Perchlorate Remediation Update

The Volume 49 No. 31 (July 2005) issue of Mainstream, published by the American Water Works Association (AWWA), provides an update on the efforts in perchlorate remediation in the San Bernardino Valley (CA) water systems. Various multimillion dollar projects involving private, public, and government funds are being used to address the presence of perchlorate at levels as low as four parts per billion. Some wells having perchlorate levels at ten ppb or less have been taken off-line. It was noted that California has not set a maximum contaminant level but does have a guideline of six ppb. References to both treatment costs and "costly legal fees" are prominent in the article. Both modified granular activated carbon filtration and ion exchange technology were mentioned. One factor not mentioned was the National Academy of Sciences NRC report of January 2005 which recommended a level of 20 parts per billion perchlorate as safe for consumption in the U.S.

This AWWA report is expected to be available at the following link: 

www.awwa.org/communications/mainstream.