EPA considers costly new drinking-water standard for arsenic

Copyright 1999 Associated Press January 31, 1999

With new federal drinking water standards looming, New Mexico could face hundreds of millions of dollars in costs to clean up water that has been volcanically contaminated for millions of years.

The Valles Caldera, the volcano that shaped the Jemez Mountains and the San Juan volcanic field, left arsenic-laden sediment in New Mexico aquifers that now help supply drinking water to 1.7 million people.

Experts predict the EPA will cut by at least 60 percent the amount of arsenic allowed in drinking water in two years. That would mean expensive water treatment and higher water bills. Utilities would have until 2004 to comply but could seek extensions.

Although high-dose arsenic is hazardous, no studies have been done on whether New Mexico's natural arsenic-tinged water has hurt anyone.

Initial cleanup costs to Albuquerque would range from $ 50 million to $ 350 million. It would be the hardest hit major water system in the nation, the Albuquerque Journal reported Sunday.

Water users would probably bear the cost. One estimate suggests Albuquerque's monthly water bills would rise at least 13 percent and maybe as much as 75 percent, depending on how stringent the arsenic standard.

Statewide, anywhere from 36 to 400 of the roughly 800 water systems also would have to spend big money to meet new drinking-water standards, the state Environment Department estimates.

"It's scary," said Bruce Thomson, a University of New Mexico civil engineering professor working with Albuquerque.

Albuquerque will face major technical challenges because it has so many wells, Thomson said.

The new standard is expected to limit arsenic to levels between 2 parts per billion and 20 parts per billion. Fourteen of Albuquerque's 96 wells exceed 20 ppb. All might exceed 2 ppb.

An arsenic standard of 50 ppb has prevailed for 50 years. Congress has given the EPA a deadline of January 2000 to propose a new arsenic standard - with the standard to take effect a year later.

"It's too early to raise an alarm," said Kristen Ludecke, spokeswoman for Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., who she said is keeping an eye on EPA deliberations.

Ludecke said EPA will consider the economic impact before imposing a standard.

"People don't need to get too worried about it at this point," said Selma Sierra, spokeswoman for Rep. Joe Skeen, R-N.M. "There's plenty of time to make sure it's not going to be a set of regulations that's going to be rammed down our throats."

Albuquerque is evaluating three methods for removing arsenic from groundwater. It should have a pilot treatment center operating by year-end.

But Mayor Jim Baca has asked the state congressional delegation to delay new standards.

"I don't think we have to get to the point where standards are set so high that it's economically unfeasible to reach them, especially when no one's convinced me that the levels here are so high that they're harmful," Baca said.

A study in Taiwan 30 years ago found elevated cancer levels among people who drank arsenic-laced water. But those arsenic levels were 500 to 800 ppb.

A new arsenic study by the National Academy of Sciences is due this week.

"Everybody's sitting on pins and needles to see what that report will say," said John Stomp, Albuquerque's water resources manager.

The EPA says it will have sufficient data for new standards, but critics say there won't be enough evidence for years.

Many environmentalists want a stringent standard.

Floyd Frost, epidemiologist at the Lovelace Clinic Foundation, believes the federal government should wait for more long-term studies.

While high-dose arsenic is a known carcinogen, there's also evidence that at low levels, it's a necessary trace element in the human diet, Frost said.

"What happens in between is uncertain, and Albuquerque's water is in between," Frost said. "There's considerable uncertainty."

A standard of about 10 parts per billion would be reasonable, said Jack Sullivan, deputy executive director of the American Water Works Association.

Sullivan said he doesn't expect standards to drop below 10 ppb because costs in the "mega-billions" wouldn't be politically viable.

Costs to meet a low-end standard could be devastating to pueblos along the Jemez River where levels are high and small communities like Rowe, 30 miles southeast of Santa Fe, or Bernalillo, near Albuquerque.

Owners of individual wells needn't comply, but public water systems would - any system serving 15 or more homes or more than 25 people for more than 60 days a year.

If the new standard is 20 ppb, 4 percent of the state's 800 or so systems would be affected at a cost of about $ 79 million a year to cover amortized costs of new treatment equipment, operations and maintenance, said Chuck Thomas, water resource manager for the state Drinking Water Bureau.

At 10 ppb, 15 percent would be affected to the tune of $ 117 million a year.

At 2 ppb, half the state's systems would be impacted and the price would rise to $ 187 million a year, he said.

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