{"id":76239,"date":"2011-02-10T02:46:09","date_gmt":"2011-02-10T02:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zonda-develop.go-vip.net\/concrete-construction\/article\/watchful-eye_o"},"modified":"2011-02-10T02:46:09","modified_gmt":"2011-02-10T02:46:09","slug":"watchful-eye_o","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zonda-develop.go-vip.net\/concrete-construction\/projects\/infrastructure\/watchful-eye_o\/","title":{"rendered":"Watchful eye"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

By Robert Renner<\/b><\/p>

No one \u2014 not even the U.S. EPA \u2014 argues that endocrine disruptors (EDCs) and pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) shouldn’t concern drinking water utility managers or their customers. But science hasn’t proven these compounds pose a health risk to humans.<\/p>

Every day, the active chemicals in herbicides and fungicides, cosmetics, and medicine are released into the environment through agricultural runoff, industrial operations, and human and animal waste. Inevitably, they’re found in source and sometimes in finished water.<\/p>

A 2008 series of Associated Press<\/i> articles described how these compounds are found in 41 million Americans’ tap water, prompting a Congressional inquiry. But while endocrine disruptors in particular are blamed for feminizing male fish, it’s not clear that the levels at which the compounds occur \u2014 in some cases, parts per trillion \u2014 harm humans.<\/p>

That same year the Water Research Foundation released Toxicological Relevance of Endocrine Disruptors and Pharmaceuticals in Drinking Water<\/i>, an analysis of 62 representative chemicals. Risk evaluations for exposure through drinking water were conducted for 16 pharmaceuticals, 10 potential EDCs, and three steroid hormones. Researchers developed acceptable daily intakes for determining exposure levels not likely to be associated with adverse health effects. None of the concentrations exceeded those levels, a finding echoed by EPA upon its second six-year review of the compounds.<\/p>

Both classes of compounds are moving up EPA’s regulatory hierarchy, but the agency provides little guidance for monitoring, treating, and communicating their potential or actual effects. The agency added some to Contaminant Candidate List 3<\/i> in 2009. But less than a year later, in March 2010, its second six-year review of drinking water standards recommended no revisions for compounds such as alachlor (used in herbicides) and toluene (used in plastics manufacturing). Nor has EPA revised the existing maximum concentration limit of 3 micrograms\/liter for the regulated chemical atrazine, a widely used agricultural herbicide.<\/p>

So as managers prepare for the Stage 2 Disinfectants and Disinfection ByProducts Rule, which requires finished water to be tested using a primary or residual disinfectant other than ultraviolet (UV) light, they face a conundrum: Do they surpass the rule’s current requirements by investing in technology that removes unregulated compounds? Or do they spend whatever’s necessary to satisfy the rule’s requirements now and address these compounds\/contaminants when (or if) the agency decides they should be regulated?<\/p>

Unfortunately, no single treatment process removes all EDCs and PPCPs.<\/p>

The foundation found that ozone removes most. So do advanced oxidation processes such as ozone\/peroxide and UV\/peroxide, but they don’t eliminate atrazine, X-ray contrast media, and flame retardants. While more effective than chloramination, chlorine only removes about half of the compounds investigated and it’s one of the many treatments (aside from UV light) that has come under scrutiny in the byproducts rule. Biological filtration, nanofiltration, reverse osmosis, and granular activated carbon are highly effective, but also very expensive.<\/p>

\u201cRemoving these compounds requires a robust combination of treatment technologies,\u201d says Water Research Foundation Senior Project Manager Alice Fulmer. \u201cMany are not only expensive but require a lot of energy.\u201d<\/p>

Depending as they do on such site-specific factors as source water quality, existing treatment train, design flow, and average flow, exact cost comparisons are difficult to calculate. Fulmer estimates ozonation for a plant with a design flow of 100,000 gallons per day (gpd) and daily flow of 30,000 gpd would require a $400,000 capital investment and $71,175 annually in operations and maintenance. Granular activated carbon for the same plant is approximately $150,000 and $57,488, respectively.<\/p>

