Apiqe Water

Report on “Fracking” in Los Angeles Questioned

Chris — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 20:57:52 +0000

A report on the environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking” in the Baldwin Hills area of Los Angeles is being questioned by local residents and environmental groups. The report found no evidence of environmental or health impacts. Critics claim that it fails to consider potential long-term impacts and questioned the selection of one reviewer who, earlier this year, said that state oversight and better industry practices was making fracking safe in Pennsylvania.

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Report on Baldwin Hills fracking raises community ire – Los Angeles Times

A Base Line for Methane in Water Supplies

Chris — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 22:10:30 +0000

A study in the State of New York conducted over the past twelve years by the US Geological Survey found elevated levels of methane in 9% of the state’s groundwater. The findings are consistent with measurements in the rest of the Northeast.

Methane is highly flammable and a potent greenhouse gas. Of particular concern is that 2% of the wells studied contained potentially explosive levels of methane. These wells could require immediate remediation.

The USGS researchers will use this data to provide a baseline for methane levels to check for methane pollution that might be caused by future hydraulic fracturing in New York.

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A Base Line for Methane in Water Supplies - The New York Times

Researchers find deadly amoeba in tap water

Chris — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 23:55:15 +0000

Centers for Disease Control investigators found the deadly amoeba Naegleria fowleri in the tap water of two Louisiana residents who died from primary amoebic meningoencephalitis in 2011. These are the first cases in the US that have been linked to N. fowleri in household plumbing served by municipal water. According to the Food and Drug Administration, “Some tap water contains low levels of organisms, such as bacteria and protozoa, including amoebas, which may be safe to swallow because stomach acid kills them. But these ‘bugs’ can stay alive in nasal passages and cause potentially serious infections.”

The CDC believes the two victims were exposed when flushing their sinuses with salt water. The FDA has issued a warning against using untreated tap water when irrigating one’s sinuses, and urged consumers to use boiled, distilled, or filtered water instead.

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Researchers find deadly amoeba in tap water – Los Angeles Times

Raytheon gets green light to clean up groundwater

Chris — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 17:00:16 +0000

Raytheon has received approval for a plan to clean up a toxic waste spill that has polluted groundwater in St. Petersburg for the past thirty years. The spill occured at a manufacturing plant under a previous owner. Raytheon’s plan is to drill hundreds of wells to boil the groundwater under the site and vaporize the contaminants. The cleanup effort is projected to take ten years to complete.

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Raytheon gets green light to clean up groundwater – Tampa Bay Online

Sewage treatment plant expansion to increase potential drinking water supply

Chris — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 00:07:15 +0000

The Western Municipal Water District in Riverside County approved the expansion of the West Riverside Wastewater Treatment Plant. The expansion will increase the capacity of the facility by over 5 million gallons per day, which will be used to recharge groundwater supplies.

Michele McKinney Underwood, a Western spokeswoman, called the wastewater recycling project, “a way to be more locally reliable and not just dependent on imported water sources.”

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Sewage treatment plant expansion to increase potential drinking water supply – The Californian

Board OKs environmental plan on Mojave Desert groundwater sales

Chris — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 22:47:53 +0000

Cadiz has been trying to sell groundwater from the Mojave desert to Southern California cities for 15 years. The environmental impact report for the project was accepted last week by the Santa Margarita Water District in Orange County. Santa Margarita also agreed to buy one-tenth of the project’s proposed annual yield. If it goes ahead as planned, Cadiz’s project would supply drinking water to 100,000 homes.

Cadiz is still waiting for permission from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which is concerned about the presence of carcinogenic hexavalent chromium in the aquifer.

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Board OKs environmental plan on Mojave Desert groundwater sales – Los Angeles Times

Hydraulic Fracturing Poses Substantial Water Pollution Risks, Analysts Say

Chris — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 22:18:44 +0000

Risk analysts at SUNY Stony Brook say that treatment of wastewater represents the greatest hazard that fracking operations pose to drinking water safety. The researchers say that industrial water treatment plants are generally unable to handle wastewater from hydraulic fracturing. They determined that this makes wastewater disposal orders of magnitude more hazardous than the potential for wells to leak and contaminate groundwater sources directly.

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Hydraulic Fracturing Poses Substantial Water Pollution Risks, Analysts Say – Science Daily

Oozing Fuel, in a New York Reservoir?

Chris — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 22:13:23 +0000

The Pepacton Reservoir, which normally provides New York City with a quarter of its drinking water, was re-connected to the city’s distribution system last week. It had been closed to drain and repair leaking fuel tanks that contained 3200 gallons of diesel fuel and gasoline. The Department of Environmental Protection believes that the tanks were left behind when the reservoir was built in 1954, but does not know why.

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Oozing Fuel, in a New York Reservoir? – The New York Times

EPA Completes Drinking Water Sampling in Dimock, PA

Chris — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 18:24:08 +0000

The EPA announced yesterday that it has completed its sampling of water from private homes in Dimock, PA. The sampling program was undertaken based on concerns regarding contamination from nearby hyrdaulic fracturing, or “fracking”, operations. However, the EPA did not detect elevated levels of any of the contaminants studied.

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EPA Completes Drinking Water Sampling in Dimock, Pa – US EPA

New Mexico fuel spill threatens Albuquerque water supply

Chris — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 17:50:32 +0000

24 million gallons of spilled jet fuel have contaminated an aquifer in Albequerque, and are making their way towards the wells that serve as the city’s primary source of drinking water. The spill occured over a period of 40 years at Kirtland Air Force Base, two miles from the nearest drinking water well. The plume it generated is now less than a mile away.

The Air Force has committed $50 million to the cleanup efforts, but will not finalize its plan until 2014.

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NM fuel spill threatens Albuquerque water supply – Lubbock Avalanche-Journal