Great Nations have 24/7 Water

In the news recently was a rather spectacular water main break in Los Angeles. It made the national news because California is in the throes of the worst drought in recorded history and the image of 50 million gallons of wasted drinking water was new worthy. What did not make the news were water main failures in Washington DC, Maryland or elsewhere. There are about 240,000 water main failures annually in the United States- almost 660 water mains break a day. These water main failures disrupt traffic and are expensive to fix, but also pose a health hazard. The positive pressure in water pipes is what keeps bacteria from the failing and leaking sewer systems out of the failing and leaking water pipes. Clean water and water water pipes were generally run together in our cities and suburbs are crumbling and contributing to disease outbreaks and water supply disruptions.The National Institute of Health (NIH) believes that 36,700 infections and 18,400 illnesses occur each year due to contamination in public water systems; 2,200 infections and 1,100 illnesses occur each year from private wells.

The last U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment was done in 2011 and released in 2013. The survey showed that $384 billion in improvements are needed for the nation’s drinking water infrastructure through 2030 for systems to continue providing safe unlimited drinking water 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week to the 297 million Americans who depend on them. (It is estimated that 16 million households depend on private water supplies. Getting households to properly test and maintain their wells and septic systems is also a problem.)

The lion’s share of the costs estimated by the EPA is for treatment ($72.5 billion to expand or rehabilitate infrastructure to reduce contamination) and distribution ($247.5 billion to replace or refurbish aging or deteriorating water mains). The water bill that most pay barely covers the cost of delivering the water and essential repairs for all those water main failures. There seems to be significant resistance to increasing water bills to pay the true cost of water and the system to deliver that water. As a matter of fact there were public protests over having to pay delinquent water bills in Detroit this summer. Protestors claimed clean water as a right that should be free.

In Charleston, West Virginia and Toledo, Ohio the entire cities were without water when the treatment plant could not treat the source water for an “unexpected” contaminant. The first steps towards a clean water supply and public health was to disinfect drinking water in the cities (and develop sewer systems). Treating drinking water with either Chloramine or chlorine lowered microbial densities of coliform bacteria, heterotrophic bacteria, Legionella bacteria preventing disease and death. However, these bacteria and the other substances on the primary drinking water list are not the whole story, nor are they the only substances in our water today. Our water treatment plants should be more robust as more and more contaminants begin to appear in our national water supplies. Our modern world is filled with chemicals, they exist in pharmaceuticals, household products, personal care products, plastics, pesticides, industrial chemicals, human and animal waste; they are in short, all around us. These chemicals include organics, inorganic, polymers, and UVCBs (chemical substances of Unknown or Variable composition, Complex reaction products, and Biological materials).

All the water on Earth has been here since shortly after the earth was formed 4.5 billion years ago (or so). There is no mechanism on Earth for creating or destroying large quantities of water, the water here continually cycles through the water cycle. The water we’ve got is what's been here, literally, forever and contaminants are building up. In their study of surface water used for drinking water supplies the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) found a diverse group of contaminants in the source water used by our cities and towns. The concentrations were low, but the contaminants were ubiquitous. This would indicate a variety of different sources and pathways for these contaminants to reach our drinking water supplies. The concentrations were low, (about 95% of the concentrations were less than one-part per billion); nonetheless, the most commonly detected contaminants in source water were generally detected in finished drinking water at about the same frequency and concentration. Our drinking water treatment systems do not remove these contaminants and we need to change that.

The USGS found that as the amount of urban and agricultural lands increased within the water shed, the numbers of contaminants in the rivers also increased. Rivers receiving municipal and industrial discharge, as well as discharges from other point and non-point sources from stormwater runoff are impacted by man-made organic contaminants, most of which are unregulated. Only about 40 of the 260 substances the USGS tested for are regulated the rest are unregulated. The USGS groundwater testing was a little better. It found trace levels of an herbicide (atrazine or simazine) or an herbicide degradate (deethylatrazine), and the solvents perchlorethene or trichloroethene widely distributed in samples from shallow unconfined aquifers without a confining geological layer, though the deeper confined groundwater aquifers remained mostly free of man-made contamination. Only about 1% of the groundwater tested had 10 contaminants detected at concentrations greater than human-health recommended levels. Groundwater remains cleaner than surface water for now.

