Violations At NJ Utilities Enumerated In New Report
By Sara Jerome, @sarmje
“A new analysis of New Jersey drinking water reveals widespread challenges.“More than 1.5 million New Jerseyans are served by a utility that has been cited for excessive contaminants since April 2014, when the Flint water crisis was revealed, according to an analysis of U.S. EPA data by USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey,” The Asbury Park Press reported. “The data shows that water utilities in the Garden State have racked up at least 226 contamination violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act since Flint became synonymous with tainted tap water and put other water systems under a spotlight,” the report continued. The report shows the state’s water challenges extend even beyond Newark, which is undergoing a major lead crisis.”
“On Dec. 18, elevated levels of perchlorate were discovered in drinking water at Lake Norman High School in Iredell County, N.C. The Iredell-Statesville School Board has decided to provide bottled water to students and staff until further testing of the water quality is completed.
According to a press release, the school found that perchlorate levels at Lake Norman High School were particularly elevated compared to neighboring schools. While perchlorate levels are not regulated in North Carolina, the school system recognizes the risks and has opted to provide bottled water. The schools system hired an outside agency, Reliant Environmental, to test the district’s water quality following the discovery of elevated lead levels at a neighboring school.”
Source: Water Quality Magazine
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What is Perchlorate?
Perchlorate is a naturally occurring and manufactured chemical anion (ClO4-). Perchlorate occurs naturally in arid states within the southwestern portioin of the United States, nitrate fertilizer deposits in Chile, and deposits of clay deposits rich in potassium and sodium salts, i.e., potash ore, in the United States. It also forms naturally in the atmosphere by a photochemical interaction between chloride and ozone in the atmosphere . Perchlorate is commonly used as an oxidizer in rocket propellants, munitions, fireworks, airbag initiators for vehicles, matches, and signal/road flares. The primary source of perchlorate is man-made.
People are exposed to perchlorate primarily through eating contaminated food or drinking water and perchlorate dissolves in water. FDA perchlorate data can be found here.
The EPA has not yet established a maximum contaminant level goal for perchlorate and the intermim health advisory can be found here. Massachusetts adopted a drinking water standard for perchlorate of 2 µg/L, and California promulgated a revised standard of 1 µg/L. In addition, states may impose clean-up standards related to the quality and use of the groundwater aquifer.
Perchlorate can be removed using a number of advanced treatment technologies. Each technology has advantages and disadvantages depending on the level of perchlorate present in the source water, removal goals, other water quality parameters, competing treatment objectives, and treatment waste disposal options. Regenerable and single-pass ion exchange, reverse osmosis, and fixed- and fluidized-bed biological treatment can all remove perchlorate from drinking water sources.
“City officials in Newark said they learned in October that lead water contamination wasn’t just affecting a dozen homes, but was a “widespread problem,” potentially impacting as many as 40,000 residents. But, a newly-released email shows officials were warned at least seven months earlier — months they spent insisting the water was “absolutely safe to drink,” and assuring residents that the issue was confined to a small number of homes.
Beginning in April of this year, through messages on its website and in public statements, the city blamed old infrastructure for elevated lead levels in tap water samples. New court records in an ongoing federal lawsuit over the city’s lead problem, however, show a consultant pointed to another cause: Newark’s water treatment at one of its plants no longer appeared to work — an early sign that the issue could be widespread.
CDM Smith, the consultant hired by Newark to study how the city was treating its water, submitted its draft report in October but shared its initial findings with three officials as early as February, records show.
In a Feb. 22 email to the city’s top water department officials — including then-director Andrea Hall Adebowale and then-deputy director Kareem Adeem — the consultant said a preliminary review showed Newark’s method of preventing lead from corroding off old plumbing and dissolving into the distribution system “has not been effective.””
Identifing and fixing system wide water distribution problems related to corrsion is not fast or easy.
Part of the problem may be your own household plumbing, fixtures, and service lines – have a plumber check your piping.
In my opinion, it is the user that will first notice a problem. These problems could be identified as a blue-green coating of aerators, blue green water, a metallic taste, and in the extreme corrosion and leaky pipes.
