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Drinking Water Concerns
Five recent articles regarding drinking water concerns that may be of interest to our customers...
FROM:
WaterTech e-News Daily™
Canada report: ‘No safety concerns’ with bottle BPA
Thursday, July 16, 2009
TORONTO — Health Canada, the Canadian national health agency, said it has no safety concerns about the presence of the plastic-hardening chemical bisphenol A (BPA) in 18.5-liter (5-gallon) polycarbonate drinking water bottles, according to a recent report on the Health Canada Web site.
“The levels of BPA in these containers were very low and pose no safety concerns,” Health Canada reported, citing findings of a study by its Bureau of Chemical Safety entitled “Survey of Bisphenol A in Bottled Water Products.”
The survey examined samples from 56 different bottled water brands, including those in polycarbonate bottled water containers. BPA was detected with a majority of the polycarbonate containers and was not found at detectable limits with non-polycarbonate containers.
“Based on the average BPA level found in polycarbonate bottled water products (1.5 µg/L [micrograms per liter, or parts per billion]), an adult (60 kg [132 lbs.] body weight) would have to consume approximately 1000 L [264 gallons] of bottled water from polycarbonate carboys in one day to approach the TDI [tolerable daily intake of 25 µg/kg body weight/day] set by Health Canada's Food Directorate,” the report said.
The agency concluded that BPA in bottled water containers poses no health risk to the general population, including newborns and young children. However, as a precaution, it recommended that, in view of varying sets of data generated in other studies that raise some uncertainty, consumers should exercise the ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable) principle when using containers with BPA for newborns and young children.
http://www.watertechonline.com/news.asp?N_ID=72249
FROM:
WaterTech e-News Daily™
Scientists: Avoid plastic-hardening chemical BPA
Friday, June 12, 2009
WASHINGTON — The Endocrine Society, a professional organization of scientists who do hormone research, on June 10 issued a statement calling for better scientific studies into health effects of the plastic-hardening compound bisphenol A (BPA) and other substances suspected of disrupting the body's endocrine functions (EDCs).
BPA, a synthetic estrogen, is used in the manufacture of polycarbonate water bottles and other food packaging; baby bottles; the epoxy resin lining of cans; and PVC water pipes. The National Institutes of Health has found that it can leach into food and beverages; a May report from researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health showed that hard-plastic drinking bottles containing BPA leach “notable amounts of the controversial chemical into people’s bodies,” The Boston Globe reported May 22.
Studies, including those presented at The Endocrine Society’s annual meeting June 10-13 in Washington, have reported that exposure to BPA and other EDCs affect male and female development, prostate cancer, thyroid disease and cardiovascular disease.
In the first scientific statement ever issued by the 93-year-old body, The Endocrine Society said, “Results from animal models, human clinical observations and epidemiological studies converge to implicate EDCs as a significant concern to public health.”
During the society’s 91st Annual Meeting, several studies were presented that show BPA can affect the hearts of women and can permanently damage the DNA of mice, UPI and ScienceDaily recently reported. Scientists also reported during the meeting that human exposure to BPA may be much higher than the recommended safe daily dose, entering the human body from a variety of sources, UPI reported June 11.
The Endocrine Society is urging humans to avoid using products that are known to contain BPA and other EDCs, according to its statement. It also stated the Society’s intent to actively engage “in lobbying for regulation seeking to decrease human exposure to the many endocrine-disrupting agents.”
New US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg said this month that the agency is reexamining its position about the safety of BPA in food containers. Last December, the FDA agreed to continue to its review of BPA in food contact applications, while maintaining the position that the chemical is safe. That decision followed a finding in October by a panel of FDA scientific advisors that FDA’s draft safety assessment of the chemical in food contact applications was inadequate. In August 2008, the FDA said that the public was not at risk from BPA, as WaterTech Online® reported.
The American Chemical Council (ACC) June 10 released a statement in response to the recent Endocrine Society research. In its statement, the ACC said: “These brief presentations on unpublished research are difficult to assess for significance to human health, since they have not been peer-reviewed or published in scientific literature and few details are available in conference abstracts. Bypassing the scientific process in favor of sensational press releases is a scare tactic that will not promote public health.”
