News releases for May 2005

CELEBRATION CALLS ON ALL TO MAKE WATER-RESPONSIBLE CHOICES
National Drinking Water Week is May 1-7

FRANKFORT, Ky. (May 2, 2005) -- For 17 years, Drinking Water Week has been celebrated nationally to raise public awareness about safe drinking water and water conservation. Drinking Water Week is May 1-7 – an annual opportunity for everyone to celebrate and help ensure safe, reliable drinking water.

We should all make water-responsible choices. Consumers’ actions affect the quality of source water and the level of treatment required to provide safe drinking water. To keep drinking water safe and treatment costs down, we need to be aware that what we do to the land affects our drinking water sources.

This is an excellent opportunity for the public to learn about safe drinking water and water conservation. We can help our water utilities provide safe drinking water by becoming "water-wise." We can protect water resources from pollution and reduce the amount of water we use daily.

A few water-wise suggestions:

Use water only when needed and turn off the faucet when finished.
Turn off water while brushing teeth with toothpaste; turn it on to rinse, or rinse with water in a glass.
Keep a pitcher of drinking water in the refrigerator.
Mulch around trees and plants to help retain water.
When landscaping, think of xeriscaping, using drought-tolerant plants.
Turn lights off when you don't need them. Water is often used to generate electricity.
Don't stay in the shower longer than needed. Turn off the water while soaping up.
Don't throw junk or litter into rivers or lakes. Save the habitat for fish and other aquatic life.
Reduce the amount of water used in flushing by placing a plastic milk carton filled with water inside the toilet tank.
Do not flush pharmaceuticals down toilets or any other drain.
Repair leaky faucets in the home.

Contact your local water utility for more information on becoming water-wise in your community or contact the Kentucky Division of Water at (502) 564-3410. The Division of Water offers household hints and tips for conserving water and protecting water quality on its Web page. You can also call the Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1-800-426-4791. For stories on how Americans have celebrated Drinking Water Week, visit the AWWA scrapbook at http://www.awwa.org/advocacy/dww/.

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CONTACT: Jeff Grubbs (502) 564-3410

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CONSUMERS HAVE ACCESS TO INFORMATION ABOUT DRINKING WATER
Public access and participation are part of Safe Drinking Water Act

FRANKFORT, Ky. (May 3, 2005) – “The Wonder of Water" is the theme for Drinking Water Week, May 1-7. It is meant to raise public awareness of drinking water issues and public motivation to protect and conserve water resources. The 1996 amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act provide consumers with greater access to information about their water and opportunities to participate in drinking water issues.

Thanks to the Act, today you can find out the ingredients in that glass of water because of a “right-to-know” annual water report, also known as a Consumer Confidence Report, published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Public water systems must notify customers when a drinking water standard is violated. The public can become involved in development of strategies to improve the way a water system functions (technical, financial, managerial capacity development strategy).

Drinking water contaminant databases are publicly accessible by Internet. You can locate your drinking water supplier and view its regulatory history. And there is increased communication, outreach and education by EPA and the federal Centers for Disease Control on waterborne disease.

EPA maintains the Safe Drinking Water Hotline so members of the public can easily obtain information or find out how they can become involved. Contact the Hotline at 1-800-426-4791. Or contact your local water utility for more information on how you can help and become water-wise in your community. Be sure to read the utility’s Consumer Confidence Report, published each July. To become involved in capacity development or to view an example public notice, visit Division of Water's Drinking Water Web page.

For access to EPA’s drinking water databases, visit http://www.epa.gov/safewater/dwinfo/.

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CONTACT: Jeff Grubbs (502) 564-3410

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WATER AWARENESS MONTH, DRINKING WATER WEEK
ARE CELEBRATED IN MAY
Events call attention to the importance of our choices on safe water

FRANKFORT, Ky. (May 4, 2005) – May is Water Awareness Month, an educational program of the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service, Environmental and Natural Resource Issues Task Force. The program promotes overall water awareness for the citizens of Kentucky.

Contact your county extension agent about Water Awareness Month. Extension agents have information on health and safety of drinking water wells, disinfection of well water and on water quality. Private well water is not regulated or tested by the EPA, so those responsibilities are with the homeowner. Those using private wells for drinking water should test for bacteria and nitrates at least annually.

For more information on Water Awareness Month, see http://www.ca.uky.edu/enri/kwam.htm. The month includes Drinking Water Week, May 1-7. Its theme, “The Wonders of Water,” is intended to raise public awareness and to motivate the public to protect and conserve water resources.

A booklet produced by EPA, “Water on Tap - What You Need To Know,” is a consumer’s guide to drinking water. It provides answers to questions about relative safety of drinking water, where drinking water comes from, how to protect drinking water and what to do if you drink from a private well.

For a free copy of the booklet, contact the Drinking Water Hotline at 1-800-426-4791 or visit http://www.epa.gov/safewater/wot/index.html.

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CONTACT: Jeff Grubbs (502) 564-3410

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“WONDER OF WATER” IS THEME OF DRINKING WATER WEEK
Educators, let your students “Wonder about Water”

FRANKFORT, Ky. (May 5, 2005) – Attention, educators!

Get students involved in learning “the wonder of water.” There are environmental education resources with teacher’s guides and lesson plans on safe drinking water. Reading lists also are available.