Depending on treatment system size and required retrofit, utilities begin their first year of compliance monitoring for the DBP rule between 2012 and 2016. Compliance is expected to cost the nation’s water providers \u2014 both public and private \u2014 $79 million annually.<\/p>

Although none treats specifically for EDCs and PPCPs, we asked managers in Philadelphia, Las Vegas, and Cincinnati how their operations test, or plan to test, for unregulated compounds and how they communicate these efforts.<\/p><\/div>

<\/div>

The conservative approach<\/b>

Given that only a few have been detected in and around its service area, Administrative Scientist Gary Burlingame says the Philadelphia Water Department can’t justify diverting resources from more pressing issues to eliminate trace levels of compounds that may or may not be harmful.<\/p>

The department reports the presence of unregulated compounds in its annual water quality report and Web site.<\/p>

The department uses chlorination, sedimentation, and filtration to treat surface water from the Delaware River and Schuylkill River watersheds, producing 270 mgd for 1.6 million people. It’s investing about $500,000 in liquid chromatography and a double mass spectrometer to screen source water. \u201cWe want to establish a scientific understanding of the issue, to know what’s out there in our watershed,\u201d says Burlingame.<\/p>

Until EPA requires monitoring of particular chemicals, the department’s participating in voluntary cooperative efforts such as take-back programs and watershed controls through the Philadelphia Partnership for Pharmaceutical Pollution Prevention. Other members include EPA Region 3 and the Women’s Health and Environmental Network.<\/p>

The aggressive approach<\/b> <\/p>

Fifteen years ago, a small outbreak of cryptosporidiosis prompted the Southern Nevada Water Authority to introduce ozonation, replacing pre-oxidation with chlorine, even though cryptosporidium had never been detected in finished water.<\/p>

Ozonation costs five to 10 times more than traditional treatment processes such as chlorine, depending on energy costs, but it also removes 80% to 90% of EDCs and PPCPs. As a result, the authority subsidized some of the early research in 1998 on the compounds’ occurrence, was an early participant in studies about EDCs, and has been testing for EDCs since 2003.<\/p>

\u201cThese communications are very important,\u201d says Water Quality Research and Development Manager Dave Rexing. \u201cAs a consumer, I’d feel more confident in the safety of my water if I knew the agency was progressive and doing research into those areas.\u201d<\/p>

By selling 600 mgd to five municipal retail authorities, the authority ultimately supplies 2 million people. Its two plants draw Colorado River water through Lake Mead, applying ozone as a pre-oxidant and then ferric chloride as a coagulant.<\/p>

Like Las Vegas, Greater Cincinnati Water Works (GCWW) has put in place a robust treatment train. But it tests for PPCPs as well as EDCs. The agency provides an average 135 mgd to 1.1 million people.<\/p>

Ohio River water first goes through chemical coagulation, which makes the particulates sticky and heavy so they fall out of the water in the subsequent settling process. Then the water is filtered through sand. Finally, it is sent through granular activated carbon filters, a final step that removes organic molecules such as pesticides, oils, industrial chemicals, and pharmaceuticals.<\/p>

Because numerous manufacturing plants are located along the river, managers chose granular activated carbon in case of an industrial spill. But Assistant Superintendent of Water Quality Jeff Swertfeger says research shows the process is also an effective treatment for removing EDCs and PPCPs. In 2007, the Water Research Foundation reported that routinely regenerating the material, as GCWW routinely does, removed all target compounds at participating water utilities.<\/p>

\u201cIf we didn’t have it in place, I’d be looking at a process \u2014 such as ozonation or membranes \u2014 that doesn’t just remove EDCs and PPCPs but has other benefits that improve water quality,\u201d he adds.<\/p>

\u2014 Renner (rrenner@waterrf.org)<\/a> is executive director of the Water Research Foundation, an international nonprofit organization that funds research that helps utilities provide safe, affordable drinking water.<\/i><\/p><\/div> ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Robert Renner No one \u2014 not even the U.S. EPA \u2014 argues that endocrine disruptors (EDCs) and pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) shouldn’t concern drinking water utility managers or their customers. But science hasn’t proven these compounds pose a health risk to humans. 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