NOTE: Our filters are effective in removing bisphenol A (BPA).
-------------------------------------------------------
FROM:
CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/10/health/main3920454.shtml?source=RSSattr=HOME_3920454
Friday, September 19, 2008
WASHINGTON — The federal government's top water quality official has acknowledged that critics who question whether the existing regulatory mechanism can handle complex chemical compounds found in drinking water supplies are correct to do so, according to a September 18 Associated Press (AP) report.
US Environmental Protection Agency Assistant Administrator for Water Benjamin H. Grumbles made the acknowledgement to AP investigative reporters following a September 16 Congressional subcommittee hearing in which pollution experts and lawmakers called for the EPA to update its water quality standards to address the trace levels of pharmaceuticals and other chemical compounds, such as those from personal care products, now detected in water supplies by newer technology.
During the hearing, Grumbles “balked at any immediate, sweeping upgrade of water standards. He told the panel more research and evaluation are needed now,” the AP reported. Grumbles summarized for the subcommittee a number of programs EPA now has under way to identify additional contaminants that may need regulation and to encourage health care facilities and individuals to properly dispose of pharmaceuticals.
Asked by the subcommittee to specify which water-contamination issue is most pressing, Grumbles replied that, if he had to choose one, it would be hormonal chemicals in pharmaceuticals that are contributing to sex changes in fish.
In an interview later, Grumbles told the AP, “It may be that there needs to be a more effective way to deal with the [chemical] mixtures.”
Dr. David Carpenter, director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the State University of New York at Albany, tells CBS' The Early Show that it is important to remember, "you have to drink water. And bottled water isn't any better than tap water."
Carpenter said most tap water is not treated in a way that can get out pharmaceuticals, but he said activated charcol filters - whether used at home or by water treatment authorities - do remove most chemical compounds. He said a small number of public water providers use charcoal filters already.
FROM:
The Associated Press
Drugs affect more drinking water
By MARTHA MENDOZA – September 12, 2008
Testing prompted by an Associated Press story that revealed trace amounts of pharmaceuticals in drinking water supplies has shown that more Americans are affected by the problem than previously thought — at least 46 million.
That's up from 41 million people reported by the AP in March as part of an investigation into the presence of pharmaceuticals in the nation's waterways.
The AP stories prompted federal and local legislative hearings, brought about calls for mandatory testing and disclosure, and led officials in at least 27 additional metropolitan areas to analyze their drinking water. Positive tests were reported in 17 cases, including Reno, Nev., Savannah, Ga., Colorado Springs, Colo., and Huntsville, Ala. Results are pending in three others.
The test results, added to data from communities and water utilities that bowed to pressure to disclose earlier test results, produce the new total of Americans known to be exposed to drug-contaminated drinking water supplies.
The overwhelming majority of U.S. cities have not tested drinking water while eight cities — including Boston, Phoenix and Seattle — were relieved that tests showed no detections.
"We didn't think we'd find anything because our water comes from a pristine source, but after the AP stories we wanted to make sure and reassure our customers," said Andy Ryan, spokesman for Seattle Public Utilities.
The substances detected in the latest tests mirrored those cited in the earlier AP report.
Chicago, for example, found a cholesterol medication and a nicotine derivative. Many cities found the anti-convulsant carbamazepine. Officials in one of those communities, Colorado Springs, say they detected five pharmaceuticals in all, including a tranquilizer and a hormone.
"This is obviously an emerging issue and after the AP stories came out we felt it was the responsible thing for us to do, as a utility, to find out where we stand. We believe that at these levels, based on current science, that the water is completely safe for our customers," said Colorado Springs spokesman Steve Berry. "We don't want to create unnecessary alarm, but at the same time we have a responsibility as a municipal utility to communicate with our customers and let them know."
Fargo's water director, Bruce Grubb, said the concentrations of three drugs detected there were so incredibly minute — parts per trillion — that he sent them to the local health officer to figure out how to interpret the information for the community.
