On September 30th, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) top water official has reported "good news" to a subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives on agency efforts to improve security on nationwide water and wastewater systems.

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce heard testimony from Acting Assistant Administrator for Water, Benjamin Grumble on the EPA's nationwide improvements on security of water utilities and wastewater systems. Grumble credited administrators of U.S. water systems for a "remarkable" response to the 2002 congressional mandate to submit vulnerability assessments, adopt security measures and certify completion of updated emergency response plans (ERPs). Grumbles reported that water systems serving a collective 230 million people have completed vulnerability assessments.

The EPA reported that it will devote additional resources to public water and wastewater security to identify the best technologies and practices, strengthen partnerships and information-sharing capabilities, and provide ERP training. In addition, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will expand its secure counter terrorism communications network to include the energy and water infrastructure sectors.

For a copy of Benjamin Grumble's September 30th testimony, please go to
http://www.awwa.org/Advocacy/govtaff/grumbles.pdf

A bipartisan group of U.S. Senators and Members of Congress introduced legislation to create a federal water technology program designed to address the issue of regional droughts. The "Department of Energy National Laboratory Water Technology Research and Development Act of 2004" seeks to expand and coordinate water technology research across the country and improve water quality and quantity in regions susceptible to drought conditions.

The bill calls for the formation of a partnership between the Department of Energy national laboratory system and universities to design and deploy technologies that would provide more clean water for residential, commercial, industrial and natural resource use nationwide.

Under the proposal, an annual appropriation of $200 million would be authorized for basic and applied research and development of water supply technologies.

For a reading of the bill, please go to http://www.theorator.com/bills108/s2658.html

On November 23rd, the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a guidance memorandum based on its ongoing national review of the 1991 Lead and Copper Rule (LCR). It reiterates and clarifies several requirements regarding the collection of at-the-tap water samples and how to use them to determine LCR compliance. The official memorandum from the EPA's Office of Water addresses issues the agency has determined to be confusing and inconsistently applied by states and water utilities.

The guidance memo includes a chart detailing sampling-site classification requirements for community and "non-transient/non-community" systems. The new LCR guidelines provide that states must calculate compliance even if the minimum number of samples are not collected. Utilities that fall short of the guideline requirements will incur a monitoring and reporting violation, may be subject to fine, and are required to notify the public of current water issues in their community.

Critics suggest that confusing and inconsistent regulations governing at-the-tap water sample tests have been a contributing factor in non-compliance with the 1991 rule over the past decade. The new LCR guidelines were developed to help state officials accurately calculate compliance with established baseline regulations, aiding the overall effort to improve public drinking water quality.

For a copy of the EPA memorandum, please go to: http://www.epa.gov/safewater/lcrmr/pdfs/memo_lcmr_samplingrequirements_1104.pdf

In November, as a response to the recent discovery of the coliform bacteria in the drinking water of one in every eight commercial airplanes tested, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) initiated a new water quality inspection procedure for aircraft. The EPA announced commitments from 12 major U.S. passenger airlines to implement new aircraft water testing and disinfection protocols.

In August and September, the EPA tested drinking water aboard 158 randomly selected domestic and international aircraft and found 12.6 percent did not meet federal standards. EPA initiated additional water quality testing on 169 randomly selected domestic and international passenger aircraft at 14 airports throughout the United States. Those results will be available to the public by early January 2005.

The current interim agreements call for airlines to provide comprehensive monitoring data from every aircraft in each airline's fleet. While baseline data is being collected, the airlines are obligated to perform quarterly disinfection and flushing of aircraft potable water systems. EPA says that the newly adopted protocols will further protect the traveling public while existing guidelines for the handling, storage and use of potable water aboard passenger aircraft are reviewed and new regulations are developed.

For more information on the regulation of water supplies aboard passenger aircraft and to view the publicly available data, please go to: http://www.epa.gov/airlinewater.

In The News-is a bi-weekly, online service from the Water Quality & Health Council.  The publication is updated every other Friday and can be viewed by logging onto www.waterandhealth.org.  To receive the publication via e-mail, please click here and enter your e-mail address to join our mailing list.