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August 21, 2003
Towns seek arsenic relief
by Paul Hammel, Omaha World-HeraldMcCOOK, NE - Arsenic was something Marvin Colson used to give to pigs to control worms.
Colson, now a member of the Village Board in Bartley, Neb., has found out that arsenic can do something else: brew a financial crisis for his small town and dozens of others in Nebraska.
Colson and other community leaders are wrestling with the unexpected financial impact of a mandate by the Federal Environmental Protection Agency.
Two years ago, the EPA decided to change the arsenic standard in public drinking water from 50 parts per billion to 10 parts per billion.
That would put Bartley, a farm town of 339 people 19 miles east of McCook, out of compliance when the new rule is scheduled to go into effect in January 2006. So would more than 50 other Nebraska communities and 18 water systems for schools and businesses.
Now the towns are beginning to discover the cost of meeting the standard.
Statewide, one estimate is $120 million. Another is $1,700 per water customer.
In Bartley, the projected cost is $2.6 million to $3.3 million to drill a new wellfield north of town. That's about $13,500 per water hookup.
"It's astronomical," Colson said. "You can't go in a small town and get that paid for."
Colson and other southwest Nebraska leaders gathered Wednesday in McCook to make a collective plea for help.
They said complying with the mandate would double and in some cases triple water rates, not only putting a severe crimp on town budgets but putting up another hurdle in stemming population declines and attracting new businesses.
"If we add $30 to $50 a month to our water bills, it will make our towns less attractive," said Rich Bernt, a banker and Village Board chairman in Stratton.
Several possible solutions were offered during the daylong "Arsenic and the Old West" conference at D's Place restaurant.
About 100 people attended, including Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., and Rep. Tom Osborne, R-Neb., who said they are seeking congressional assistance. Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning, who is pushing two lawsuits against the new standard, also was there.
Jim Gulliford, the regional EPA administrator based in Kansas City, told those in attendance that they should slow down and wait for promising and less expensive new technologies.
Towns with fewer than 3,300 people, he said, can ask for extensions to hold off the arsenic rule until 2015.
"I agree these communities can't afford this," Gulliford said. "I think we'll see other technologies develop that will provide a better solution."
In the next couple of months, he said, the EPA will announce test sites in Nebraska to demonstrate cheaper arsenic treatment alternatives.
One, Gulliford said, might be offered by Adedge Technologies, an Atlanta company represented at Wednesday's conference. The firm said it has a device that can attach to a water faucet and cost as little as $5 per household per month.
Bernt said he plans to look into such "point of use" filtration systems. But such household systems would also present personnel and privacy issues, since city workers would have to enter private homes for inspections and service.
Another option would be for the smallest of towns to "disincorporate" and shut down their municipal water systems. Residents could then use private wells that wouldn't fall under the new regulation.
Gulliford said no one wants to see that.
Another possible solution is to persuade Congress and President Bush to revisit and revise the arsenic standard. It's considered a long shot and a fight that Nebraska has lost over the past two years.
There's no chance that Congress will change the regulation, Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., told the group in a recorded message.
Dr. Steven Lamm, a Washington, D.C., epidemiologist, said there was no scientific evidence of an elevated risk of cancer from arsenic below levels of 60 parts per billion.
Gulliford, however, said that four scientific review panels agreed with the new standard and that elevated levels of arsenic led to increased risk of bladder and lung cancer.
Two lawsuits filed by Nebraska against the arsenic rule are pending. One, rejected by a federal appeals panel in June, is being appealed. The second, filed in May, seeks to lower the standard to 14 parts per billion.
Bruning said he will continue to fight: "Why should we pay taxpayers' dollars to clean up water that's already clean?"
Nebraska water systems with arsenic levels exceeding federal limits with the population served and the highest level (mg/L) of arsenic.
Alliance : Population: 9,600 -- arsenic level:15
Anselmo: 150 -- 22.6
Arapahoe: 1,020 -- 14.9
Arthur County District No. 500: 120 -- 14.9
Arthur County School District No. 32: 33 -- 13
Atkinson: 1,380 -- 12
Banner County District No. 1: 250 -- 11.6
Bartley: 339 -- 11.5
Beaver City: 641 -- 11
Bellwood: 440 -- 11.7
Benkelman: 1,133 -- 14
Boelus: 424 -- 13
Broadwater: 140 -- 17
Broken Bow: 3,474 -- 14
Cairo: 735 -- 14
Cambridge: 1,107 -- 14.1
Cass County SID No. 5: 538 -- 16.1
Central City: 3,001 -- 14
Chappell: 1,961 -- 14
Colon; 150 -- 10.6
Columbus: 21,000 -- 22
Country Estates Mobile Home, Washington County: 300 -- 10.8
Cozad: 4,033 -- 23
Creston: 215 -- 13.3
Culbertson: 596 -- 13
Elwood: 761 -- 13
Eustis: 464 --11
Furnas County District No. 540: 25 -- 16.9
Gering: 8,000 --13
Giltner: 360 -- 11
Haigler: 211 -- 19.7
Harrisburg Water System: 150 -- 15
Holbrook: 237 -- 17.6
Howard County District #118: 115 -- 15.6
Indianola: 672 -- 15
Lakeview Community School: 400 -- 11.7
Lebanon: 70 -- 13.9
Lodgepole: 348 -- 11.5
Loup County District No. 25: 145 -- 15
Lyman: 450 -- 25
Madison County SID No. 5: 130 -- 14
McCook : 7,994 -- 14
McLean: 36 -- 14
McPherson County District No. 4, McPherson County: 50 --13.8
McPherson County District No. 90, McPherson County: 25 -- 12
Michael Foods Bloom-N-Egg, Knox County: 100 --13.1
Minatare Plaza, Scotts Bluff County: 350 --16
Morrill: 974 -- 24
Mullen: 491 --15
North Loup: 410 --11.4
Nucor Steel, Stanton County: 420 --11
O'Neill: 3,814 --13
Orleans: 490 --24
Osceola: 860 --12
Oshkosh: 897 --15
Palisade: 380 --10.5
Pender: 1,208 --35.7
Peru: 823 --18.8
Progress Vanguard South Morrill, Scotts Bluff County: 40 -- 47.7
Red Willow County: 51 -- 20.3
Rinker Materials, Sarpy County: 201 -- 21.3
Riverton: 145 -- 13.1
Scotts Bluff County District No. 20: 89 -- 10.6
Scotts Bluff County District No. 5: 56 -- 12.2
Shelton: 1,140 -- 16
Stamford: 130 -- 11
Stratton: 396 -- 12
Stromsburg: 1,232 -- 21
Sunflower Mobile Home Court, Scotts Bluff County: 47 -- 11.8
Terrytown: 2,133 -- 28
Trenton: 1,163 -- 17
Wauneta: 625 -- 13
Wood Lake: 69 -- 14.6
York: 6,061 -- 34
Source: Nebraska Health and Human Services