drinking water force cities to build new plants, drill more wells, raise rates
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In this Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2015 photo, Ken Gibbons, a graduate research assistant at the University of Toledo Lake Erie Center, holds a sample of algae from Lake Erie in a lab in Oregon, Ohio. Algae blooms in Lake Erie, fed by agriculture runoff and overflowing sewer pipes, have become so toxic that they shut down Toledo's water system for two days in the summer of 2014 and have the city looking at spending millions to avoid a repeat. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)
By JOHN SEEWER, Associated Press
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Standing at the edge of the Great Lakes, the world's largest surface source of fresh water, this city of 280,000 seems immune from the water-supply problems that bedevil other parts of the country. But even here, the promise of an endless tap can be a mirage.
Algae blooms in Lake Erie, fed by agriculture runoff and overflowing sewers, have become so toxic that they shut down Toledo's water system in 2014 for two days. The city is considering spending millions of dollars to avoid a repeat.
Similar concerns about water quality are playing out elsewhere. Farm fertilizers, discarded pharmaceuticals, industrial chemicals and even saltwater from rising oceans are seeping into many of the aquifers, reservoirs and rivers that supply Americans with drinking water.
Combating these growing threats means cities and towns must tap new water sources, upgrade aging treatment plants and install miles of pipeline, at tremendous cost.
Consider tiny Pretty Prairie, Kansas, less than an hour's drive west of Wichita, where the water tower and cast-iron pipes need to be replaced and state regulators are calling for a new treatment plant to remove nitrates from farm fertilizers. The fixes could cost the town's 310 water customers $15,000 each.
By JOHN SEEWER, Associated Press
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Standing at the edge of the Great Lakes, the world's largest surface source of fresh water, this city of 280,000 seems immune from the water-supply problems that bedevil other parts of the country. But even here, the promise of an endless tap can be a mirage.
Algae blooms in Lake Erie, fed by agriculture runoff and overflowing sewers, have become so toxic that they shut down Toledo's water system in 2014 for two days. The city is considering spending millions of dollars to avoid a repeat.
Similar concerns about water quality are playing out elsewhere. Farm fertilizers, discarded pharmaceuticals, industrial chemicals and even saltwater from rising oceans are seeping into many of the aquifers, reservoirs and rivers that supply Americans with drinking water.
Combating these growing threats means cities and towns must tap new water sources, upgrade aging treatment plants and install miles of pipeline, at tremendous cost.
Consider tiny Pretty Prairie, Kansas, less than an hour's drive west of Wichita, where the water tower and cast-iron pipes need to be replaced and state regulators are calling for a new treatment plant to remove nitrates from farm fertilizers. The fixes could cost the town's 310 water customers $15,000 each.
Emily Webb never gave a second thought to the town's water until she became pregnant almost two years ago. That's when she learned through a notice in the mail that the water could cause what's known as "blue baby" syndrome, which interferes with the blood's ability to carry oxygen.
"It just kind of scared me," she said. "Now we don't drink it at all."
Instead, she and her husband stock up on well water from her parents' home and buy bottled water even though health officials say the risk is limited to infants. When it comes time to buy their first home, she said, they will look somewhere else.
Pretty Prairie's leaders hope to find a less expensive solution. They say the cost of a new treatment plant would drive people away and threaten the farm town's survival.
Across the country, small towns and big cities alike are debating how much they can afford to spend to make contaminated water fit for drinking.
Cash-strapped cities worry that an unfair share of the costs are being pushed onto poor residents. Rural water systems say they can't expect the few people they serve to pay for multimillion-dollar projects.
The U.S Conference of Mayors, in a report released this summer, found spending by local governments on all water-supply projects nearly doubled to $19 billion between 2000 and 2012. Despite a slowdown in recent years, it remained at an all-time high, the report said.
"We have a real dilemma on our hands," said Richard Anderson, author of the report. "We know we need to increase spending on water, but many houses can't afford it, and Congress won't increase funding."
In California's Central Valley, low-income farming communities have gone without clean water for years because they don't have money to build plants to remove uranium, arsenic and nitrates. Drinking fountains at schools have been put off limits, and families spend a large share of their income on bottled water.
A study released in June by the U.S. Geological Survey found nearly one-fifth of the groundwater used for public drinking systems in California contained excessive levels of potentially toxic contaminants.
Compounding the problem is the drought. Because farmers are using more groundwater for irrigation, contaminants are becoming more concentrated in the aquifers and seeping into new wells.
The drought has pushed Los Angeles to plan for the nation's largest groundwater cleanup project, a $600 million plan to filter groundwater contaminated with toxic chemicals left over from the aerospace and defense industry. Some of the water will be drawn from polluted wells abandoned 30 years ago.
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http://www.usnews.com/news/us/articl...-safe-to-drink
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