"We plan to put this into some kind of context other than just scientific nomenclature, so folks can get some level of understanding about what it means," said Grubb.
The drug residues detected in water supplies are generally flushed into sewers and waterways through human excretion. Many of the pharmaceuticals are known to slip through sewage and drinking water treatment plants.
While the comprehensive risks are still unclear, researchers are finding evidence that even extremely diluted concentrations of pharmaceutical residues harm fish, frogs and other aquatic species in the wild and impair the workings of human cells in the laboratory.
And while the new survey expands the known extent of the problem, the overwhelming majority of U.S. communities have yet to test, including the single largest water provider in the country, New York City's Department of Environmental Protection, which delivers water to 9 million people.
In April, New York City council members insisted during an emergency hearing that their drinking water be tested. But DEP officials subsequently declared that "the testing of finished tap water is not warranted at this time."
Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
FROM:
The Ithaca Journal
Potentially harmful bacteria plague New York waters
By Steve Orr • Gannett News Service • September 2, 2008
At the edges of two small ponds in a Greece subdivision are two pairs of small signs nailed to posts.
Advertisement
“WARNING,” two of the signs read. “Avoid contact with water. Do not allow pets to drink from pond.”
“NO FISHING,” state the other signs.
Those inconspicuous signs were tacked up three summers ago by the Monroe County Health Department after residents complained of an odd sheen on top of the water and the death of dozens of small fish in one of the ponds. The signs are among the few local indications of the growing presence of a bacteria that can produce deadly toxins.
Cyanobacteria, sometimes called blue-green algae because they can cluster in colorful algae-like film or mats that float on top of the water, have always lived in the ponds, streams and lakes of New York state, said Gregory Boyer, a chemistry professor at the State University College of Environmental Science and Forestry and one of the Great Lakes region's top cyanobacteria experts.
But in recent years, cyanobacteria have become more abundant and appear to be producing toxins more frequently, said Boyer, who coordinates a cyanobacteria monitoring program focused on Lake Ontario, Lake Erie and Lake Champlain in northeastern New York.
“What we're seeing,” said Boyer, “is a system out of balance.”
The bacteria are often benign. But sometimes they grow explosively in a water body and release toxins, some of which are extremely potent. If ingested in sufficient quantity, the most common toxins can cause gastrointestinal distress and liver problems. Other toxins can trigger paralysis or other neurological problems.
But no state or federal agency has adopted regulations to guard against the buildup of the toxins in drinking water.
Dogs and waterfowl are the only known casualties of cyanotoxins in New York. Several animals died between 1999 and 2004 after they were exposed to toxic water in Lake Champlain and Lake Neahtawanta in Fulton County.
Health officials watch for the bacteria in Ontario Beach in Rochester but haven't detected it. In many locations worldwide, however, the toxins have been blamed for mass outbreaks of illness, including one episode in Brazil 20 years ago that left 88 people dead.
Many countries, including Brazil, Canada, Japan and Australia, have set drinking-water standards for the most common toxins, microcystins. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has not.
The agency is considering setting standards for three cyanotoxins, EPA spokeswoman Enesta Jones said. But it is no sure thing. The EPA has listed cyanotoxins for possible regulation since 1998, and they are among 104 candidates on the latest version of the list. The agency will narrow the field further next year but could wind up writing regulations for as few as five contaminants.
Boyer, who expects the EPA to eventually issue standards for cyanotoxins, said New York state is taking a “wait-and-see” approach. Officials at the state departments of health and environmental conservation say they are participating in studies and have developed protocols for responding to cyanotoxin outbreaks.
Those protocols have been implemented twice when cyanotoxins were found during voluntary testing of drinking water reservoirs, health department spokesman Jeffrey Hammond said. In both cases, he said, the reservoirs were backup supplies and no one consumed the water.
But no state regulations are planned in advance of EPA action, he said...
