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$2
million in 2002 budget for Moab Clean up
The Bush administration’s first budget, included
$2 million in 2002 for the clean up of the uranium pilings at Moab, Utah.
For 28 years the Atlas Corporation processed uranium ore for the military
and dumped tailings in an unlined pond, leaving a 10.5-million-ton pile
of radioactive waste, just 750 feet from the Colorado River.
Environmentalists, public officials and water users have been calling
for the pile to be moved for years. But a lack of funding, coupled with
complex federal regulations, has blocked efforts to get the material moved
away from the river. Last year, approval for the clean up was tacked onto
a military appropriations bill, but it provided no funding.
Water intake plants downstream of the pile have not detected unsafe levels
of toxic substances.
Metropolitan to dip into Diamond Valley Lake for summer water
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is
preparing to use water from Diamond Valley Lake this summer to ease the
thirst caused by lower than expected snowfall in the northern Sierra Nevadas
this past winter.
Winter rain and snowfall were down 30 percent compared with the same period
last year and reservoir storage is down by 10 percent this year compared
with last year, according to Metropolitan officials.
Diamond Valley Lake has an 800,000 acre-feet capacity.
"In the next couple of months we will be taking water from the lake,"
said Metropolitan spokesman Bob Muir. "This reservoir eliminated
the need for mandatory water conservation like we had during the droughts
between 1987 and 1992."
Arsenic ruling delayed, Senators introduce related legislation
It will be February 2002 before the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency proposes a new standard for arsenic in drinking water.
Arsenic occurs naturally in rocks, soil, water, air, plants and animals.
It is also used in paints, dyes, metals, drugs, soaps and semiconductors.
Studies show long-term exposure to low concentrations of arsenic in drinking
water can lead to skin, bladder, lung and prostate cancer. Other health
risks at low levels include cardiovascular disease, diabetes, along with
developmental, immunological and neurological effects.
The current standard is 50 ppb, which is equivalent to a quarter ounce
of arsenic dissolved in an average backyard pool that holds 40,000 gallons
of water.
Water systems must inform customers if arsenic levels are higher than
25 ppb and must issue a warning if they are higher than the 50 ppb federal
limit.
(Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada, and Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California, introduced
legislation in April that would require water companies to notify customers
if more than 5 parts per billion of arsenic is detected in drinking water
supplies.)
In the final days of the Clinton administration the federal standard was
lowered from 50 ppb to 10 ppb, raising concerns about the adequacy of
the science and the basis for national cost estimates underlying the rule,
according to EPA officials.
The National Academy of Sciences has reported that the present standard
is too high, but it did not specify what a protective level should be.
The EPA asked NAS to review a range of 3 to 20 parts per billion for the
establishment of a new drinking-water standard.
The NAS review will assess what new technology has been developed since
it last visited the issue in the 1990s and the NAS will recommend what
levels of arsenic consumption are safe. Water agencies will have four
years to comply with any new standard set in 2002.
Southland business takes water savings up a notch
Residential water users have been doing it for
years, and now business owners have an opportunity to take water conservation
to the next level and save energy at the same time they are saving water.
Alstyle Apparel and Activewear of Anaheim became the first business to
adopt water process changes that save water. During the first month of
the modified water-saving manufacturing process, Alstyle saved more than
10 million gallons of water.
The program is funded under an agreement with Anaheim Public Utilities
and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. According
to the program, Alstyle, which produces more than 600,000 T-shirts a day,
will receive up to $309,309 from Metropolitan over the next five years
after installing new water-efficient systems.
Alstyle anticipates saving $222,000 a year as a result of reduced water
use. The project is expected to save up to 401 acre-feet of water a year-enough
for 800 Southland families to use in and around their homes each year.
