Groundbreaking for New MDH Building Upcoming Certification Exam Dates September 12, St. Cloud October 7, Aurora October 16, Marshall October 21, Apple Valley October 29, Collegeville October 31, Owatonna December 4, Crookston See calendar on back page for more details St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly, Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) Commissioner Dianne Mandernach, Governor Tim Pawlenty, Jane Freeman, and Mike Freeman scoop the first shovels of dirt for construction of the Orville Freeman Office Building, which will house the state’s drinking water program beginning in 2005 and be connected to a new laboratory. The laboratory building will have 178,000 square feet distributed between three floors and a mechanical penthouse. It will be designed to better accommodate water systems dropping off samples. The map below on the left shows the laboratory to the south of the new MDH building (which will also house the Department of Agriculture). The map on the right—indicating the same area in 1903—shows what was on the lab site 100 years ago: a baseball park that was used by the St. Paul Saints minor league team from 1903 to 1909. Fall 2003 Volume Eleven/2 Inside: Schools for Aspiring Water Operators Consumer Confidence Reports Contest Winners Vulnerability Assessment Workshops Compliance Corner: New Monitoring Requirements Recordkeeping Requirements for Community Water Systems Here is a list of records that community water systems must maintain along with the length of time that the records must be kept: • Coliform Bacteria Results .................................................................................................. 5 Years • Chemical Results .............................................................................................................. 10 Years • Sanitary Surveys ............................................................................................................... 10 Years • Lead/Copper Results ........................................................................................................ 12 Years Corrosion Control Studies Lead Public Education Program MDH Specification of Water Quality Parameters • Consumer Confidence Reports .......................................................................................... 3 Years • Turbidity Results ................................................................................................................ 3 Years • Public Notices ..................................................................................................................... 3 Years • Fluoride Quarterly Results and Monthly Reports (Recommended) ..................................... 1 Year Innovative Treatment Methods for Arsenic Removal Trivia Time 1. What is the only Alfred Hitchcock movie with nudity? a. Family Plot b. Frenzy c. Topaz d. Bambi Systems with arsenic greater than the upcoming maximum contaminant level of 10 parts per billion (ppb) have several options to choose from to reduce their levels. Some systems have been able to locate new wells that are low in arsenic while others have limited the use of the high-arsenic well or constructed an interconnection to purchase water from another system. Activated alumina, adsorptive media, anion exchange, coagulation/filtration, membrane processes, lime softening, and iron/manganese filtration are all effective methods for removing arsenic from drinking water. Several water systems in Minnesota are looking at innovative methods for arsenic removal. The city of Hanley Falls has relatively low iron in its water (0.094 parts per million) and arsenic concentrations between 21 and 29 ppb. Due to the quality of their raw water, their filter media does not require chemical addition prior to filtration, and the media is replaced once it has reached adsorptive capacity. Arsenic attaches to the iron-based granular adsorptive media, making it an effective and relatively inexpensive treatment option. The city of Climax has somewhat higher iron (0.61 parts per million) and arsenic concentrations of 29 to 41 ppb. Due to the elevated iron concentrations, iron removal becomes necessary for effective arsenic removal. As part of the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) arsenic treatment demonstration project, the city is installing a coagulation/filtration treatment plant later this year. The coagulation/filtration process includes pre-oxidation with chlorine, contact time, and pressure filtration with a ceramic media. The city has the additional benefit of iron removal, as arsenic adsorbs onto the oxidized iron and is removed during the filtration process. 2. Which Minnesota Twins pitcher was nicknamed Shorty? a. Frank Viola b. Bill Pleis c. Bert Blyleven d. Ron Davis 3. What happened in Minnesota on July 27, 1972? a. Jesse Ventura got his General Education Degree (GED). b. The Vikings acquired Fran Tarkenton in a trade. c. Virginia Piper was kidnapped. Answers on page 6 PWS Profile: Robyn Bruggeman Robyn Bruggeman is the district engineer in the West Metro district in the Drinking Water Protection Section. She collects drinking water samples and performs inspections on drinking water facilities. She is from San Francisco and got her Master’s degree in civil/environmental engineering at San Jose State University. Robyn worked on the Yosemite National Park Sanitary Survey during her last semester, collecting water samples from backcountry locations, a job that entailed a lot of hiking and backpacking, her two favorite activities. She also worked as a design engineer for three years for California Water Service Company. Robyn has been married for a year-and-a-half (her husband’s name is Dan) and has a snowshoe cat, Wiley. 