Security Measures Could Increase Cost Of Drinking Water
Last updated Sunday, August 12, 2007 4:01 PM CDT in News
by John Henley Jr.
THE MORNING NEWS
The cost for drinking water could increase if some U.S. senators get their way.
U.S. Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., introduced a bill in May 2006 that would provide grants for water treatment facilities to switch from using chlorine gas as a disinfectant to a safer alternative.
Drinking water has to be treated before being dispersed to the public. Treatment facilities have since the early 1900s used chlorine gas as a disinfecting agent. The chlorine in the water helps people drinking that water fight off certain diseases and has saved millions of lives since being introduced, said Larry Lloyd, chief operating officer of Beaver Water District.
Biden was joined by U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and former U.S. Sen. James Jeffords in introducing legislation that would "significantly reduce the threat of an attack on our nation's drinking and wastewater treatment facilities," according to a news release from Biden's office dated May 19, 2006. The two alternatives listed in Biden's release were sodium hypochlorite (12 percent bleach) and ultraviolet treatment.
However, the bill did not provide grants for the continued operation and maintenance of such a system.
"It was a knee-jerk reaction to what was going on in Iraq last year," said Scott Borman, manager of Benton/Washington Regional Public Water Authority. Terrorists in Iraq strapped explosives to cylinders of chlorine gas and created a bomb that released a toxic cloud of gas.
Beaver Water District and the Benton/Washington authority both use chlorine gas as a disinfectant in their treatment processes. Both have completed a vulnerability assessment mandated in 2002 by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and a risk management plan mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Both facilities are behind locked gates and have 24-hour security measures in place.
The alternatives listed by Biden have their problems, say Borman and Lloyd. Ultraviolet treatment is costly from an energy standpoint and still requires that some other disinfectant be added to the water.
The ultraviolet process would force the Benton/Washington authority to use more electricity, while at the same time, asking the U.S. Congress to take electrical capacity away from Southwestern Power Administration, which has two power generators on Beaver Lake.
Sodium hypochlorite treatment is less expensive, unit per unit -- 22 cents per pound versus 29 cents per pound -- but it takes about eight times more sodium hypochlorite because of the dilution factor, an irony not lost on Borman or Lloyd.
"It's 88 percent water," Lloyd said. "So, we would be paying to truck in water."
Sodium hypochlorite can be generated on site, but that too is costly, Borman said, adding his plant's electric bill would increase, at least, 25 percent, "And that doesn't cover any of the other costs associated with generating hypochlorite."
Once a certain level is reached, it's just not cost effective to generate it on site, said Craig Johnson is a consultant with CDM Engineers in Little Rock.
CDM is working with Central Arkansas Water in Little Rock to change its two treatment facilities' disinfection systems from chlorine gas to a sodium hypochlorite system.
"When we evaluated it two years ago, it was more cost effective to inject the sodium hypochlorite into the system rather than producing it," Johnson said.
Central Arkansas Water has two facilities that have a combined treatment capacity of 174 million gallons of water per day and serves about 398,000 people, according to its Web site: http://www.carkw.com/.
The conversion will cost about $6.5 million, as it stands now, Johnson said.
The switch will not cost customers anymore, said Marie Crawford, director of communications for Central Arkansas Water. However, Crawford said no one was available to provide figures for how much more Central Arkansas Water budgeted for treatment once the changeover was complete.
Considering the amount of chlorine Borman uses daily, his cost for water treatment would increase more than 6 times, which averages about 11 cents more per 1,000 gallons of water. (Water is sold by the 1,000.)
"You think I wouldn't have to pass that cost on to my customers," Borman said.
The Benton/Washington authority sells water to 15 rural and municipal entities in Benton and Washington counties for $1.50 per 1,000 gallons, but the Board of Directors at Benton/Washington recently approved a rate increase to fund a 24-million-gallon-per-day expansion. Borman expects water rates to increase by about 53 cents. The new rates take effect Jan. 1.
Beaver Water District sells water to Bentonville, Fayetteville, Rogers and Springdale for $1.16 per 1,000 gallons. That rate will increase to $1.18 per 1,000 gallons as of Jan. 1.
"Chlorine gas is definitely the way to go, if you're only looking at cost," Johnson said. "It's the most cost effective. But consideration has to be given to the safety and health of workers and the general public." Johnson said Central Arkansas Water is in the middle of an urban area. Both Beaver Water District and the Benton/Washington authority are in rural areas of Benton County.
Biden's bill did not make it out of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. However, aides in Biden's office said he plans to rewrite the bill and introduce it in the future, said Lisa Ackerman, press secretary for Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark.
Elizabeth Alexander, press secretary for Biden, did not return a message left on her cell phone Friday.
There is also another bill making its way through the Senate Environment Committee that was introduced by Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla. Inhofe's bill would provide $245 million in EPA grants for security enhancements at drinking water and wastewater facilities, if risk assessments and vulnerability studies have been done, according to a news release on Inhofe's Web site: http://inhofe.senate.gov/public/.
The bill is being considered in the environment committee.
"Inhofe's bill is a good one because it provides treatment facilities with the means to shore up the problems highlighted in the vulnerability assessment," Borman said.
Mark Moreno, press secretary for Inhofe, did not return messages left on his office and cell phones Friday and Saturday.
"We should go the extra mile to protect wastewater treatment plants and reduce their vulnerability," Pryor said in a statement released by his office Friday.
However, Pryor's office did not release a statement regarding water treatment facilities. A message left for Ackerman was not returned Saturday.
AT A GLANCE
Short History of Beaver Lake
Beaver Lake is a reservoir created by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers when it impounded the White River. Construction began in 1960 and was completed in 1966 for total cost of $46.2 million, amortized over a 50-year period.
The lake provides flood control, hydroelectric power, recreation and water. Four water treatment facilities draw from Beaver Lake: Beaver Water District, 120 million gallons a day; Benton/Washington Regional Public Water Authority, 12 mgd; Carroll-Boone Water District, 12 mgd; and Madison County Water District, 3.5 mgd. Southwestern Power Administration buys the bulk of the storage space in Beaver Lake and uses it to generate hydroelectric power.
Each entity that draws water from the lake does so by buying storage capacity in the conservation pool. Since there is no more storage space available in the conservation pool of Beaver Lake, any reallocation of storage space has to be made by the U.S. Congress. The Benton/Washington authority currently has a request pending that would allow it to draw as much as 19 mgd.
Source: Staff Report
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