Economics of place-based monitoring under the safe drinking water act, part I: spatial and temporal patterns of contaminants, and design of screening strategies

The goals of environmental legislation and associated regulations are to protect public health, natural resources, and ecosystems. In this context, monitoring programs should provide timely and relevant information so that the regulatory community can implement legislation in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) of 1974 attempts to ensure that public water systems (PWSs) supply safe water to its consumers. As is the case with many other federal environmental statutes, SDWA monitoring has been implemented in relatively uniform fashion across the USA. In this three part series, spatial and temporal patterns in water quality data are utilized to develop, compare, and evaluate the economic performance of alternative place-based monitoring approaches to current monitoring practice. Under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), a common list of over 90 contaminants is analyzed nationwide using EPA-authorized laboratory procedures. National and state-level summaries of SDWA data have shown that not all contaminants occur in all places at all times. This hypothesis is confirmed and extended by showing that only a few (less than seven) contaminants are of concern in any one of 19 Iowa surface water systems studied. These systems collectively serve about 350,000 people and their sizes vary between 1,200 and 120,000. The distributions of contaminants found in these systems are positively skewed, with many non-detect measurements. A screening strategy to identify such contaminants in individual systems is presented. These findings have significant implications not only for the design of alternative monitoring programs, but also in multi-billion-dollar decisions that influence the course of future drinking water infrastructure, repair, and maintenance investments.     

Remediation of organic and inorganic arsenic contaminated groundwater using a nanocrystalline TiO2-based adsorbent

A nanocrystalline TiO₂-based adsorbent was evaluated for the simultaneous removal of As(V), As(III), monomethylarsonic acid (MMA), and dimethylarsinic acid (DMA) in contaminated groundwater. Batch experimental results show that As adsorption followed pseudo-second order rate kinetics. The competitive adsorption was described with the charge distribution multi-site surface complexation model (CD-MUSIC). The groundwater containing an average of 329 μg L^?1 As(III), 246 μg L^?1 As(V), 151 μg L^?1 MMA, and 202 μg L^?1 DMA was continuously passed through a TiO₂ filter at an empty bed contact time of 6 min for 4 months. Approximately 11 000, 14 000, and 9900 bed volumes of water had been treated before the As(III), As(V), and MMA concentration in the effluent increased to 10 μg L^?1. However, very little DMA was removed. The EXAFS results demonstrate the existence of a bidentate binuclear As(V) surface complex on spent adsorbent, indicating the oxidation of adsorbed As(III).     

Levels and trends of PCDD/Fs and PCBs in camel milk (Camelus bactrianus and Camelus dromedarius) from Kazakhstan

To date, despite the fact it represents a very important part of the national dairy production, no data are available concerning the concentrations of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in camel milk from the Republic of Kazakhstan. Selected PCDDs, PCDFs, and PCBs were measured in pools of milk from camels (n=15) located in various places of Kazakhstan (Almaty, Atyrau, Aralsk, Shymkent) and sampled at two different seasons for two different species (Camelus bactrianus and Camelus dromedarius). Non-dioxin-like (NDL-)PCB concentrations (6.3±2.7 ng g(-1) fat, median 5.1 ng g(-1) fat, range 0.6-17.4 ng g(-1) fat) were far below the maximum value of 40 ng g(-1) fat proposed by the EU. Dioxin-like (DL-)PCB concentrations (1.7±0.7 ng g(-1) fat, median 1.5 ng g(-1) fat, range 0.3-4.2 ng g(-1) fat) and the NDL-PCB to DL-PCB ratio (4.3) were similar to what is reported in EU for cow-based dairy products. PCB 52 and PCB 101 appeared to be proportionally more present in Kazakh camel milk samples (>60% of the sum of the 6 indicator NDL-PCBs) than in European cow milk samples (<10% of the sum of the 6 indicator NDL-PCBs), indicating possible differences in the route of exposure to PCBs in Kazakhstan. PCB 105 and PCB 118 appeared to be present at higher concentrations in camel milk (>80% of the sum of the 12 DL-PCBs). PCB 105, PCB 118 and PCB 156 were the major congeners for DL-PCBs, accounting for 92% of the sum of concentrations of DL-PCBs (88% for Belgian cows). In terms of TEQ, PCB 126 and PCB 118 are the major contributors and represent, respectively, 80% and 14% of the DL-PCB TEQWHO05 concentrations. No significant interracial or geographical trends were observed for NDL- and DL-PCB profiles. However, concentrations of all DL-PCBs appeared to be significantly higher for samples collected in Atyrau region. 2,3,7,8-TCDD level (mean 0.08±0.07 pg g(-1) fat, median 0.08 pg g(-1) fat, range 0.00-0.18 pg g(-1) fat, 60%>LOQs) were very low for all samples and 2,3,4,7,8-PeCDF was the major contributor (27%) to the PCDD/F TEQWHO05. Considering the total TEQWHO05 (sum of DL-PCBs and PCDD/Fs), DL-PCB and PCDD/F contributed for 73% and 27%, respectively. A decrease of only 1% of the total TEQ was observed when using the TEFWHO05 scale instead of the TEFWHO98 scale. Two samples collected in the region of Atyrau exceeded the EU maximum level value of 6.00 pg TEQWHO98 g(-1) fat (6.4 pg TEQWHO05 g(-1) fat and 6.9 pg TEQWHO05 g(-1) fat). Both samples exceeded the EU action level for the sum of DL-PCBs. Based on the fact that camel milk is used to prepare popular traditional fermented drinks like shubat, this suggests that the human exposure in the Caspian Sea region of Atyrau should be expected to be higher than in the other regions studied here.     