2 Consumer Confidence Reports More than 95 percent of the Consumer Confidence Reports for 2002 were received by MDH by the July 1 deadline. The compliance staff continues to work on receiving the remainder. Since the 1998 report, the first that community water supplies were required to produce and distribute to their customers, Minnesota has had better than a 99-percent compliance rate each year. Many of the reports received have been outstanding, according to Pat McKasy, the senior compliance officer for the MDH drinking water program. They were entered into a contest to determine the best Consumer Confidence Report. The winners from each of the six districts in the Minnesota Section of American Water Works Association (AWWA) are: Central—City of Ortonville Northwest—City of Fergus Falls Metro—City of Bloomington Southeast—City of Waseca Northeast—Hibbing Public Utilities Southwest—City of Mankato The overall award winner will be announced during the Minnesota Section AWWA Annual Conference in October. Past overall winners are Edina for 2001, Woodbury for 2000, Richfield for 1999, and Worthington for 1998. COMPLIANCE CORNER New Monitoring Requirements By Patricia McKasy, Senior Compliance Officer Disinfection of drinking water is one of the major public health advances of the 20th century. However, the disinfectants themselves can react with naturally occurring materials in the water to form unintended byproducts that may pose a health risk. A major challenge for water suppliers is balancing the risks from microbial pathogens and from disinfection byproducts. The Stage 1 Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts Rule (DBPR) and the Interim Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule together address these risks. Chlorine and chloramines (formed when ammonia is added during chlorination) are widely used and highly effective disinfectants. Under the DBPR, the EPA has set the maximum residual disinfectant level (MRDL) at 4.0 milligrams per liter (mg/l) for both chlorine (measured as free chlorine) and chloramines (measured as combined total chlorine). Beginning January 1, 2004, a specific component of the DBPR requires Community Water Supplies and Nontransient Noncommunity Water Supplies that use disinfectant to measure and record the disinfectant residual level at the same points and the same time as the monthly or quarterly total coliform samples are collected, and report the levels to the primacy agency (MDH). A system is in compliance with the MRDL when the running annual average of monthly averages of all samples, or the annual average of four quarterly samples, is less than or equal to 4.0 mg/l. However, despite the 4.0 mg/l MRDL, operators may increase the residual chlorine levels in the distribution system to a level greater than 4.0 mg/l for a time if necessary to protect the public health in addressing specific microbiological contamination problems (e.g., including distribution line breaks, storm run-off events, source water contamination, or cross-connections). The EPA believes that the MRDL of 4.0 mg/l for chlorine and chloramines is appropriate to control potential health effects from chlorine, while high enough to allow for control of pathogens under a variety of conditions. The EPA also believes that compliance based on a running annual average is sufficient to allow systems to increase residual chlorine levels in the distribution system to a level and for a time necessary to protect the public health as well as to address specific microbiological contamination problems and still maintain compliance. 3 Failure to monitor for disinfectant residuals and/or failure to report to MDH the results of the required monthly or quarterly total coliform samples is a monitoring violation. When compliance is based on a running annual average of monthly averages, or the average of four quarterly samples, the system’s failure to monitor makes it impossible to determine compliance with the MRDL; thus, this failure to monitor will be treated as a violation and reported to the EPA. Sometime near the end of 2003, MDH will send letters to all the affected systems, reminding them of this additional monitoring and reporting requirement. The laboratory reporting forms used by both the larger systems that submit monthly total coliform samples and the smaller systems that submit total coliform samples quarterly are in the process of being revised to allow space for reporting the disinfectant residual levels. Revised forms will be provided to the systems and/or to the certified laboratories used by the water supplies to analyze their samples. Systems that submit monthly samples should speak to their laboratory to determine the best way for reporting the disinfectant residual levels so that they will be reported to the state along with the results of the total coliform samples. If you have any questions regarding this new requirement, please contact me at 651/215-0759. Anti-Bottled Water Web Site A web site devoted to debunking bottled water and providing “information on consumer actions against bottled water companies that we believe are duping customers into paying for what they could get straight from the tap” is at