USGS led research published in Environmental Monitoring and Assessment this summer found two fish species, smallmouth bass and white sucker, exhibiting intersex characteristics (male fish with immature eggs) caused by hormones and hormone-mimicking compounds. Intersex fish have been found in Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna, Delaware and Ohio River basins, indicating that the effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals are more widespread than previously known. Previously, sampling within the Chesapeake Bay watershed found signs of reproductive endocrine disruption in the Potomac River basin. Our regional drinking water comes from the Potomac River. Our water treatment plants do not address these contaminants. Our water treatment systems are taken for granted and forgotten. We as a nation need to continually improve and maintain our water infrastructure. However, we do not seem to have the discipline or political will to do it.

As an alternative to maintaining and improving our water treatment and distribution system, a recent article in the New Scientist magazine by Naomi Lubick suggests that the future of water is “off-grid” water treatment where homes and businesses would do the final finishing of the water. The failing water systems in our cities would continue to deliver water in the volumes we demand or when the system has supplies and the water mains are functional and local final treatment would bring it up to drinking water standards. This local treatment would happen in buildings with self-contained treatment systems or suburban neighborhoods that would also have local treatment systems. This is a frightening suggestion. What would evolve from that plan is a better and safer water supply for the affluent who could afford to live in buildings and gated communities with advanced water storage and treatment systems while others would have an inferior system as the main supply system deteriorated. Welcome to the future of water in America-life in India.

This image is actually from Peru

Test and Think Before Treating Well Water

When I first bought my home here in the Rural Crescent of Prince William County several people tried to sell me water treatment systems, from the carpeting contractor who wanted to also sell me a whole house filter to the water softening system salesman offering “free water testing.” The free testing offered by these companies usually only tests for hardness and other contaminants that they sell treatment systems for, but there has recently come on the market home testing kits that are quite good and can test wells for health related impurities. However, because I had fully tested the well water for every primary and secondary drinking water contaminant before purchase and liked the taste of my water, I knew that water treatment was not necessary.

Private drinking water wells should be tested annually for bacteria and every 1-3 years for other common regional groundwater contaminants especially if you install treatment systems. Groundwater is dynamic and can change over time, and it is important to make sure that any treatment is still appropriate and effective. Though I know that there is a tendency to not test water because you worry about what you might find, you need to monitory your water quality. Water treatment systems are not an install and forget piece of equipment, they are systems that need to be maintained and adjusted to keep the water within ideal parameters. Improperly treated water can be as problematic as not treating water.

The Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE) Offices in Virginia occasionally holds drinking water clinics for well, spring and cistern owners as part of the Virginia Household Water Quality Program. The VCE subsidizes the analysis cost for these clinics and Prince William Extension is planning on holding its next clinic on March 31, 2014. Currently, samples are analyzed for: iron, manganese, nitrate, lead, arsenic, fluoride, sulfate, pH, total dissolved solids, hardness, sodium, copper, total coliform bacteria and E. Coli bacteria at a cost of $49 to the well owner. This is far from an exhaustive list of potential contaminants, but with one or two exceptions these are the most common contaminants that effect drinking water wells in Virginia. These are mostly the naturally occurring contaminants and common sources of contamination: a poorly sealed well or a nearby leaking septic system, or indications of plumbing system corrosion from slightly acidic water.

There are other contaminants that can be found in ground water in certain regions that can cause illness when exposed to small amounts over long periods of time Uranium is an example. There are also nuisance contaminants for which there is not an approved EPA methodology, iron bacteria is an example. The Virginia Household Water Quality Program has been sponsoring water clinics and collecting well data in Virginia for years. They have used their database to expand their knowledge of regional water quality problems and natural contaminants. Water analysis should be performed before any treatment is considered to make sure the selected treatment is necessary and appropriate. Remember a treatment system not only has to be maintained, but curing one problem may cause another.