Check your home for lead paint and dust hazards.
We strongly recommend all water users to due the following:
“In 1654, Rembrandt painted a woman, in Amsterdam, bathing in a stream. As she lifts her nightdress above her knees and treads deeper, the woman is stepping from one world into another. Among art historians, the transition she is making is metaphorical. But to a biologist, it is also ecological.
We imagine water to be clean, and we imagine clean to mean lifeless, and yet all the water you have ever bathed in, swum through, or drunk has been full of life, from bacteria to tiny crustaceans. So, too, the pipes in which it travels. As water passes through pipes in general and showerheads in particular, a thick biofilm builds up. Biofilm is a fancy word that scientists use to avoid saying “gunk.” It is made by individuals of one or more species of bacteria working together to protect themselves from hostile conditions—including the flow of water, which constantly threatens to wash them away—via their own excretions.”
This is a very timely article – we work with a lot of private water systems, public water supply systems, and businesses that have a biofilm problem and to be honest I have had this problem in my home (s) that were serviced by both city water and well water.
First Step – Learn
Biofilms and Bacteria – bacteria does not normally grow free-living in the drinking water, but attached to the piping or surfaces within the system as a biofilm. This microbiological community can include a variety of organism that may be aerobic (like or need oxygen), anaerobic (low oxygen), or facultative(in the middle). The bacterial coating may be clear or discolored, create odors, contain trace metals, or promote microbiologically induced corrosion. The bacteria can impact the quality of the drinking water and the integrity of the distribution system. When people test city or well water, they normally only test for total coliform bacteria and may be E. coli., but that is not enough.
Second – Diagnose
The next step is to diagnose, but diagnose is really using a combination of observations and testing to determine if there may be a problem or concer.
We recommend the following:
Visually inspect the plumbing – look in the back of the toilet tank is the wall discolored, if discolored does it feel slimy, look in the bathroom do you see films or coating on showerheads or other surfaces. If you have any clear tubing, does the tubing have any observable films or coatings. If you have a particle filter, does it feel slimy.
Are there any odors or strange smells to the water.
If the water sits, does it have a floating metallic sheen on the surface.
Have you been experiencing problems with discolored water that is black, brown, or even greenish blue?
Flush the water heating tank – what do you see?
If you observe a film or coating, you may have a biofilm problem.
If the bacteria is pink, this may be Serratia marcescens. This is typically an airborne bacteria and we suggest that you wash the services with an anti-microbiological cleaner, monitor and control the humidity of the room, regularly clean the surfaces, wipe down showers after use, and keep the ventilation fan running for at least 20 minutes.
The next question is do you have any health issues?
If health issues are gastrointestinal and you have slime coatings – We recommend testing for total coliform, E. coli., and slime forming bacteria, and standard plate count.
If you do not have health issues, but have slime coatings with discolored water, we would recommend total coliform, iron related bacteria, slime forming bacteria, and standard plate count.
If you major health issues that include respiratory issues with or without gastrointestinal issues we recommend total coliform, E. Coli, and Waterborne Pathogen Panel.
Third Step – Test/ Monitor
Testing can include a variety of measures that include:
NSF/ANSI 401 addresses the ability of a water treatment device to remove up to 15 individual contaminants (listed below), which have been identified in published studies as occurring in drinking water. While not a public health issue, the contaminants covered in NSF/ANSI 401 have been detected in drinking water supplies at trace levels and can affect some consumers’ perception of drinking water quality. (NSF/ANSI 401 also applies to reverse osmosis (RO) water treatment.)
DEET (N,N-Diethyl-meta-toluamide): a pesticide and common active ingredient in insect repellents.
401: an organic compound that is widely used as an herbicide.
Linuron: an herbicide often used in the control of grasses and weeds.
Chemical Compounds
TCEP (Tris(2-chloroethyl)phosphate): a chemical compound used as a flame retardant, plasticizer and viscosity regulator in various types of polymers including polyurethanes, polyester resins and polyacrylates.
TCPP (Tris(1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate): a chemical compound used as a flame retardant.
