local drinking water said he did not spot

anything that made him conclude the water is unsafe.

" Just because we measured (the presence of pharmaceuticals) doesn't mean

there's harm, " UTC's s said, adding that the levels detected

were low. " If we could take (the equivalent water of) 12 Tennessee

Aquariums and grind up one Tylenol and put in the water, we could detect

it. I was encouraged by what we found. "

Safe-water advocates, however, say an encouraging assessment should not

drown out concerns. Hoyos, executive director of the Tennessee

Clean Water Network, pointed out that scientists and regulators did not

think years ago that the insecticide DDT was dangerous.

She said that while government regulation requires water systems to be

free of contaminants such as bacteria and mud, regulators are not

staying up with the emergence of pharmaceuticals and industrial

chemicals that might end up in a glass of tap water.

" The EPA requires that drinking water plants test for about 100

chemicals, and that's a very short list of (all) chemicals that we know

are out there that could be in water, " she said.

Down the drain

As the population in the Southeast grows, more contaminants --

prescription drugs, estrogen from birth control pills, even aspirin --

are flushed into drinking-water sources such as the Tennessee River,

officials said.

In addition, industrial pollutants enter some water systems after

disasters such as the TVA coal-ash spill in Kingston, Tenn., late last

year and when chemicals leach into the ground water at factory sites,

records show.

Government regulations, first enacted with the Clean Water Act and the

Safe Drinking Water Act in the 1976, have been updated twice, most

recently in 1996. Federal regulators " continue to analyze the data and

information, " said Niles, spokeswoman for the U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency, adding that " the science is still in the works. "

Water providers such as Tennessee American Water and Dalton Utilities

are determining how to monitor and deal with newer substances in their

water systems.

Among substances absent from federal and state regulations is PFOA, or

perfluorooctanoic acid, sometimes called C8. The substance is used to

make cookware slick and to ensure that fabrics are water- and

stain-repellent. The EPA has labeled it a likely human carcinogen. It

has been detected in high levels in the Conasauga River, the water

source for Dalton, Ga., records show.

Ms. Hoyos said wastewater moving through a stream or river can contain

other unhealthy substances.

" We've discovered that from the wastewater -- that downstream becomes

someone else's drinking water -- is all this other stuff we never

thought of, stuff that's as innocuous as caffeine to something as

powerful as methamphetamine, " she said. " It's hard to determine the dose

you're getting at any particular time. "

Corporate research

Mark LeChevallier, director of innovation and environment stewardship

for American Water Co., the parent company of Tennessee American Water,

conducts lab tests on water samples from the 32 states where company

facilities are located. American Water has been tracking the

pharmaceutical and personal-care products issue for more than a decade.

" As a team, we can provide resources and share expertise and coordinate

our programs, " he said.

However, even water company research is hampered by the lack of the

standards for emerging concerns, Dr. LeChevallier said. He said company

officials once sent identical test batches to two major laboratories and

found widely divergent results because -- with no government guideline

prescribing standard testing practices -- the labs used their own methods.

" It's critical that EPA develop standard methods and provide proficiency

testing and laboratory certification for this, " he said, " because right

now if you send out samples you have no confidence the results you get

back are actually true or not. "

When a University of Georgia study revealed presence of PFOA at high

levels in the Conasauga River several years ago, officials at Dalton

Utilities said they could not test the water without standards from EPA

or state regulators.

Becky Champion, assistant branch chief with the Georgia Environmental

Protection Division's Department of Natural Resources, which enforces

EPA laws and rules, said even the agency's " advisory " for the compound

" is not anything we can enforce. "

In Tennessee, Tisha Calabrese-Benton, spokeswoman for the Department of

Environment and Conservation, said pharmaceuticals also can be detected

but not yet monitored and regulated because no safe standards exist for

those compounds.

" It's important for the ongoing protection of human health and the

environment that regulations evolve as technology improves and more

information becomes available, " she said.

When problems are spotted with contaminants that are regulated, state

water officials require utility companies to find new water sources if

the issue cannot be corrected.

One example is the Walden Ridge Utility District on the north end of

Signal Mountain.

Burriss, Chattanooga field office manager with the Tennessee

Department of Environment and Conservation, said the district had to

seek a new water source in 2006 when the chemical TCE, a degreaser, was

discovered in its wells. The utility, which serves 7,044 people, now

buys most of its water from Tennessee American Water Co. and the rest

from Hixson Utilities.

According to regulators in Tennessee and Georgia, tap water in both

states is safe.

Dr. Champion, Northwest Georgia's microbiologist and regulator, said she

drinks tap water every day and has much more confidence in it than in

bottled water.

" The rivers and streams are much cleaner now than they were before the

Clean Water Act, " she said.

WATER FACTS

* In the United States, water utilities treat nearly 34 billion gallons

of water every day - enough to refill almost 31,000 Tennessee Aquariums

daily.

* Americans drink more than 1 billion glasses of tap water per day

* Children in the first six months of life consume seven times as much

water per pound as the average American adult.

Source: EPA

Common violations

* Haloacetic acids, byproducts of drinking water disinfection that can

cause an increased risk of cancer

* Trihalomethanes, byproduct of drinking water disinfection that can

cause liver, kidney or central nervous system problems; as well as an

increased risk of cancer

* Total coliforms, used to indicate whether other potentially harmful

bacteria may be present

Source: EPA

Community water systems in Southeast Tennessee with violations in the

past 18 months.

* Benton Water System, Polk County: Six violations, disinfectant

residual and total coliform rule

* Big Creek Utility District, Grundy County: Three violations, surface

water treatment rule

* Copper Basin Utility District, Polk County: Seven violations,

haloacetic acids, total organic carbons, trihalomethanes

* Copperhill Water Department, Polk County: Four violations, haloacetic

acids, trihalomethanes

* Dayton Water Department, Rhea County, 18 violations, haloacetic acids,

trihalomethanes

* Grandview Utility District, Rhea County: Eight violations, haloacetic

acids, trihalomethanes and consumer confidence reports

* Griffith Creek Utility District, n County: 18 violations,

trihalomethanes

* Hixson Utility District, Hamilton County: Three violations, consumer

confidence reports

* Monteagle Public Utility Board, Grundy County: Fifteen violations,

interim surface water treatment rule, disinfectant residual and total

coliform rule

* Pikeville Water System, Bledsoe County: Nine violations, interim

surface water treatment rule, haloacetic acids and trihalomethanes

* South Pittsburg Water System, n County: 13 violations, haloacetic

acids

* Spring City Water System, Rhea County: Six violations, haloacetic

acids, total organic carbons, trihalomethanes

* Taft Youth Center, Bledsoe County: Eight violations, surface water

treatment rule, interim surface water treatment rule and volatile organics

* Walden Ridge Utility District, Hamilton County: 10 violations,

disinfectant residual, total coliform rule

* Whitwell Water Department, n County: Eight violations, interim

surface water treatment rule and haloacetic acids

Source: TDEC

Fast facts

* Tennessee has 485 community water systems, serving 5.8 million people.

There were 49 health-based violations affecting 297,600 people,

according to 2008 EPA records.

* Georgia has 1,764 community water systems serving 8.1 million people.

There were 81 health-based violations affecting just over 500,000

people, according to EPA's 2008 compliance database.

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My comment addresses mixtures and is posted:

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2009/sep/20/whats-in-your-water/#14053

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