FROM:
WaterTech e-News Daily™
Canada report: ‘No safety concerns’ with bottle BPA
Thursday, July 16, 2009
TORONTO — Health Canada, the Canadian national health agency, said it has no safety concerns about the presence of the plastic-hardening chemical bisphenol A (BPA) in 18.5-liter (5-gallon) polycarbonate drinking water bottles, according to a recent report on the Health Canada Web site.
“The levels of BPA in these containers were very low and pose no safety concerns,” Health Canada reported, citing findings of a study by its Bureau of Chemical Safety entitled “Survey of Bisphenol A in Bottled Water Products.”
The survey examined samples from 56 different bottled water brands, including those in polycarbonate bottled water containers. BPA was detected with a majority of the polycarbonate containers and was not found at detectable limits with non-polycarbonate containers.
“Based on the average BPA level found in polycarbonate bottled water products (1.5 µg/L [micrograms per liter, or parts per billion]), an adult (60 kg [132 lbs.] body weight) would have to consume approximately 1000 L [264 gallons] of bottled water from polycarbonate carboys in one day to approach the TDI [tolerable daily intake of 25 µg/kg body weight/day] set by Health Canada's Food Directorate,” the report said.
The agency concluded that BPA in bottled water containers poses no health risk to the general population, including newborns and young children. However, as a precaution, it recommended that, in view of varying sets of data generated in other studies that raise some uncertainty, consumers should exercise the ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable) principle when using containers with BPA for newborns and young children.
http://www.watertechonline.com/news.asp?N_ID=72249
FROM:
WaterTech e-News Daily™
Scientists: Avoid plastic-hardening chemical BPA
Friday, June 12, 2009
WASHINGTON — The Endocrine Society, a professional organization of scientists who do hormone research, on June 10 issued a statement calling for better scientific studies into health effects of the plastic-hardening compound bisphenol A (BPA) and other substances suspected of disrupting the body's endocrine functions (EDCs).
BPA, a synthetic estrogen, is used in the manufacture of polycarbonate water bottles and other food packaging; baby bottles; the epoxy resin lining of cans; and PVC water pipes. The National Institutes of Health has found that it can leach into food and beverages; a May report from researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health showed that hard-plastic drinking bottles containing BPA leach “notable amounts of the controversial chemical into people’s bodies,” The Boston Globe reported May 22.
Studies, including those presented at The Endocrine Society’s annual meeting June 10-13 in Washington, have reported that exposure to BPA and other EDCs affect male and female development, prostate cancer, thyroid disease and cardiovascular disease.
In the first scientific statement ever issued by the 93-year-old body, The Endocrine Society said, “Results from animal models, human clinical observations and epidemiological studies converge to implicate EDCs as a significant concern to public health.”
During the society’s 91st Annual Meeting, several studies were presented that show BPA can affect the hearts of women and can permanently damage the DNA of mice, UPI and ScienceDaily recently reported. Scientists also reported during the meeting that human exposure to BPA may be much higher than the recommended safe daily dose, entering the human body from a variety of sources, UPI reported June 11.
The Endocrine Society is urging humans to avoid using products that are known to contain BPA and other EDCs, according to its statement. It also stated the Society’s intent to actively engage “in lobbying for regulation seeking to decrease human exposure to the many endocrine-disrupting agents.”
New US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg said this month that the agency is reexamining its position about the safety of BPA in food containers. Last December, the FDA agreed to continue to its review of BPA in food contact applications, while maintaining the position that the chemical is safe. That decision followed a finding in October by a panel of FDA scientific advisors that FDA’s draft safety assessment of the chemical in food contact applications was inadequate. In August 2008, the FDA said that the public was not at risk from BPA, as WaterTech Online® reported.
The American Chemical Council (ACC) June 10 released a statement in response to the recent Endocrine Society research. In its statement, the ACC said: “These brief presentations on unpublished research are difficult to assess for significance to human health, since they have not been peer-reviewed or published in scientific literature and few details are available in conference abstracts. Bypassing the scientific process in favor of sensational press releases is a scare tactic that will not promote public health.”
NOTE: Our filters are effective in removing bisphenol A (BPA).