http://www.bottledwaterfraud.com/index.html. “During the dramatic rise in bottled water consumption in the last ten years, some bottling companies have stretched their original water sources so thin they began to use common groundwater and wells near hazardous contamination, all the while touting their bottled water as naturally pure and pristine,” the web site notes, adding information on a national class-action lawsuit against the makers of Poland Spring water, claiming that the bottles are improperly labeled as spring water. Teaching the Trade Water quality and supply issues specialist for Fingerhut in St. Cloud. attract attention around the world Fish saw layoffs coming to and around the country, whether the Fingerhut and got out ahead of news focuses on the need to repair them, only to be laid off from her water treatment facilities in Iraq next job, at New Flyer USA. following the war or to ease a Through a dislocated workers drought in the western United program, she was able to go to States. school and was happy to find that Most parts of Minnesota are in her credits from Anoka-Ramsey better shape, although aging infrawould transfer to St. Cloud. structure and other concerns are Beyond the transfer of credits, frequently mentioned as threats to what she had learned at the our continued supply of safe community college also helped her. drinking water. Often overlooked St. Cloud Technical College students Carol Kelzer “I had a lot of chemistry and math is the impact of a lack of qualified (foreground) and Sue Fish in the mechanical lab. at Anoka-Ramsey,” she said, “It’s Kevin Beadles is a student in the important to have a good grasp of personnel to operate water and program at St. Cloud Technical College. algebra.” wastewater treatment facilities. Only two schools in the state offer He plans to work in water or She said her love of being outside is courses related to this profession. wastewater treatment when he one of the things that has attracted her St. Cloud Technical College has a graduates and hopes to find a job in the to the water profession as well as Water Environment Technologies pro- Zimmerman area, where he lives. “I’ve working with both her hands and her gram led by instructors Keith Redmond always been an environmentalist, but I mind. “This is a job where you’re not and Bill Spain. In Ely, Steve Kleist is wasn’t interested in science,” said stuck.” the instructor for the Water Resources Beadles, explaining his decision to Program at Vermilion Community enroll in this program. “When I found out about this, I thought it sounded pretty College. good.” Many of the students in the water technologies programs live in Greater Minnesota and want to find a job outside of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area when they finish school, leaving water and wastewater facilities in the most populated region in the state with special challenges in recruiting workers. For this reason, St. Cloud Technical College began offering its course in the Twin Cities, at the Eden Prairie Water Plant. “The hope is that students in Eden Prairie will be Steve Kleist “There’s not a burning pool of people more comfortable staying in that area,” who think about getting into water,” says says Redmond, adding that they are seeKleist. “Most people here like the ing an older group of students in Eden environment or ecology but don’t have Prairie, many of whom are switching Kevin Beadles prepares bottles for a water specifically in mind. Once they careers. biochemical oxygen demand test. While the water/wastewater program get in, they love it and see the The schools in Ely and St. Cloud both on the St. Cloud campus has more opportunity.” Ryan Frisk is a Vermilion student who students coming directly out of high have laboratories and offer a mix of learned of the water courses while school, it also has its share of those scientific and mechanical courses. searching different schools on the returning to school after having worked Water and wastewater treatment, internet. He had worked in maintenance in other professions. A member of the sampling and lab analysis, and at a nursing home that was going latter group is Sue Fish, a self- maintenance and operation of equipment through layoffs. He decided to return to described “college dropout from the are the key parts of the curriculum at school since, he said, “It’s tough finding 1980s.” Fish had been a biology major both schools. All students complete a job without training.” He was attracted at Anoka-Ramsey Community College their course work by taking an exam to to this program because of the in Coon Rapids, Minnesota. After leav- receive a Class D water operators conservation aspect of the profession. ing college, she worked as a machinist license. for several years and then as a delivery Continued on page 5 “Water is a stable field,” he added. 