Archived Water News Headlines | Water Quality; Pollution; Decontamination Issues

The archives below were published in 2003 and 2004.  Because they are dated, some of the links to news stories may be decayed. 

North Phoenix Well Water Being Tested (The Arizona Republic, 3/24/04) - The state's top environmental official is warning residents living next to a north Phoenix plant to switch to bottled water after high levels of perchlorate contamination were found in groundwater samples.

Ensign criticizes new standard for arsenic in drinking water (AP | The Reno Gazette-Journal, 3/23/04) - U.S. Sen. John Ensign is sharply criticizing the new federal standard for arsenic in drinking water, calling it a shortsighted, unsupported requirement that could sap the budgets of small communities, mostly in the West.

Water boards sued over water quality exemption for loggers (AP Wire | The Mercury News - 3/18/04) - Environmental groups are suing the California Water Resources Board and two regional water quality boards over waivers that they say the agencies do not adequately protect waterways from the effects of logging. Related link: UPDATE: LUMBER CO. COMMENTS ON LOGGING REGULATION CASE (KPIX) (new window) - A lawyer for Pacific Lumber Co. said that the company plans to appeal a state appellate court's ruling that a water agency has the right to regulate the effects of logging on rivers

Salt Ponds' Restoration Clears Hurdle (Alameda Times-Star - 3/18/04) - South Bay ponds, that naturally create salt, were the subject of a permit opening the saline ponds to the tides for the first time ever. Environmentalists, wildlife managers and members of the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board alike called the permit a major way point in the region's effort to return the South Bay to the wildlife mecca it was before early settlers started diking and greatly expanding the region's natural salt ponds.

Calif. Oyster, Dairy Farmers Clash (AP | Yahoo News, 3/17/04) - Heavy rains have forced oyster farms to shut down for weeks at a time this winter as runoff from neighboring dairy ranches allegedly pollutes the waters where the oysters are grown.

Decision on pesticides may face more court challenges (AP | Corvallis Gazette-Times, 3/17/04) - A coalition of pesticide makers and farm groups in Oregon, Washington and California on Wednesday sought to block implementation of a federal court order banning the use of cholorothalonil and dozens of other toxic pesticides along thousands of miles of salmon-bearing waterways.

Colorado Proposes Tougher Water Standards for Feedlots (Journal Advocate - 3/16/04) - The Colorado Water Quality Control Commission is finalizing state regulations to bring dairies and feedlots into compliance with new water quality standards mandated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Administration.

PERCHLORATE: Critics blast the guideline that lets agencies alter when they notify consumers (The Press Enterprise, 3/12/04) - Water officials said the decision gives them a clear target as they attempt to clean up extensive perchlorate contamination found in Inland drinking-water supplies, but environmental groups said the state's health goal isn't enough to protect people with thyroid ailments, infants and pregnant women and their unborn babies.

California Officials Move to Regulate Perchlorate Level in Water (Pasadena Star News, 3/11/04) - The state Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment set the public health goal for perchlorate at 6 parts per billion despite pleas from environmentalists to set the level lower. One part per billion ppb is equivalent to about a half- teaspoon of the chemical in an Olympic-size swimming pool. Perchlorate is a salt used in solid rocket fuel, flares, matches and automobile air bags. The chemical was once used to treat people with overactive thyroids until more effective medicines were developed for the condition.

Kennedy Touts Rio Grande (Las Cruces Sun-News, 3/11/04) - Citing litigation over the cleanup of the Hudson River, attorney Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., urged his audience to take back the Rio Grande from "big industries that control its flow."

Low Flows Hurting Water Quality (The Bend Bulletin, 3/11/04) - Water quality in the Deschutes Basin could be improved by increasing the flow of water throughout the year and by controlling the amount of urban runoff pollution, according to three reports issued this month by the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council.

Answer to Arsenic Problem Sought (The Columbian, 3/11/04) - High levels of arsenic in groundwater used by some Clark County, Washington, residents are prompting officials to seek solutions.

Aerojet detects water pollution in Carmichael (The Sacramento Bee, 3/10/04) - Aerojet has discovered that its rocket fuel pollution crosses beneath the American River into Carmichael at the same depths tapped for drinking water, alarming suppliers north of the river. No trace of the contamination has been found in wells serving residents, who take most of their supply from the river, according to the Carmichael Water District. And Aerojet officials vow to quickly identify the extent of the contamination and contain it long before it reaches drinking-water wells.

