House Panel Approves Infrastructure Measure
A bill authorizing $20 billion for wastewater infrastructure
over five years has been approved by the U.S. House of Representatives’
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Floor action was expected
promptly. A similar measure is pending in the Senate.
Rep. Don Young, R-Tenn., chairman of the committee, said,
“We face a growing crisis if we do not take this action to improve the
nation’s water infrastructure.”
The measure would encourage alternative methods of financing
water-quality improvements beyond the federal contribution. The $20 billion
would be used to capitalize State Revolving Funds.
The committee said that the vast majority of infrastructure
funding comes from consumer rates, but “it would be a hardship for some
communities if they had to finance needed wastewater infrastructure
improvements entirely through sewer rate increases.”
Grants Available for Anti-Terrorist Planning
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is soliciting
applications from large, publicly owned drinking water systems for grants to
assess their vulnerability to attack, develop plans for emergency response and
security enhancements, or for a combination of those initiatives.
The grants, which will be valued at up to $115,000, are part
of the agency’s broad program to help water supply and treatment systems
prepare for attacks by terrorists.
In addition to the grants to large utilities (serving
populations of more than 100,000), the activities include support for
development of tools, training and technical assistance for small and
medium-sized drinking water and wastewater utilities and promotion of
information sharing and research to improve treatment and detection methods.
Additional information on the various programs is available
online at www.epa.gov/safewater/security/status1.html.
New Guidance on Designated Uses
EPA plans to develop additional guidance on the development
of attainable uses of water bodies. The first step will be a symposium that
will address key questions on such designated uses as aquatic life and
recreation.
The agency said the session, scheduled June 3–4 in
Washington, D.C., was in response to requests from interested parties over the
past year for additional guidance on designating protection levels and on the
process for making designated uses more or less restrictive. Additional
information is available at http://epa.gov/waterscience/standards/symposium.
Initial Study Shows Presence of Chemicals
Pharmaceuticals, hormones and other organic
wastewater-related chemicals have been found in streams across the nation, the
U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) reports. The contaminants were discovered at
very low concentration levels.
Of the 95 chemicals found, 81 do not have drinking-water standards
or health advisories. The concentrations of chemicals that do have standards or
advisories rarely exceeded the specified levels, the survey said.
The most frequently detected compounds included coprostanol
(fecal steroid), cholesterol (plant and animal steroid), N-N-diethyltoluamide
(insect repellant) and caffeine.
Robert Hirsch, USGS association director for water, said the
study “begins a process of exploring the occurrence of these chemicals in
our nation’s streams.”
The study sets the stage for future analysis that will
address such questions as how far downstream from their sources the chemicals
remain present in the stream, how concentrations vary by climate, land use,
flow rates, waste characteristics and treatment methods.
Cost of One Water Cleanup Project: $1 Billion
The price tag for eliminating pollution from groundwater on
Cape Cod in eastern Massachusetts has reached more than $1 billion, the U.S.
Geological Survey (USGS) reports. The agency notes that information already
gleaned from the massive project, which started nearly 25 years ago, “has
been successfully applied at sites around the world.”
The site now is known as the Massachusetts Military
Reservation. USGS said activities of this site have contaminated billions of
gallons of groundwater with fuels, solvents, treated sewage, landfill leachate
and explosive compounds.
Groundwater is the only source of drinking water for
residents of the area. More than 15 contaminant plumes, some moving several
feet a day, have been discovered.
Acid-Rain Auction Held
EPA and the Chicago Board of Trade have completed their 10th
annual acid-raid reduction auction. At such auctions, utility plants, private
parties and brokers trade allowances for sulfur dioxide emissions within a
national cap. A power plant or other source purchases allowances, each of which
permits discharge of one ton of sulfur dioxide a year. A source that reduces
emissions more than required may trade the excess allowances or save them for
future use.
Trading takes place under a national limit designed to achieve an overall reduction in output of sulfur dioxides.