4 Continued from page 4 Kleist notes that at Vermilion Community College, “Northeast Minnesota is our lab. It’s all part of the Ely adventure.” Students often do sampling of the boundary waters and conclude their school year with a canoe trip. Vermilion graduates receive a two-year degree that is designed to transfer to many schools in Minnesota and Wisconsin. “This dovetails nicely into Environmental Sciences,” Kleist notes. However, many students choose to take immediate advantage of job opportunities and enter the water field. In addition to her courses at St. Cloud Technical College, Fish is a part-time student worker at the Cold Spring Wastewater Plant, where she is involved in routine daily operations, such as sampling and performing tests in the laboratory. She looks ahead to entering the field full-time after graduation. “I’m tired of getting laid off,” Fish says, who sees the stability in her new career. “No matter how bad the economy gets, people are still going to have to be able to drink water and flush toilets.” Keith Redmond with Sue Fish at St. Cloud Technical College. Hands-on Basic Training for Water Operators at Vermilion Community College In addition to providing courses for aspiring water operators, Vermilion Community College in Ely has a new training center and is offering hands-on basic water operations training to public water systems serving fewer than 3,300 people. The two-day hands-on training course, Class E or D certification application and license fees, one college credit, meals, and two nights lodging in Ely will be free to qualifying systems. (Other systems or individuals may attend this training for a separate fee.) This program is supported and funded to Vermilion Community College until 2009 through a Minnesota Department of Health Operator Certification Grant. This effort to provide water industry personnel with quality on-site and hands-on training will ensure that operators have the knowledge and skills to supply safe drinking water to all individuals served by public water systems. The first two training courses were held in August. Dates and topics of upcoming training are: October 13-14, 2003—Groundwater March 9-10, 2004—Surface Water Space is limited, and advance registration is required. For more information, contact: Vermilion Community College Attn: Continuing Education 1900 Camp Street Ely, Minnesota 55731 1/800/657-3609 or 218/365-7200 E-mail: [email protected] Drinking Water Institute for Teachers Includes Cave Tour Twenty-four t e a c h e r s attended the 2003 Drinking Water Institute, held in Rochester in June, the third Institute conducted by the Minnesota Section American Water Works Association Education Committee and done in conjunction with the Science Museum of Minnesota. The Institutes are designed to teach science teachers about drinking water and how to teach it in their classrooms. The teachers will develop action plans on how to introduce drinking-water education into their existing science curriculum and will return for a Teachers make their way to Rise of the Lost River where Calvin Alexander (below) explains the features of a spring. 5 follow-up session in October to report on how they have used the material. The teachers who attended the 2003 Institute will be reaching approximately 3,000 middle-school students in each of the coming school years. This year’s Institute included a trip to Fillmore County to explore karst formations in the Spring Valley Caverns, a tour led by University of Minnesota professor Calvin Alexander, who also took the group to an alluviated spring at the Rise of the Lost River, where he explained the resurgence of water flowing through the caverns. Training News See page 7 for registration information Northwest School November 6 Teleconference The 2003 Northwest District Water Operators School will be held at the Northland Inn in Crookston from Tuesday, December 2 to Thursday, December 4. Registration for the school is $95 ($120 after November 19 or at the door). A block of guest rooms is being held until November 11 at a special rate of $65 plus tax per room. Call the Northland Inn at 218/281-5210 and mention American Water Works Association to get the special rate. Participants will receive 16 credit hours for their participation. A tentative agenda for the school is below. This fall’s American Water Works Association Satellite Teleconference, Utility Case Studies: Facing Everyday Challenges, will be held Thursday, November 6 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. (with registration beginning at 10:30). Downlink locations are Hennepin County Technical College in Brooklyn Park, the Minnesota Department of Health in St. Paul, Memorial Union Hall on the campus of the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, Lake Superior College in Duluth, and South Central Technical College in North Mankato. Participants will receive 4 contact hours. Registration will be $65 by October 30 and $85 after October 31, or at the door ($55/$75 in North Mankato). Tuesday, December 2 Other Schools 9:00-noon • Security and Vulnerability Assessments • Youth Education Program A number of one-day schools are being held around the state this fall. They include: • Southwest Water Operators School, Marshall, Thursday, October 16 (with an exam prep in Mankato on October 7 and in Marshall on October 9). or • Exam Prep—Math 1:00-4:00 • Source Water Protection • Suburban Superintendents School, Tuesday, October 21. • Central Water Operators School, St. John’s University, Collegeville, Wednesday, October 29. or • Exam Prep—General Operations • Southeast Water Operators School, Owatonna, Friday, October 31. Wednesday, December 3 Vulnerability Assessment Workshops 8:15-noon Operator Breakfast District Business Meeting—Chad Troitte, Chair The Minnesota Department of Health and Minnesota Rural Water Association (MRWA) have been collaborating on a series of half-day workshops on water system security and vulnerability assessments. These have been geared toward systems serving populations up to 10,000 and focus on the Security Vulnerability Self-Assessment Guide