EPA Proposes 11 New Superfund Program Sites (AP | Billings Gazette, 3/8/04)

Valley irrigation districts sued over chemical use (The Modesto Bee, Bee Capitol Bureau, 2/27/04) - Environmentalists have sued five San Joaquin Valley irrigation districts to block the toxic chemicals they have used for decades to control algae, weeds and other plants along more than 1,200 miles of canals.

Wheels set in motion to provide quality drinking water for Blanco (The Daily Times, Farmington, New Mexico, 02/27/04) - 360 families who rely on a 13-mile long system for their water supply have had to boil their water or else use bottled water. Water is currently being pumped from the secondary ground-well source, and Blanco Water Users Association officials are working on filtration issues.

< meet to cleaned is groundwater contaminated this which in process explains article This beer. or Coke cans 12-oz. six-packs million 584 contained as year a fluid much processes site refinery oil Amoco an at facility treatment>

Environmental cases hinge on limits of authority (USA Today, 2/22/04) - The Supreme Court will decide who has the authority to make decisions or how far law extends in cases that affect water, air and land quality. How the justices decide a case involving the Clean Water Act, for example, could require officials in the West to obtain permits to move water from hundreds of reservoirs and canals.

Towns in Sweden, California lauded for water (USA Today; AP - 2/22/04) - Tap water from Desert Hot Springs, Calif., was ruled the best in the world Saturday by judges who sipped samples from around the globe.

Perchlorate standard not near, official says (The Press-Enterprise Inland Southern California, 2/13/04) - Water officials are eagerly awaiting a standard because it could cost millions to treat the chemical. It has seeped into supplies, leading to the shutting or restricting of 20 drinking-water wells in the San Bernardino Valley. The toxic chemical, linked to thyroid problems, also has tainted the Colorado River, a main drinking-water source for the Inland area and a Coachella Valley irrigation source.

Drinking water woes: Residents worry over state’s slow pace at gauging health risk of chemical found in Colorado River (The Desert Sun, Palm Springs, California, 2/11/04) - A rocket fuel chemical (perchlorate) is seeping into the Colorado River, and until it flushes out naturally, the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians aren't taking any chances.

Environmentalists Seek Ban on Herbicide (Macon Telegraph, 8/21/03) - The National Resources Defense Council filed suit against the Environmental Protection Agency, stating that the widely-used herbicide atrazine is harming the nation's major waterways.

Water agency files 1st claim Perchlorate probe enters new stage (San Bernardino County Sun , 8/1/03) - The fuse has been lit. This week the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board issued the first civil liability claim in the regional agency's ongoing attempt to ferret out those responsible for polluting local groundwater with perchlorate, an explosives and fireworks ingredient.

Conservationists Sue EPA Over Arizona Water Quality (SAN FRANCISCO, California, April 3, 2003 (ENS)) - Two conservation groups filed a lawsuit yesterday in federal court challenging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) transfer of Arizona water quality regulation to state officials.

The organizations believe EPA failed to protect the natural environment when it transferred authority over the federal Clean Water Act's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System to the state of Arizona on December 5, 2002. The EPA gave the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality the authority to regulate facilities and municipalities that discharge pollutants into surface waters.

"EPA turned a bind eye to the harm to endangered species that will result from handing the water quality program and regulations against sprawl to Arizona," said Mike Senatore, litigation director for Defenders of Wildlife.

Defenders of Wildlife and the Center for Biological Diversity filed the suit with the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The organizations say the EPA gave the state of Arizona regulatory authority after conservationists sued the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in April 2002. The suit alleged that the federal agencies had failed to protect endangered species when granting Clean Water Act permits for urban development.

Granting Arizona authority, the organizations say, was done to remove the legal confines of the Endangered Species Act and Clean Water Act. They contend this violated the law because the EPA is required by the Endangered Species Act to protect endangered species and habitat.

"EPA's transfer of the water quality program is a cynical maneuver to let developers off the hook for protection of the desert and endangered species," said David Hogan, Urban Wildlands Program Coordinator for the Center for Biological Diversity.

Printed with permission - Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2003. All Rights Reserved.

Elements of State Watering and Assessment Program (03/14/03) are available from the EPA online. en basic elements of a holistic, comprehensive monitoring program that serves all water quality management needs and addresses all water body types are recommended.

Parents sue water firm in 2 boys' deaths (Arizona Republic, 2/14/03) - Rose Valley Water Company sued for negligence in providing unchlorinated and contaminated water.