Eugene not affected, EWEB official says
National water purification proposed
From ASSOCIATED PRESS Reports
The Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) EWednesday pro
posed new regulations designed to
purify the nation's drinking water
by removing cancer-causing and
poisonous chemicals.
But Eugene's water supply is rel
atively free of harmful organics
and probably won t be affected by
the proposed regulations, said a
Eugene Water and Electric Board
(EWEB) official.
The proposed regulations call
for some drinking water to be fil
tered through activated carbon, a
process designed to remove
synthetic organic chemicals, and
for restrictions on the level of
trihalomethanes or THMs in drink
ing water.
Some THMs such as
chloroform are known to cause
cancer in laboratory animals.
Tom Santee, EWEB’s commun
ity information officer, explained,
The McKenzie River is not heavy
in organics, and as a result, our
water is quite pure.”
We feel our water quality is
such that (the EPA proposed regu
lations) won’t apply to us.”
EPA Administrator Douglas
Costle emphasized that the effort
to remove harmful organic chemi
cals “is not a panic situation.” He
described it as an ‘‘insurance pol
icy designed to prevent long
term exposure to small amounts
of drinking water contaminants.
Costle said the allowable level
of THMs in drinking water will be
no higher than 100 parts per billion
under the proposed regulations.
THMs often are formed when
chlorine, used to kill bacteria in
water, combines with organic
substances found in water.
Both proposals initially apply
only to water systems supplying
water to over 75,000 persons.
A few choice words
foil robbery attempt
A University student used a few choice words — in Swedish — to
foil a robbery attempt Wednesday on campus.
Ken Leese, a pre-med freshman, says he was in a second-floor
bathroom in Oregon Hall when a man with a gun entered, shoved him
against the wall and said, ‘‘Okay, let’s have it.”
I just played dumb,” Leese says. “I fumbled around with every
thing I had in my pockets, then I started rattling off the few Swedish
words I know.”
The startled robber “looked at me for about five seconds and said,
Aw, bleep this’ and just went out quietly, obviously crushed and dis
couraged," says Leese.
He got the idea from his older brother, who used the same trick at
the San Francisco International Airport, speaking Japanese, after re
turning from Japan with $600 in his pocket.
Although he isn’t, Leese says, “I look Swedish.”
r
However, water systems supply
ing more than 10,000 persons will
have to monitor the THM standard
for a year.
“Smaller systems will be phased
into the program as soon as it is
feasible, based on experience
gained in carrying out this first
phase,” Costle said.
Carbon filters or an equally ef
fective substitute would be re
quired for all cities over 75,000
within five years after the regula
tions become effective. The regu
lation will become effective in
about six months, after the EPA
has received public comment,
Costle said.
“The proposed program marks
the start of the first large-scale ef
fort in history to deal with organic
chemical contaminants in drinking
water,” Costle noted.
Victor Kimm, EPA's deputy ad
ministrator for water supply, has
said that up to 78 cities may have
to convert their traditional sand fil
tration systems to charcoal
filtration to meet the regulations.
Kimm said last month no list had
been drawn up, but in general
those areas needing to convert
would be “big cities along dirty riv
ers.”
Although Santee agreed many
cities need new water purification
systems, he hoped the EPA
wouldn’t institute sweeping regu
lations for all cities above 75,000
residents.
“if they consider population and
existing water quality, we proba
bly won’t have to comply. We have
an excellent water source.”
The cost nationwide for convert
ing to charcoal filtration has been
estimated at between $291 million
and $685 million for initial con
struction and $34 million to $92
million a year for operation.
Some communities say char
coal filtration is too expensive, and
the regulations may spark opposi
tion from financially pressed
cities, which will have to pass the
costs on to consumers in the form
of higher water bills.
The EPA has estimated con
verting to charcoal-filtration for a
city of 80,000 residents would cost
$2 million to $5 million and raise a
user’s annual water bill by be
tween $3.80 and $11.
Santee, however, said EWEB
hasn’t examined the possible
costs yet, but he was astounded at
the EPA's estimate.
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