Water Quality Association
Press Release Archives
April 29, 2010
'Take the test,' WQA urges for National Drinking Water Week
April 14, 2010
Independent study: Softeners among 'very best' household energy savers
March 25, 2010
WQA elects Bob Hague as association president
February 5, 2010
India task force meeting set to convene mid-February
February 1, 2010
Results of softener benefits study to be discussed at WQA Aquatech USA
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Plymouth - Appleton - Manitowoc - Sheboygan
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The Most Current and Vital News About Water
Providing you with vital and current Information about water is our goal.
In the ever changing and fast pace of our social and environmental landscape we know that it is difficult to keep up with all the news concerning today's issues. So Culligan of Grand Rapids has dedicated this page as a resource for you the consumer to receive and benefit from the most current and vital information about water.
Studies Reveal Why Drinking Water Wells are Vulnerable to Contamination
By Sandra Eberts, Professional Hydro Geologist, EPA
More than 100 million people in the United States - about 35 percent of the population - receive their drinking water from public groundwater systems, which can be vulnerable to naturally occurring contaminants such as radon, uranium and arsenic, as well as commonly used man made compounds, including fertilizers, septic-tank leachate, solvents and gasoline hydrocarbons. Public-supply well vulnerability to contamination starts with groundwater vulnerability to contamination. Even wells within a single aquifer, however, may not be equally vulnerable to contaminants in the aquifer because individual wells produce unique mixtures of the groundwater.
This USGS video podcast uses examples from four locations with very different aquifer-well combinations to illustrate why some public-supply wells are more vulnerable to contaminants in aquifers than others.
For more information on how the science behind public-supply well vulnerability to contamination can be used to protect drinking water sources, please refer to the accompanying USGS fact sheets below.
Press Release February 11, 2010
This information is provided by the U.S. Geological Survey and can be found at: Lead, a metal found in natural deposits, is commonly used in household plumbing materials and water service lines. The greatest exposure to lead is swallowing or breathing in lead paint chips and dust. But lead in drinking water can also cause a variety of adverse health effects. In babies and children, exposure to lead in drinking water above the action level can result in delays in physical and mental development, along with slight deficits in attention span and learning abilities. In adults, it can cause increases in blood pressure. Adults who drink this water over many years could develop kidney problems or high blood pressure. Lead is rarely found in source water, but enters tap water through corrosion of plumbing materials. Homes built before 1986 are more likely to have lead pipes, fixtures and solder. However, new homes are also at risk: even legally “lead-free” plumbing may contain up to 8 percent lead. The most common problem is with brass or chrome-plated brass faucets and fixtures which can leach significant amounts of lead into the water, especially hot water. This information is provided by the Environmental Protection Agency and can be found at Technical Information 202.554.1404
http://oh.water.usgs.gov/tanc/NAWQATANC.htm
Lead in Drinking Water by EPA
http://www.epa.gov/safewater/lead/index.html
Consumer Information
800.424.LEAD
Safe Drinking Water hot-line
800.426.4791
More Information on Lead
Bid to Protect Michigan’s Groundwater Draws Opposition, Praise
April 21, 2010
Local legislators in Michigan counties battle over a bill that will expand on water protections established by the 2008 Great Lakes Compact.
A proposed bill that declares Michigan’s groundwater a “public trust” has set off a storm of controversy, with opponents claiming that the legislation would expose property owners to new state fees, and supporters arguing that it will protect against outside interests siphoning off the state’s water.
The latest skirmish came last week, when a panel of the Oakland County Board of Commissioners narrowly passed a resolution asking the state legislature to vote against the bill. The resolution claims that the legislation would interfere with traditional water rights and limit the ability of farmers and lakeside homeowners to use the resource. It passed by a six-to-five vote along party lines in the southeastern Michigan county, with Republicans opposed to the bill and Democrats in support, respectively. The full board is scheduled to vote on the resolution Thursday.
-State Rep. Dan Scripps
The legislator at the center of the upheaval, State Rep. Dan Scripps (D-Leland), said that the bill’s intent is to strengthen property rights rather than reduce them.
“I’m trying to end the idea of groundwater as a commodity,” Scripps told the Traverse City Record-Eagle in March. Scripps told Circle of Blue that he introduced the bill in September because 2008’s landmark Great Lakes Compact did not go far enough to protect the rest of the state’s waters.
“Groundwater, surface water, Great Lakes water—these are public resources that should be protected in the future,” he said.
Since its introduction, House Bill 5319 has been praised by water rights experts, pilloried by the conservative Mackinac Center for Public Policy, and argued over in numerous letters to the editor in newspapers across the state.
Meanwhile the move by Oakland County politicians has been “sharply criticized” by Clean Water Action, a national citizens’ group working for clean, safe and affordable water.
“What the vote today says is that the groundwater that feeds Oakland County’s streams, keeps Oakland County lakes alive and is the circulatory system for our entire Great Lakes ecosystem doesn’t deserve to be safeguarded from a state government that is sometimes all too willing to allow our waters to be sold for profit and exported to thirsty countries like China,” Cyndi Roper, Clean Water Action’s special projects director, said in a news release. “We strongly urge the Board of Commissioner to reject those who want to turn Michigan’s waters over to corporate interests so, like our jobs, water can be outsourced in unlimited amounts to China and other places.”
Jim Olson, an environmental attorney from Traverse City, Michigan, and one of the region’s foremost authorities on water law, called for the passage of Scripps’ bill in a commentary in the Detroit Free Press.
“If public trust principles are not reaffirmed then the water commons that supports all life and economy here will be diminished in flow, level and quality, and claimed by special or foreign interests under international treaties such as NAFTA… In other words, industries and the jobs they produce, like farming—Michigan’s second largest industry—will be forced to compete with the infinite demand for water anywhere in the country, continent or world,” he wrote.
Half of the world’s population will be without safe drinking water in less than 30 years if current levels of water waste and pollution are not curbed, Olson noted. He said recent surveys have estimated that the world’s freshwater demands will outstrip the supply by more than 30 percent.
Scripps has introduced a new bill that he hopes will calm fears of new state fees on water, according to the Michigan Messenger. Introduced last week, the bill forbids state and local governments from imposing “any taxes or fees on water withdrawals from water wells on residential property.”
Sources: Detroit Free Press, Michigan Messenger, Traverse City Record-Eagle, http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/2010/world/bid-to-protect-michigan%e2%80%99s-groundwater-draws-opposition-praise/
Read More: Congress, Michigan Legislature Asked to Fix Leaks in Great Lakes Compact