Getting remedial action plans approved by state agencies

Thousands of contaminated sites around the country never get caught in the sticky web of Superfund. Instead, they are handled by state environmental agencies under state environmental laws and rules. Generally speaking, state environmental programs appear to function much more efficiently than Superfund. But even though they are easier to work with than Superfund, state contamination cleanup programs can still be daunting. This article offers some points and suggestions for making the state process work smoothly and efficiently.     

Octanol/water partition coefficients for environmentally important organic compounds

Partition coefficients P_O,w ⁽ⁱ⁾ describing the distribution of a solute i onto coexisting phases of 1-octanol and water are needed in a large variety of applications. They can be measured directly by HPLC as long as log P_O,w ⁽ⁱ⁾≧ 3.5. For more hydrophobic substances, several experimental procedures have been proposed in the literature. The reliability of those methods is questionable. Therefore, in the present work, P_O,w ⁽ⁱ⁾ is determined experimentally by three HPLC methods using reversed-phase HPLC [1]. Results from different procedures are compared critically. The method of Braumann [2] proved to be superior over the OECD-guidelines [3]. It was therefore applied to determine octanol/water partition coefficients for 23 substances at 25 °C. For eight of those substances (4-methylindole; 9-(hydroxymethyl)anthracene; N-ethylcarbazol; ethylcyclohexane; trans-2-octene; l,l-dimethyl-(ethy])cyclohexane; heptylbenzene; 4-dodecyl-l,3-benzenediol) no experimentally determined number for P_O,w ⁽ⁱ⁾ has been published before.     

Potential exposure to diazinon during yard applications

Applicators applying diazinon to yards were monitored to determine potential exposures received while using this commonly available pesticide around the home. Diazinon was applied to lawns and shrubs using compressed air or hose-end sprayers. Even with minimal clothing, the largest mean exposure received during any of the applications was estimated to be less than 0.2% of a lethal dose per hour. Exposure to the hands accounted for 85% or more of the total exposure, so simply protecting the hands would have essentially eliminated exposure.     

Evaluation of Lead Availability in Amended Soils Monitored Over a Long-Term Time Period

Two different soil amendment processes were evaluated for reducing lead availability from a contaminated soil at a demonstration study site, to reduce potential public health and environmental concerns. A limited variety of in vitro laboratory “availability” tests (relative bioaccessible and environmental mobility) were performed to determine if the available lead in the contaminated soil would be less available after in situ soil amendment (chemical treatment). The relative bioaccessibility results were evaluated in both a short-term period (within 24 h after treatment) and over a long-term time period (quarterly basis for 5 years). Reduction in relative bioaccessibility was noted for one of the treatments immediately after treatment; however, both treatments indicated a significant upward trend in bioaccessibility values over a 5-year time period after treatment. The comparison between the treated units and the control units indicated that the long-term effectiveness of the treatment processes could not be demonstrated.