I have tested my well at different times of year and sometimes my water is harder than others, but also there are times when my sulfate levels have been higher than others. According to the water clinic statistics, Prince William County has very high naturally occurring levels of sulfate and elevated levels are not uncommon. The EPA guidance for sulfate is 250 ppm for taste, but may be unnoticeable at higher levels, but truly excessive levels can have a laxative effect. Hydrogen Sulfide gas (H2S) gives water that awful “rotten egg” taste and smell and can render water undrinkable because of the taste and smell. Unless you have hydrogen sulfide, sulfate concentrations can be ignored at levels up to (and possibly beyond) twice the EPA secondary limit.

Hydrogen sulfide can never be ignored and is probably the reason some wells are considered to have bad water. Hydrogen sulfide can end up in your tap water by four different routes: (1) It can occur naturally in groundwater in oil rich shale and coal seams. (2) It can be produced within the well or plumbing systems by sulfur reducing bacteria. (3) Hydrogen sulfide can form in hot water heater by either supplying a pleasant environment for the sulfate reducing bacteria or by the reaction of magnesium rod intended to prevent corrosion of the heating tank with the sulfate in the water. (4) Hydrogen sulfide gas can be caused by contamination of the well with septic waste. Systematic testing can identify the cause and cure.

Hydrogen sulfide created by sulfur reducing bacteria “eating” the sulfate can be appear over time after installing a water treatment system. According to the EPA, sulfur-reducing bacteria pose no known health risks, but can make the water and entire home smell of rotten eggs. Sulfur-reducing bacteria live in oxygen-deficient environments such as deep wells, plumbing systems, water softeners, and water heaters. Often these bacteria flourish in plumbing and water softening systems. Sulfate reduction can occur over a wide range of pH, pressure, temperature, and salinity conditions and produce the rotten egg smell and the blackening of water and sediment by the formation of iron sulfide if iron is also present in the groundwater or plumbing system. If you do not have a hydrogen sulfide problem, but do have elevated levels of sulfide, think very carefully before you install any treatment system where the sulfur reducing bacteria or iron reducing bacteria might thrive.

Low pH water or acidic water is fairly common in the Tidewater portion of the county east of the Fall Line. The pH of water is a measure of the acidity or alkalinity. The pH is a logarithmic scale from 0 – 14 with 1 being very acidic and 14 very alkaline. Drinking water should be between 6.5 and 7.5. For reference and to put this into perspective, coffee has a pH of around 5 and salt water has a pH of around 9. Corrosive water, sometimes also called aggressive water is typically water with a low pH. (Alkaline water can also be corrosive.)

Over time low pH water can corrode metal plumbing fixtures causing lead and copper to leach into the water and causing pitting and leaks in the plumbing system. The blue/green staining on plumbing fixtures observed in some older homes is caused by the slow corrison of the old copper pipes. These homes which are now quite old (copper piping has not been used for decades) typically experience occasional plumbing leaks. The presence of lead or copper in water is most commonly leaching from the plumbing system rather than the groundwater.

Though acidic water is easily treated using an acid neutralizing filter, by now it is probably too late to save your pipes from damage. Neutralizing filters use a granular marble, calcium carbonate or lime. If the water is very acidic a mixing tank using soda ash, sodium carbonate or sodium hydroxide can be used, but this can be overkill in many homes. The acid neutralizing filters will increase the hardness of the water because of the addition of calcium carbonate creating a new set of problems to address. The sodium based systems will increase the salt content in the water. Water softening systems are used to address hard water are basically an ion exchange systems that can add even more sodium to the water and may shorten the life of your septic drain field.

The Report Card on America’s Infrastructure

Every four years the American Society of Civil Engineers, ASCE, grades the infrastructure in the United States, from water mains, sewer systems and plants, power lines connected to homes and businesses and the electrical grid spanning the U.S.; the neighborhood streets and the national highway system, dams, rail roads, airports. Infrastructure is the foundation of our economy, connecting businesses, communities, and people, making us a first world country. For the U.S. economy to be competitive as a place of business, we need a first class infrastructure system – transportation systems that move people and goods efficiently and at reasonable cost by land, water, and air; transmission systems that deliver reliable, low-cost power from a wide range of energy sources; and water systems that deliver clean reliable water 24/7 and remove wastewater for treatment and often reuse.

