A just-published EPA study finds that a treatment technique many drinking water plants have adopted to reduce levels of some disinfection byproducts (DBPs), may increase levels of other DBPs in certain drinking water systems.

In the last 15 years, a significant number of drinking water plants have shifted to using chloramines (chlorine and ammonia compounds), instead of "free" chlorine to disinfect drinking water. This trend has been driven by tightened EPA regulations on 11 specific DBPs, which are more likely to result from using free chlorine as a disinfectant.

But a source close to a new EPA-led study, Occurrence and Mammalian Cell Toxicity of Iodinated Disinfection Byproducts in Drinking Water, says that there are nearly 600 DBPs that may be found in drinking water. The new study finds that some unregulated, but potentially hazardous, DBPs could be found in treated drinking water from some plants that use chloramines. These include coastal plants where waters experience salt water intrusion and areas with briny groundwater, such as in the Great Salt Lake region and around oil and gas drilling, where briny water is often injected into the ground.

The study examined drinking water samples from 23 full-scale water treatment plants in nine states and six geographic regions. The source involved in the study says the plants were chosen to represent those likely to have bromide in the source water.

To read more about this study, please visit:
Environmental Science & Technology

A sudden slew of staph infections have sacked several NFL players in recent weeks. Cleveland Browns tight end Kellen Winslow Jr., New England Patriot quarterback Tom Brady and Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning have all admitted to contracting staph.

According to a 2005 survey by the NFL Team Physicians Society, 13 out of 30 teams that responded had had a player contract methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in recent years, for a total of 60 league-wide infections. The NFL has partnered with teams to educate players about the bacteria. Some teams have posted pictures on training room walls that warn players about staph symptoms and how to avoid contracting or spreading it. Other teams have used a special anti-staph agent to disinfect the locker room, weight room and other places where players gather.

In 2003, a team of researchers tracked the St. Louis Rams and found five players who caught eight MRSA infections. "We observed a lack of regular access to hand hygiene (i.e., soap and water or alcohol-based hand gels) for trainers who provided wound care," they wrote in The New England Journal of Medicine. Other offenses included "skipping of showers by players before the use of communal whirlpools; and sharing of towels - all factors that might facilitate the transmission of infection in this setting."

To read more about this story, please visit:
Time Magazine

A report released recently by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) claims bottled water isn't necessarily any purer than the water you get from your tap, it's just more expensive.

Researchers sent samples of 10 major bottled-water brands to the University of Iowa Hygienic Laboratory. The results: 38 low-level contaminants turned up in the water, with each brand containing an average of eight chemicals. Disinfection by-products, caffeine, Tylenol, nitrate, industrial chemicals, arsenic and bacteria were detected.

According to EWG, the lab analyses showed that bottles of Wal-Mart's Sam's Choice water and a brand sold on the East Coast by the Giant supermarket chain were "chemically indistinguishable from tap water. The only striking difference: the price tag."

In response to EWG's study, the International Bottled Water Association has called the report "alarmist" and claims it did not involve a representative sample of bottled water.

To read more about this study, please visit:
The LA Times

Scientists are predicting that global warming will drive significant increases in waterborne diseases around the world. The effects of climate change are vast; from heavier rainfall, which triggers sewage overflows and contaminates drinking water, to higher lake and ocean temperatures causing bacteria, parasites and algal blooms to flourish.

However, heavier rainfalls are one of the most agreed-upon effects of climate change. According to a 1991 study commissioned by the Environmental Protection Agency, from 1948 to 1994, heavy rainfall was correlated with more than half of the nation's outbreaks of waterborne illness. In one of the worst, torrential rains in Milwaukee in 1993 triggered a sewage release that exposed 403,000 people to cryptosporidium, a protozoan parasite transmitted in fecal matter. Fifty-four people died.

The consequences will be particularly severe in the 950 U.S. cities and towns that have "combined sewer systems," archaic designs that carry storm water and sewage in the same pipes. During heavy rains, the systems often cannot handle the volume, and raw sewage spills into lakes or waterways, including drinking-water supplies.

More than 100 pathogens can cause illness if you drink or swim in water contaminated by sewage, including norovirus Norwalk and hepatitis A viruses and bacteria such as E. coli and campylobacter.

To read more about this story, please visit:
The Washington Post

In The News-is a bi-weekly, online service from the Water Quality & Health Council.  The publication is updated every other Friday and can be viewed by logging onto www.waterandhealth.org.  To receive the publication via e-mail, please click here and enter your e-mail address to join our mailing list.