-------------------------------------------------------
FROM:
CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/10/health/main3920454.shtml?source=RSSattr=HOME_3920454
Friday, September 19, 2008
WASHINGTON — The federal government's top water quality official has acknowledged that critics who question whether the existing regulatory mechanism can handle complex chemical compounds found in drinking water supplies are correct to do so, according to a September 18 Associated Press (AP) report.
US Environmental Protection Agency Assistant Administrator for Water Benjamin H. Grumbles made the acknowledgement to AP investigative reporters following a September 16 Congressional subcommittee hearing in which pollution experts and lawmakers called for the EPA to update its water quality standards to address the trace levels of pharmaceuticals and other chemical compounds, such as those from personal care products, now detected in water supplies by newer technology.
During the hearing, Grumbles “balked at any immediate, sweeping upgrade of water standards. He told the panel more research and evaluation are needed now,” the AP reported. Grumbles summarized for the subcommittee a number of programs EPA now has under way to identify additional contaminants that may need regulation and to encourage health care facilities and individuals to properly dispose of pharmaceuticals.
Asked by the subcommittee to specify which water-contamination issue is most pressing, Grumbles replied that, if he had to choose one, it would be hormonal chemicals in pharmaceuticals that are contributing to sex changes in fish.
In an interview later, Grumbles told the AP, “It may be that there needs to be a more effective way to deal with the [chemical] mixtures.”
Dr. David Carpenter, director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the State University of New York at Albany, tells CBS' The Early Show that it is important to remember, "you have to drink water. And bottled water isn't any better than tap water."
Carpenter said most tap water is not treated in a way that can get out pharmaceuticals, but he said activated charcol filters - whether used at home or by water treatment authorities - do remove most chemical compounds. He said a small number of public water providers use charcoal filters already.
FROM:
The Associated Press
Drugs affect more drinking water
By MARTHA MENDOZA – September 12, 2008
Testing prompted by an Associated Press story that revealed trace amounts of pharmaceuticals in drinking water supplies has shown that more Americans are affected by the problem than previously thought — at least 46 million.
That's up from 41 million people reported by the AP in March as part of an investigation into the presence of pharmaceuticals in the nation's waterways.
The AP stories prompted federal and local legislative hearings, brought about calls for mandatory testing and disclosure, and led officials in at least 27 additional metropolitan areas to analyze their drinking water. Positive tests were reported in 17 cases, including Reno, Nev., Savannah, Ga., Colorado Springs, Colo., and Huntsville, Ala. Results are pending in three others.
The test results, added to data from communities and water utilities that bowed to pressure to disclose earlier test results, produce the new total of Americans known to be exposed to drug-contaminated drinking water supplies.
The overwhelming majority of U.S. cities have not tested drinking water while eight cities — including Boston, Phoenix and Seattle — were relieved that tests showed no detections.
"We didn't think we'd find anything because our water comes from a pristine source, but after the AP stories we wanted to make sure and reassure our customers," said Andy Ryan, spokesman for Seattle Public Utilities.
The substances detected in the latest tests mirrored those cited in the earlier AP report.
Chicago, for example, found a cholesterol medication and a nicotine derivative. Many cities found the anti-convulsant carbamazepine. Officials in one of those communities, Colorado Springs, say they detected five pharmaceuticals in all, including a tranquilizer and a hormone.
"This is obviously an emerging issue and after the AP stories came out we felt it was the responsible thing for us to do, as a utility, to find out where we stand. We believe that at these levels, based on current science, that the water is completely safe for our customers," said Colorado Springs spokesman Steve Berry. "We don't want to create unnecessary alarm, but at the same time we have a responsibility as a municipal utility to communicate with our customers and let them know."
Fargo's water director, Bruce Grubb, said the concentrations of three drugs detected there were so incredibly minute — parts per trillion — that he sent them to the local health officer to figure out how to interpret the information for the community.
"We plan to put this into some kind of context other than just scientific nomenclature, so folks can get some level of understanding about what it means," said Grubb.