Yet much of our nation’s infrastructure was built during the 20th century, expanded during the post-World War II period, and frankly taken for granted by Baby Boomers. For some time our infrastructure systems have failed to keep pace with the current and expanding needs, and investment in infrastructure had faltered as an unseen way to cut costs- until the systems fail. However, it seems the tide has begun to turn. The 2013 Report Card grades are in, and America’s cumulative GPA for infrastructure rose slightly to a D+ from the D we received in 2009. The grades in 2013 ranged from a high of B- for solid waste to a low of D- for inland waterways and levees. Solid waste, drinking water, wastewater, roads, and bridges all saw incremental improvements, and the rail systems due to an influx of private investment jumped from a C- to a C+. No categories saw a decline in grade this year.

Highlights from the national report:

The grade for drinking water improved slightly to a D. In many parts of the nation, much of the piping that delivers water to our homes and businesses is almost a century old, nearing the end of its useful life. There are an estimated 240,000 water main breaks per year in the United States. Assuming every pipe would need to be replaced, the cost over the coming decades could reach more than $1 trillion, according to the American Water Works Association (AWWA), though new technology is being demonstrated to extend the life of older piping systems. The United States still has one of the safest drinking water systems in the world, but in many communities the pace of water main replacement will have to increase. Even though pipes and mains are frequently more than 100 years old and in need of replacement, outbreaks of disease attributable to drinking water are rare because of the good treatment systems and positive pressure on the drinking water distribution systems.

The grade for wastewater improved slightly to a D. The ASCE estimates that $298 billion will be required over the next 20 years to maintain and upgrade the nation’s wastewater and stormwater systems. As in the water delivery systems pipes represent the largest capital need, three quarters of the costs. Fixing and expanding the network of pipes will reduce sanitary sewer overflows, combined sewer overflows, and other pipe-related issues like urban sinkholes. Investment in wastewater treatment plants will have to increase due to new regulatory requirements as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, expands mandated nutrient and sediment management standards and water recycling programs across in the nation. In the past five years EPA regulations have required cities to invest more than $15 billion in new pipes, plants, and equipment to eliminate combined sewer overflows. Stormwater management is still small compared with sanitary pipes and treatment plants, and its growth may be managed by Low Impact and Green Infrastructure strategies. Even with these lower cost strategies, EPA programs like the Chesapeake Bay TMDL will dramatically increase that investment in wastewater infrastructure during the coming decades, but may maintain and improve water quality even with a growing population.

The grade ASCE gave for solid waste was a big bright spot improving in 2013 to a grade of B-, the highest grade for any category. In 2010, Americans generated 250 million tons of trash. Of that, 85 million tons were recycled or composted. This represents a 34% recycling rate, a vast improvement from the 14.5% recycling rate in 1980. Per capita generation rates of waste have been steady over the past 20 years and have declined since 2006. Though there is plenty of room for improvement, a generation raised on “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle,” seems to be having a big impact.

The grade for energy remained at a D+ despite the boom in gas and oil due to weakness in the distribution systems. The weaknesses in the electrical grid were highlighted in the extended outages during the storms that pounded the east coast in the past two years especially in New Jersey and Maryland. Investment in power transmission has increased in recent years, but ongoing permitting issues, weather events, and limited maintenance have contributed to an increasing number of failures and power interruptions. Use of electricity in the U.S, has yet to regain the peak reached in 2007, but the demand for electricity, natural gas, and oil is forecast to increase in the next decades as the population increases and efficiency savings are used up. Though, recent booms in oil and gas production could supply the energy demand, regulation on carbon generation from electrical generation plants requiring replacement of a significant portion of the generation capacity and about 17,000 miles of additional high-voltage transmission lines (to expand the power grid and connect wind power generation farms and large solar power generation installations to the power grid) and significant oil and gas pipelines are needed to meet the demand for power and regulatory mandates.  Growing permitting and siting issues threaten construction of the generation and distribution systems needed.

Railroads are experiencing a resurgence in both freight transportation and passenger service. As a result freight and passenger rail have been investing heavily in their tracks, bridges, and tunnels as well as adding new capacity spending more than $75 billion since 2009. Increasing investment and utilization was highlighted by the purchase of Burlington Northern Santa Fe LLC, the largest U.S. railroad, by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. That company alone spent $400 million on terminals in 2012 while a group of oil and gas pipeline operators, Plains All American Pipeline LP plans to spend about $1 billion on rail depot projects to substitute for stalled pipeline projects to move oil and gas from drilling sites to processing locations. Private investment resulted in the grade for rail moving up to a C+ in 2013.