Teachers can find units of study correlated to standards of the Kentucky Education Reform Act on a variety of environmental themes through the Environmental Education and Outreach Web site maintained by the Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet.

The Water Sourcebooks by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency contain 324 activities for grades K-12. The material is divided into four sections: K-2, 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12. Each section is divided into five chapters: Introduction to Water, Drinking Water and Wastewater Treatment, Surface Water Resources, Ground Water Resources, and Wetlands and Coastal Waters.

The American Water Works Association, Discovery, Lesson Planet, Earth Day, National Geographic, the Geological Society of America, the Peace Corps and many other organizations have materials available and ready for you to use. For a list, visit this Web site or call the Drinking Water Hotline, 1-800-426-4791.

Drinking Water Week is May 1-7. The theme is “The Wonder of Water” – a theme designed to raise public awareness of drinking water issues and to motivate the public to protect and conserve water resources. This year’s celebration marks 30 years of success since the Safe Drinking Water Act was signed into law by President Gerald Ford on Dec. 16, 1974.

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CONTACT: Jeff Grubbs (502) 564-3410

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DRINKING WATER NOTICES NO REASON FOR CONSUMER CONCERN
They reflect careful government standards for water purity

FRANKFORT, Ky. (May 9, 2005) – If you received a notice from your water company about “disinfectant byproducts” in your drinking water, you’re not alone. Thousands of Kentuckians are receiving the notices, which were required under standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Recently, many water systems in the state were required to notify customers that maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) for certain disinfectant byproducts (DBPs) had been exceeded. The notices, intended as advisories, included language about potential health effects from consuming water with elevated levels of these substances.

The notifications used specific language and a format dictated by EPA, causing confusion among some consumers.

What it’s all about

To be made safe for drinking, water is disinfected during treatment. Without disinfection, bacteria, viruses and microbes would cause disease and possibly death. Dysentery, cholera and typhoid fever once were constant threats. Public health officials say chlorine treatment of drinking water is one of the most significant public health achievements of the past century.

However, disinfectants such as chlorine, chloramine, chlorine dioxide, ozone and bromine can react with substances that occur naturally in water at its source, such as decaying leaves or other organic matter. The reaction creates DBPs such as trihalomethanes (THMs) or haloacetic acids (HAAs). The EPA determined that long-term exposure to DBPs was potentially cancer-causing and thus set maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) for water systems to meet. The standards were set cautiously and conservatively.

The MCL for THMs was set in 1970 and revised in 1998; the new rule also added monitoring for HAAs. The new rules became effective for all surface and groundwater systems on Jan. 1, 2004, regardless of population size. Water systems are required to monitor for THMs and HAAs every three months. At the end of 2004, quarterly monitoring was averaged and compared with the MCL. If the running annual average showed the level to be over that set by EPA, a water system was to examine its treatment techniques to get into compliance. It also was to notify the public of its monitoring results. Those averages and notifications became available in March.

Eight percent of large water systems – systems that served more than 10,000 people and treated surface water – were out of compliance in 2004, down from 37 percent in 2002. Most are taking further steps to control THM and HAA.

Smaller surface water systems and all groundwater systems began to comply with lower limits in 2004. As this was the first time that these smaller surface water systems monitored for THMs and HAAs, some had not changed their treatment processes enough to lower these levels and thus were out of compliance at the end of 2004. Of the approximately 208 groundwater systems and 103 small surface water systems, none of the groundwater systems exceeded the new MCL and 25 percent of the surface water systems did exceed them. That 25 percent was required to notify the public for the first time about this new monitoring. Those small surface water systems are now examining their treatment processes and preparing to make the changes necessary to return to compliance.

The health effects of DBPs are unclear. Some studies have shown no problems. Others have indicated a slightly higher incidence of bladder and colon cancer in areas where drinking water has been chlorinated. Though the science is uncertain, EPA has taken precautions by establishing MCLs. To experience health effects from water with elevated DBP levels, a person would have to drink two liters daily for 70 years of water containing elevated levels of these substances. Risks from not disinfecting are immediate, however.

For information about DBPs, contact the Drinking Water Hotline, 1-800-426-4791, or see these Web sites:

http://www.epa.gov/safewater/hfacts.html. Click on Disinfection Byproducts.
http://www.epa.gov/safewater/mcl.html. Scroll down to Disinfection Byproducts.
http://www.epa.gov/safewater/pws/pn/handbook.pdf. This site contains the handbook that tells how water systems are to notify their customers and exactly what language they must use.

Check out EPA’s Safewater site, http://www.epa.gov/safewater/, for more information. Also see information on disinfection byproducts on the Kentucky Division of Water’s Drinking Water Web site.

What’s being done and what consumers can do

Water systems, with assistance from DOW when needed, will be adjusting treatment processes. Customers of water systems that sent notices need not switch to bottled water. THMs dissipate readily from water. THMS and HAAs both are removed when water is heated, such as for making coffee or tea.

For cold drinking water, or in making beverages with cold water, allowing the water container to sit uncovered at room temperature for several hours before refrigeration will allow much of the THM concentration to dissipate.

People with special health needs or concerns should contact their physicians for additional precautions.

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CONTACT: Julie Roney (502) 564-3410