Portland, Yes Portland, Says George Bush Went Too Far On Water Quality
We always go for a "man bites dog" story.
Consider this: President George W. Bush's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2006 issued a STRONGER rule involving water quality for municipal water systems. Now, the Portland City Council, which usually can be found a couple of clicks left of Hanoi on the dial, is fighting for a WEAKER standard.
At issue is what the rule-makers call the LT2. The Portland Water Bureau explains it thusly:
According to the EPA, "The purpose of the LT2 rule is to reduce illness linked with the contaminant Cryptosporidium and other disease-causing microorganisms in drinking water." Cryptosporidium is a micro-organism (protozoan) naturally present in bodies of surface water throughout the world. Surface water supplies are particularly vulnerable if, unlike the city's Bull Run supply, they regularly receive runoff or pollution from human or animal wastes.
Compliance with the LT2 rule would have impacts on two separate parts of Portland's water system. First, the rule requires the city to provide additional treatment to its Bull Run supply to either remove or inactivate Cryptosporidium. The treatment options available to the city for this include filtration (either traditional or newer micro-membrane technology to remove the parasites), ozonation (the introduction of ozone to water to destroy the Cryptosporidium oocysts) chlorine dioxide (a chemical disinfectant) or ultraviolet radiation (ultraviolet lights irradiate the Cryptosporidium oocysts to prevent them from reproducing which is commonly referred to as inactivation).
Secondly, the rule would require changes to how open finished drinking water reservoirs are managed and operated. The rule requires that water systems with uncovered finished water reservoirs, like those at Portland's Mt.Tabor and Washington Parks, either cover the reservoirs or provide treatment at the outlets of the reservoirs to either remove or inactive Cryptosporidium and other viruses.
Portland's Willamette Week puts it this way:
Portland's source water, from Bull Run watershed, is far removed from human activity, including cattle. The city, which monitors the water on a monthly basis, hasn't detected Cryptosporidium since 2002. Because of this, the city has been challenging the LT2 rule, compliance with which would require the city to institute additional treatment facilities AND cover the open watershed—both very expensive and, the Water Bureau argues, unnecessary.
For a city that does many a silly thing in the name of the environment, this is an interesting issue.
For more from the Portland Water Bureau, go here.
Catch the Willamette Week story here.