Much of the transportation infrastructure-bridges, inland waterways, ports, roads, airports are far more visible and have a much higher public awareness of the needs of the systems, but are primarily funded by public monies. The nation’s infrastructure needs a strong representation for budget allocations because it is our future. The maintenance of the power grid and the water treatment and distribution systems have suffered from neglect due to the way that utility rates are calculated from costs. Regulated monopolies that supply electricity, water, sewage have been cutting maintenance capital budgets to cut overhead while maintaining or increasing profits while limiting rate increases.

Virginia’s 2013 report card has not yet been completed. We received an overall grade of D+ in 2009, but I am hopeful that when the new report is complete that we will have improved to match (or crush) the C- that Maryland received.  Maryland’s report card appears below. 

ASCE report card

Sediment Disposal from the Washington Aqueduct Water Treatment Plants

Drinking water systems may obtain their water supply either directly from the rivers, lakes, reservoirs for surface water or from wells for ground water or like DC Water, Arlington and Falls Church may purchase finished water from wholesalers like the Washington Aqueduct. Raw water is treated to produce finished drinking water. During the treatment of source water, water treatment plants, WTPs, remove contaminants by screening, sedimentation, flocculation and filtration. The waste streams generated from these steps are water treatment residuals. In a 2011 report the US Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, estimated that approximately 31% of the WTPs directly discharge to surface water, 7% transfer residuals to waste water treatment plants and the remainder is disposed of on land.

Solid residuals from water treatment plants include sludge, schmutzdecke (biological surface layer in slow sand filtration units), and spent treatment media. Residuals contain contaminants removed from the source water and treatment chemicals added by the WTP. Prior to final disposal residuals from the source water treatment operations can be treated on site by the WTP. Washington Aqueduct has a newly constructed residuals management facility that disposes of the solids by contract hauling.  The residuals from the Aqueduct are being used for reclamation and backfilling under a Maryland surface mining permit. The residuals are permitted to be used  offsite as clean fill. The volume and characteristics of the residuals depend on the source water, drinking water production rate, efficiency of source water treatment, and type of source water treatment used. The goal of all residuals treatment/ solids removal systems is to decrease the volume of water while increasing solids content. This process creates two waste streams the liquid and the solid.

EPA’s Filter Backwash Recycle Rule, FBRR, established requirements to ensure that WTPs do not compromise the quality of finished drinking water when recycling water from residuals management. The FBRR requires WTPs that reuse certain wastewater liquid residuals (filter backwash, thickener supernatant, and dewatering process liquids) the water must be returned to a point in the water treatment process where it will be treated by coagulation and filtration.

Water treatment residuals solids contain naturally occurring suspended and dissolved solids from the source water, as well as precipitated solids generated by chemical treatment as well as residual contaminants from chemical treatment. The naturally occurring solids include sediment and soils that are carried to the Potomac in run off from rain and snow melt. These solids are regulated under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, RCRA, regulations and are classified as hazardous or nonhazardous. A waste is characterized as hazardous or nonhazardous based on its ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, and toxicity. Generally speaking, these wastes are not toxic and are often sold and used as soil amendments in agriculture or disposed of by contract hauling to a permitted disposal facility. The solids residual from water treatment generally contains the river sediment, traces of the algaecides and flocculants.

Sludge generated by water treatment plants is not subject to regulation under the Biosolids Rule. The Biosolids Rule (part of the Clean Water Act Amendments of 1987) was created to protect public health and the environment from any anticipated effects from recycling of sewage sludge Biosolids. The toxicity of solid residuals from sewage treatment is assessed by the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP), which is a soil sample extraction method for chemical analysis. If contaminant concentrations in the TCLP leachate are below those listed in the Land Disposal Restrictions of RCRA, the solid residual is classified as non-hazardous and can be disposed at a municipal landfill or other location. There is tremendous controversy associated with potential impacts of Biosolids and the land disposal or reuse of Class B and even Class A Biosolids. I am not aware of any controversy associated with agricultural use of solids residual (predominately river silt) of water treatment plants.