Drinking Water

Let me get this straight: If we keep land void of development in order to protect endangered species ("Warning from Water Districts," Oct. 31), water prices increase. If we encourage development and take our chances with toxic chemicals leaching into the ground water without complaining (or knowing about it), we get the water cheaper. Gee, everything is so expensive these days, so what's a few extra poisons here and there? Everybody's always thinking about frogs and gnatcatchers, never about what's good for the consumer.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced plans on Monday to overhaul its efforts to safeguard drinking water and to tighten restrictions on four waterborne compounds that can cause cancer. Officials said the steps would help regulators identify new contaminants faster and move quickly with new technologies to prevent harm to consumers. Environmentalists expressed hope that the moves will break a regulatory logjam at the EPA, which has not listed a new water contaminant for regulation in more than a decade.

The Environmental Protection Agency took steps Wednesday to curb toxic substances in drinking water, including perchlorate, a chemical thought to threaten the thyroid gland that has contaminated hundreds of public water wells, mostly in California. The agency also moved to set standards for 16 other substances that can invade water supplies and impair human health. Perchlorate, a remnant of California's manufacturing, aerospace and military bases, can inhibit thyroid hormone production, especially in fetuses and infants.

The California Environmental Protection Agency has issued the nation's first public health goal for hexavalent chromium, the cancer-causing heavy metal made infamous after activist Erin Brockovich sued in 1993 over contaminated groundwater in the Mojave Desert town of Hinkley, about 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles. At that time, the average hexavalent chromium level in Hinkley's water was 1.19 parts per billion (ppb). The new state goal was set Wednesday at 0.02 ppb, the level of the element that does not pose a significant health risk in drinking water, according to state officials.

IS airline water safe to drink? Routine testing of airplane water is required for 24 domestic airlines that signed agreements with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in mid-October. The other U.S. carriers are expected to sign agreements by the end of this month, says Laurie Dubriel, an EPA attorney. Drinking water now must be tested every 12 months, says Katherine Andrus, assistant general counsel for the Air Transport Assn., an industry trade group representing major U.S. airlines.

Orange County's dependence on underground aquifers for its drinking water means it must ensure that the ground water is not contaminated by gasoline or other pollutants. The possibility that underground gasoline tanks need closer scrutiny to guard against leakage deserves more discussion. California's county district attorneys, who prosecute polluters, supported state legislation requiring the installation of shafts near underground tanks at gas stations. The shafts would test for leaks.

Communities along the rain-swollen Ohio River took steps to protect drinking water supplies Thursday as a 15-mile-long chemical spill moved downstream. Officials said the spill occurred Wednesday at the ITAPCO Corp. plant in New Albany as workers were unloading toluene from a barge that was carrying the volatile, benzene-like solvent.

To settle claims that leaks from gasoline storage tanks may taint drinking water, units of Royal/Dutch Shell Group, BP and other companies tentatively agreed to spend $91.7 million to install double-walled tanks and pipelines at service stations and to treat contamination, according to documents filed in San Francisco Superior Court. The settlement would end a 5-year-old lawsuit that sought to force the companies to clean up 1,000 tanks around the state.