The American Water Works Association (AWWA) says water utilities and home treatment device manufacturers should cooperate more to protect consumers from fraud.
AWWA Executive Director Jack Hoffbuhr said, "Consumers have a clear desire for safe, aesthetically pleasing drinking water. Unfortunately, scam-artists have taken the opportunity to bilk those consumers for hundreds of thousands of dollars with dishonest sales ploys."
The association said many consumers and some utilities have turned to home treatment devices to improve their tap water's aesthetic qualities. Additionally, some households with in-house plumbing problems-such as lead-based pipe or fixtures-are using home treatment devices to maintain their tap water quality.
More than $2.2 billion of home treatment devices were sold in the U.S. in 1998 and the total is expected to exceed $3 billion by 2003.
AWWA said, "Most home treatment system providers are legitimate service providers, and their products-if properly used and maintained-can be trusted to improve tap water's taste and odors."
AWWA said consumers should be skeptical of allegations about local tap water quality. It noted that federal law requires water utilities to fully inform their customers of serious water quality problems and "if your water utility hasn't notified you of the problem, it's likely the problem doesn't exist."
It recommended that consumers ask their local water utility about the most effective treatment technique for home water problems, or groups like the Water Quality Association or the National Sanitation Foundation.
Hoffbuhr said, "Dishonest salespeople have already duped too many consumers into spending too much for home treatment systems they don't need. Together, water utilities and the home treatment industry can ensure that consumers get the high quality drinking water they deserve honestly and affordably."
Project XL
The Environmental Protection Agency and the Illinois environmental agency have signed an agreement with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Chicago (MWRD) to reduce pollutants entering local wastewater treatment plants and the Chicago River.
Goal of the EPA's Project XL program is to work with local publicly owned treatment works to explore innovative ways to improve operations.
MWRD is an independent government entity and treats wastewater from domestic, commercial and industrial sources in the Chicago area.
Under the deal, MWRD reduce reporting for small industrial companies with good compliance records and will redirect resources to other activities with greater potential for environmental benefit.
MWRD will work with metal finishers, who comprise more than 70 percent of the small industrial users regulated under MWRD's pretreatment program, to reduce pollutants in wastewater.
In another project, Clermont County, Ohio, will work with EPA and the Ohio EPA to improve water quality in the East Fork of the Little Miami River mainstream and tributaries and Harsha Lake.
The county, east of Cincinnati, would draft a comprehensive watershed management plan and then develop an effluent trading system in which pollution credits may be exchanged between point and nonpoint sources.
TMDL suit
Three Environmental groups have intervened in a lawsuit challenging EPA's revised total maximum daily load (TMDL) rule.
The Friends of the Earth, Sierra Club, and Water Keeper Alliance filed the motion in the District of Columbia federal Court of Appeals.
Industry and agriculture groups earlier sued EPA, claiming that the agency had exceeded its authority under the Clean Water Act in its revisions to the TMDL program.
EPA issued the rule in July despite widespread opposition.
The regulations limit polluted rainwater runoff into US waters. Industrial and agricultural groups feared that stationary sources, such as their operations, would bear the brunt of the rule. They wanted EPA to ensure the burden was fairly distributed.
Congress inserted a provision in a spending bill to block EPA from issuing the regulation. But before that bill could be signed into law, EPA pushed its TMDL regulation through on July 13.
MtBE Ban
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved a bill banning methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) from gasoline and mandating use of ethanol, but it appeared to be unlikely to pass this fall.
Gasoline leaks have caused MTBE to contaminate ground water supplies around the US.
The compromise bill would eliminate use of MTBE in reformulated gasoline within 4 years, or would allow the EPA to ban it sooner.
The bill would require more use of alternative fuels, including ethanol, by setting a minimum content for "renewable" fuels in all motor fuels sold. The level would start at 0.6 percent in 2002, rising a tenth of a percentage point yearly until reaching 1.5 percent in 2011.
Proposed Dredging Rule Designed to Protect Wetlands
EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers have proposed to change the definition of dredged materials to afford broader protection for wetlands.
They said the proposed rule would close a loophole in Clean Water Act (CWA) regulations by clarifying the types of activities that can harm wetlands.
The rule would cover environmentally destructive earth-moving activities (such as mechanized land clearing, ditching, channelization, and in-stream mining) associated with draining wetlands.
EPA plans to study the environmental risks of using hydraulic fracturing to produce methane gas from coal beds.
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that EPA must regulate coal bed fracturing in Alabama as part of the Safe Drinking Water Drinking Act's underground injection provisions.
EPA said since the court decision, it has received reports from environmental interest groups claiming that injection associated with methane gas production from coal beds has contaminated underground drinking water supplies.
