New national water guidelines already part of local upgrade

Friday, Dec. 4, 1998 | 11:21 a.m.

Tough new federal standards for drinking water, announced by President Clinton on Thursday, will not cost Southern Nevadans extra money for retrofitting.

The valley has been growing so fast, explained officials of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, that normal repairs and upgrades have incorporated the newer filtration technology that the federal government will require.

"We meet or exceed existing standards and the newer standards," said water authority spokesman Vince Alberta.

For 90 percent of Americans, the improvements could increase the average monthly bill about $2, the federal government said.

The new federal drinking water standards aim to filter out impurities and help communities upgrade their water systems. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the change to filters could prevent up to 460,000 cases of waterborne illness a year and improve water quality for 140 million Americans.

By using better filters and monitor them more frequently, the higher standards aim to eliminate the threat of cryptosporidium, an organism spread through human of animal feces. In 1994, Southern Nevada experienced an outbreak that killed 43 Las Vegas Valley residents and affected 132 others.

In Las Vegas, 26 filters operate at the Alfred Merritt Smith Treatment Plant in the southeast valley. Filters keep out organisms such as cryptosporidium and giardia, which cause diarrhea and can kill people with problems in their immune systems. [[RIGHT??]]

The water authority also plans to add ozone treatment to the water, which should reduce chlorine and making the water taste better. The new unit on the existing treatment plant is scheduled to open after 2001.

It will take $3 billion to complete the valley's water system by 2025.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta investigated the 1994 outbreak in Las Vegas, because it occurred in one of the most modern water systems in the world, the agency said in its report.

The worst U.S. cryptosporidium outbreak occurred in 1993, when 100 Milwaukee residents died and another 400,000 were sickened.

Clinton released $775 million in low-interest loans to states so communities can improve their treatment systems.

The $775 million, included in the 1999 budget, provides low-interest loans to local governments that must upgrade facilities to bring them into compliance. Another $93.8 million is dedicated to state drinking water monitoring and enforcement programs.

Most water treatment systems must meet the new rules by December 2001. Facilities serving fewer than 10,000 people have two more years to meet the higher standards.

The improvements are expected to cost federal, state and local governments some $2.5 billion over five years.