Posts Tagged ‘drinking water’
China stops spread of toxic metal in Longjiang River — next task?
Neutralizers of dissolved aluminum chloride added at a water station
Daylife/AP Photo used by permission
Officials in southern China appear to have averted environmental calamity by halting the spread of a toxic metal that had threatened to foul drinking water for tens of millions of people…Officials said they had successfully diluted the concentration of cadmium, a poisonous component of batteries, that has been coursing down the Longjiang River in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
The spill, which first occurred two weeks ago, prompted a rush on bottled water in several downstream cities and prompted worries that the contamination could reach as far as Hong Kong and Macao.
The cadmium, a substance used in the production of paint, solder and solar cells as well as batteries, has been traced to discharges from a mining company in Guangxi that has since halted production, said Xinhua news agency…
EPA starts to set limits on deadly chemicals in drinking water
The Environmental Protection Agency will set a limit on the amount of the chemical perchlorate, as well as other “toxic contaminants,” in drinking water.
The national regulation on perchlorate will reverse a 2008 decision made by President George W. Bush’s administration, the agency said in a statement. It comes after EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson ordered agency scientists to review “the emerging science of perchlorate.”
“There’s going to be a lot of scrutiny of the standard because, again, we are looking at but one of several precursors that can affect iodine uptake in the thyroid,” Jackson told CNN’s Chief Medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. “It’s the first time we’ve ever regulated a chemical not because of what it does directly to you, but because it has an impact on iodine uptake that might affect your child down the road.”
Perchlorate is both a naturally occurring and man-made chemical, according to the EPA. It is used in fireworks, road flares, rocket fuel and may be present in bleach and some fertilizers, the agency said. Research has indicated that it can impact the thyroid and disrupt the proper development of fetuses and infants.
Some states have already established limits on perchlorate in drinking water, but there has been no national standard…
In addition, the EPA is also establishing a drinking water standard on “a group of up to 16 other toxic chemicals that may cause cancer and pose serious risks to human health,” the statement said.
The chemicals are a group of volatile organic compounds, such as industrial solvents, and include trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene, along with other regulated and some unregulated substances “discharged from industrial operations.”
So, how many silly people actually thought government bodies like the EPA already had been doing a thorough job checking on water safety?
All George W. did was follow the habit of most of his predecessors. He acted on behalf of chemical industries that pour money into the coffers of politicians – while disposing of waste chemicals and crud from their industrial plants into what has been their favorite dump for centuries. Our groundwater.
The wealthy elite who own and control our nation’s corporate grandeur don’t live in tract housing built atop landfills. They don’t work in cities and suburbs drawing water from aquifers polluted by decades of chemical crap infused into a cancerous tea. And if they must visit their office within the boundaries of some deadly plume of carcinogens you can bet they ain’t sipping city water.
And it took the kind of change KoolAid Party protestors hate to get the EPA moving on the issue. That’s OK. The populist dumbos have copper bracelets to protect them from disease, right?
E. Coli as sole indicator of water pollution called into question
In Ireland, bacterial contamination of water is a national concern, with the Environmental Protection Agency reporting that over 25% of groundwater samples were contaminated with E. coli in the 2004 to 2006 period. E. coli is the most important indicator used in Ireland and its presence indicates water is unfit for human consumption. It has long been thought that E. coli can only survive for short periods of time in the environment, hence its almost universal use as an indicator of recent faecal contamination of waterways.
However, new research investigating pathogen survival in Irish soils…has found that E. coli can become integrated into the indigenous microbial community in soils and survive for more than nine years, considerably longer than scientists initially thought.
“This has important implications for the indicator status of E. coli, suggesting that the presence of E. coli in surface or groundwaters may not be indicative of recent faecal contamination,” explains researcher Fiona Brennan in TResearch magazine…
In conjunction with NUI Galway, Teagasc researchers are now using proteomics to investigate the unique properties of E. coli that allow it to persist in the soil for such long periods. Initial findings have found that the environmentally persistent E. coli produce specialised proteins, including ‘cold shock’ and ‘stress response’ proteins, which may assist in the survival and growth of the organism at lower temperatures. E. coli’s ability to survive for prolonged periods of time in soil may compromise its use as the sole indicator of faecal contamination of water.
I can just see 14 corporations, 3 research departments and a couple hundred waterworks managers going “cripes” – all at once.
Obviously a newer and more accurate test must be devised.
U.S. investigates need to regulate meds in water – finally
Federal regulators under President Barack Obama have sharply shifted course on long-standing policy toward pharmaceutical residues in the nation’s drinking water, taking a critical first step toward regulating some of the contaminants while acknowledging they could threaten human health.
Policy? What policy?
For the first time, the Environmental Protection Agency has listed some pharmaceuticals as candidates for regulation in drinking water. The agency also has launched a survey to check for scores of drugs at water treatment plants across the nation…
The Associated Press reported last year that the drinking water of at least 51 million Americans contains minute concentrations of a multitude of drugs. Water utilities, replying to an AP questionnaire, acknowledged the presence of antibiotics, sedatives, sex hormones and dozens of other drugs in their supplies…
In the first move toward possible drinking-water standards, the EPA has put 13 pharmaceuticals on what it calls the Contaminant Candidate List. They are mostly sex hormones, but include the antibiotic erythromycin and three chemicals used as drugs but better known for other uses.
They join a list of 104 chemical and 12 microbial contaminants that the EPA is considering as candidates for regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act. No pharmaceutical has ever reached the list in its 12-year history, but medicines now make up 13 percent of the target chemicals on the latest list “based on their potential adverse health effects and potential for occurrence in public water systems,” the EPA said.
Could it be that the political power of corporate pharma in America has restrained investigation?
How could that happen in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave?
You can lead a cat to water, but … you can’t tell it how
Space station is updating water supply — but don’t ask!
Time for a remodeling job for the International Space Station. At 10 years old, it needs more bedrooms, another kitchen and bathroom and a more reliable water supply — though one that might make most folks squirm a bit.
Top priority for the Endeavour crew, poised to lift off Friday night from Florida for a 15-day mission: installing hardware designed to recycle urine into drinking water…
“We are not really drinking our own urine. We are drinking water that has been reclaimed from a process with urine as the input,” Magnus said,
NASA’s water recycling gear is an essential part of plans to increase the staffing…
Endeavour’s long mission will enable the astronauts to return to Earth with the first samples of the recycled water. Experts in NASA labs will test water samples to evaluate the accuracy of the station’s own water purity analyzer.
After another round of testing, NASA will decide if the station’s reclaimed water is safe to drink.
The testing probably is just to assuage concerns of Congressional and other dummies. The process required for safe recycling of body fluids is nothing new.
Though NASA may figure out how to make it triple redundant [useful] and ten times as costly [predictable].