The drug residues detected in water supplies are generally flushed into sewers and waterways through human excretion. Many of the pharmaceuticals are known to slip through sewage and drinking water treatment plants.
While the comprehensive risks are still unclear, researchers are finding evidence that even extremely diluted concentrations of pharmaceutical residues harm fish, frogs and other aquatic species in the wild and impair the workings of human cells in the laboratory.
And while the new survey expands the known extent of the problem, the overwhelming majority of U.S. communities have yet to test, including the single largest water provider in the country, New York City's Department of Environmental Protection, which delivers water to 9 million people.
In April, New York City council members insisted during an emergency hearing that their drinking water be tested. But DEP officials subsequently declared that "the testing of finished tap water is not warranted at this time."
Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
FROM:
The Ithaca Journal Potentially harmful bacteria plague New York waters
By Steve Orr • Gannett News Service • September 2, 2008
At the edges of two small ponds in a Greece subdivision are two pairs of small signs nailed to posts.
Advertisement
“WARNING,” two of the signs read. “Avoid contact with water. Do not allow pets to drink from pond.”
“NO FISHING,” state the other signs.
Those inconspicuous signs were tacked up three summers ago by the Monroe County Health Department after residents complained of an odd sheen on top of the water and the death of dozens of small fish in one of the ponds. The signs are among the few local indications of the growing presence of a bacteria that can produce deadly toxins.
Cyanobacteria, sometimes called blue-green algae because they can cluster in colorful algae-like film or mats that float on top of the water, have always lived in the ponds, streams and lakes of New York state, said Gregory Boyer, a chemistry professor at the State University College of Environmental Science and Forestry and one of the Great Lakes region's top cyanobacteria experts.
But in recent years, cyanobacteria have become more abundant and appear to be producing toxins more frequently, said Boyer, who coordinates a cyanobacteria monitoring program focused on Lake Ontario, Lake Erie and Lake Champlain in northeastern New York.
“What we're seeing,” said Boyer, “is a system out of balance.”
The bacteria are often benign. But sometimes they grow explosively in a water body and release toxins, some of which are extremely potent. If ingested in sufficient quantity, the most common toxins can cause gastrointestinal distress and liver problems. Other toxins can trigger paralysis or other neurological problems.
But no state or federal agency has adopted regulations to guard against the buildup of the toxins in drinking water.
Dogs and waterfowl are the only known casualties of cyanotoxins in New York. Several animals died between 1999 and 2004 after they were exposed to toxic water in Lake Champlain and Lake Neahtawanta in Fulton County.
Health officials watch for the bacteria in Ontario Beach in Rochester but haven't detected it. In many locations worldwide, however, the toxins have been blamed for mass outbreaks of illness, including one episode in Brazil 20 years ago that left 88 people dead.
Many countries, including Brazil, Canada, Japan and Australia, have set drinking-water standards for the most common toxins, microcystins. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has not.
The agency is considering setting standards for three cyanotoxins, EPA spokeswoman Enesta Jones said. But it is no sure thing. The EPA has listed cyanotoxins for possible regulation since 1998, and they are among 104 candidates on the latest version of the list. The agency will narrow the field further next year but could wind up writing regulations for as few as five contaminants.
Boyer, who expects the EPA to eventually issue standards for cyanotoxins, said New York state is taking a “wait-and-see” approach. Officials at the state departments of health and environmental conservation say they are participating in studies and have developed protocols for responding to cyanotoxin outbreaks.
Those protocols have been implemented twice when cyanotoxins were found during voluntary testing of drinking water reservoirs, health department spokesman Jeffrey Hammond said. In both cases, he said, the reservoirs were backup supplies and no one consumed the water.
But no state regulations are planned in advance of EPA action, he said...
To view the full article, click here.
NOTE: Standard treatment of municipal water does not remove cyanotoxins. The activated carbon component of the filtration media in our filters has proved very effective in removing both cyanobacterial cells and toxins (Reference).
NOTE: Standard treatment of municipal water does not remove cyanotoxins. The activated carbon component of the filtration media in our filters has proved very effective in removing both cyanobacterial cells and toxins (Reference).
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