The following is a transcript of the WaterWorld Weekly Newscast for August 1, 2016.
Hi, I'm Angela Godwin for WaterWorld magazine, bringing you water and wastewater news headlines for the week of August 1st. Coming up...
Six charged for involvement in Flint water contamination crisis
Whitewater Center to dispose of amoeba-contaminated pool water
Former Sebring water operator pleads not guilty
Enviro groups sue FPL over Turkey Point cooling canal
[story1]
Six more people have been charged in connection with the lead contamination crisis in Flint, Michigan.
On Friday last week, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette filed charges against three employees from the Department of Environmental Quality and three employees from the Department of Health and Human Services.
The charges include misconduct in office, among other crimes related to Flint's water contamination incident.
In April, the attorney general filed charges against three individuals: two DEQ officials and one state employee who offered to cooperate with the investigation in exchange for a reduced charge. The two DEQ officials await preliminary examinations.
[story2]
Last week, an outdoor recreation center in Charlotte, North Carolina, began the process of disposing of six million gallons of water from one of its training pools after tests confirmed the presence of the brain-eating amoeba naegleria fowleri.
The death of an Ohio teenager in June was tied to the U.S. National Whitewater Center, where she contracted the infection after falling out of a raft there.
The water in the Center's whitewater pool will be hyper-chlorinated to kill any remaining organisms, and then dechlorinated before being discharged into the Catawba River.
[story3]
The former water operator for Sebring, Ohio, charged recently for his connection with the lead contamination incident there, pleaded not guilty last week.
James V. Bates was charged on July 13 with two counts of failing to provide timely notice of lead tap water results to affected residents and one count of failing to provide timely public education following the lead and copper monitoring period. Both charges are misdemeanors.
Prosecutors maintain that it was Bates's responsibility to meet the monitoring and public notification requirements once the lead issue was brought to light.
[story4]
Environmental groups have filed a complaint against Florida Power & Light, contending that the utility's Turkey Point nuclear plant is in violation of the Clean Water Act.
Earlier this year, it was discovered that underground salt plumes from Turkey Point's cooling canals were a possible threat to nearby drinking water supplies.
The state has estimated the salt load into Biscayne Bay is about 600,000 pounds per day.
Late last year, Miami-Dade County also discovered evidence of the radioactive isotope tritium in Biscayne Bay.
In the lawsuit, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and the Tropical Audubon Society want the court to direct FPL to stop discharging water into the cooling canal and clean up the surrounding groundwater and Biscayne Bay.
Meanwhile, the Miami-Dade County mayor and commissioners are working to persuade FPL to close the canal by 2033.
[OUTRO]
For WaterWorld magazine, I'm Angela Godwin. Thanks for watching.
