Proposed arsenic rule may cost consumers $1.5 billion per year

Conference addresses ways to deal with contaminant

DENVER - In the face of EPA's proposal to reduce the arsenic limits from 50 parts per billion (ppb) to 5 ppb in drinking water, AWWA Executive Director Jack Hoffbuhr said the move would cost consumers $1.5 billion per year.

"AWWA continues to strongly support reducing arsenic levels in drinking water and believes it can be done affordably," Hoffbuhr said.

"Consumers should understand that EPA's proposed rule will cost them $1.5 billion annually and water rates in some areas of the southwest and New England will increase by more than $100 a year per consumer."

Poster sessions, technical sessions and exhibits at this year's conference offer current research on the arsenic problem and new technologies to solve it.

Photo courtesy Apyron Technologies An arsenic removal system cleans drinking water from a well in Bangladesh.

According to research presented in a poster session by Brandon C. Yallaly and Timothy Kramer, powdered activated alumina and ultrafiltration may be methods suitable for arsenic removal. Joanne Barnes, John Simms and J. Upton presented research Monday on the process optimization of a 20 million liter per day granular ferric arsenic adsorption plant in the UK. The exhibits on the showroom floor included some solutions for arsenic removal, including one product from APYRON Technologies, Inc., called Aqua-Bind?. The product is an alumina-based adsorption media that can selectively remove the two most common aqueous forms of arsenic, arsenite (As+3) and arsenate (As+5).

Currently, the World Health Organization has a standard for arsenic in drinking water of 10 ppb. Meeting that standard in the U.S. would cost $600 million.

Lowering the limits to 5 ppb would cause some cities to fall out of compliance, according to a report from the United States Geological Survey. To learn more, visit USGS' web site at http://co.water.usgs.gov/trace/pubs/fs-063-00/fig3.html.

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has followed through on its threat to sue the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in relation to the EPA's proposed arsenic rule. The lawsuit alleges that OMB has illegally delayed the issuance of a proposed arsenic rule, which was due January 1, 2000.

Several types of cancer have been linked to arsenic present in drinking water concentrations higher than observed in U.S. drinking water supplies. In addition, high levels of arsenic have been reported to affect the vascular system in people and have been associated with the development of diabetes.

Hoffbuhr said that this litigation will only hurt efforts to reduce arsenic levels.

"Unfortunately, this lawsuit could hamper efforts to make the timely, responsible reductions to the federal standard that the National Research Council, EPA, and the drinking water profession all support," he said.