that is available on the MDH Drinking Water web site at http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/water and at the MRWA site at http://www.mrwa.com. These workshops will be held at the Minnesota Section American Water Works Association (AWWA) schools in Marshall on October 16 and in Crookston on December 2 as well as at a November 5 MRWA workshop in Fergus Falls. For larger systems, Minnesota AWWA and the Minnesota Public Works Association have conducted a pair of workshops using the Vulnerability Self-Assessment Tool software available from the Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies. This or other training aimed at systems serving populations between 10,000 and 50,000 may be offered again in 2004. Systems serving a population of 50,000 or more but fewer than 100,000 must complete their assessments by December 31, 2003. Systems serving a population of greater than 3,300 but fewer than 50,000 must have their assessments in by June 30, 2004. Minnesota has 12 systems between 50,000 and 99,999 and 136 between 3,301 and 49,999. Professional Development Workshop 1:00-4:00 Product Exposition and Hands-on Training Operator Interface Thursday, December 4 8:00-noon • On-Line Instrumentation • Arsenic • Tower Cleaning • Safety • Microbiology or • Certification Exams (at 10:00) Trivia Answers 1. b—Frenzy. (Although Psycho had a shower scene, you couldn’t see anything good. In Bambi, the deer was naked, but this wasn’t a Hitchcock movie.) 2. b—Bill Pleis, who pitched from 1961 to 1966. 3. c—Virginia Piper was kidnapped. 6 Waterline Published quarterly by the Drinking Water Protection Section, Minnesota Department of Health Editor: Stew Thornley Staff: Dick Clark Jeanette Boothe Noel Hansen To request this document in another format, call 651/215-0700; TDD 651/215-0707 or toll-free through the Minnesota Relay Service, 1/800/627-3529 (ask for 651/215-0700). Past issues of the Waterline (in PDF format) are available at: http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/water/newsletters.htm REGISTRATION FORM FOR TELECONFERENCE AND FALL SCHOOLS You may combine fees on one check if more than one person is attending a school; however, please make a copy of this form for each person. Questions regarding certification, contact Cindy Cook at 651/215-0751. Questions regarding registration, contact Jeanette Boothe at 651/215-1321. AWWA Teleconference: Utility Case Studies: Facing Everyday Challenges, November 6, 2003. Fee: $65 ($85 after October 30 or at the door) for Brooklyn Park, Grand Forks, and Duluth sites; $55 ($75 after October 30 or at the door) for North Mankato (no lunch served at this site). Check location you wish to attend: ____ Minnesota Department of Health Distance Learning Center, Metro Square Annex, St. Paul, Minnesota ____ Hennepin County Technical College, Brooklyn Park, Minnesota ____ University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota ____ Lake Superior College, Duluth, Minnesota ____ South Central Technical College, North Mankato, Minnesota Southwest School, October 16, 2003, Marshall. Fee: $20 ($25 at the door). Northwest School, December 2-4, 2003, Northland Inn, Crookston. Fee: $95 ($120 after November 19 or at the door). Check here if you would like to receive an exam application. (Applications must be submitted at least 15 days prior to the exam.) Check here if you would like to receive an exam study guide. Name Address City Zip Day Phone Employer Please enclose the appropriate fee. Make check payable to Minnesota AWWA. Mail this form and fee to Public Water Supply Unit, Minnesota Department of Health, 121 East Seventh Place, Suite 220, P. O. Box 64975, St. Paul, Minnesota 55164-0975. Registration for the following schools must be directed to the person listed: October 21, 2003, Suburban Utilities Superintendents School, Apple Valley. Fee: $25. Send to: Carol Blommel, City of Apple Valley, 7100 West 147th Street, Apple Valley, Minnesota 55124 (checks payable to SUSA). October 29, 2003, Central Water Operators School, St. John’s University, Collegeville. Contact Bill Spain, 320/654-5952. October 31, 2003 Southeast Water Operators School, Owatonna. Contact Paul Halvorson, 507/292-5193. 7 CALENDAR Water Operator Training Minnesota Section, American Water Works Association Annual Conference, October 1-3, Moorhead, Contact Jon Eaton, 952/563-4501. *October 16, Southwest Water Operators School, Marshall. Contact John Blomme, 507/537-7308. *October 29, Central Water Operators School, St. John’s University, Collegeville. Contact Bill Spain, 320/654-5952. *October 31, Southeast Water Operators School, Owatonna. Contact Paul Halvorson, 507/292-5193. *December 2-4, Northwest Water Operators School, Northland Inn, Crookston. Contact Stew Thornley, 651/215-0771. American Water Works Association Teleconference November 6, Utility Case Studies: Facing Everyday Challenges, Brooklyn Park, St. Paul, Duluth, North Mankato, and Grand Forks. Contact Stew Thornley, 651/215-0771. Minnesota Rural Water Association Contact Kyle Kedrowski, 1/800/367-6792. September 10, Operation & Maintenance, Chatfield *September 10-12, Certification Exam Prep, St. Cloud September 18, Operation & *Suburban Superintendents School Maintenance, Isle *October 7, Operation & October 21, Apple Valley. Contact Maintenance, Aurora Carol Blommel, 952/953-2441. October 8, Securing Financing for Small Systems, Willmar Minnesota Municipal October 9, Securing Financing for Utilities Association, Contact Kevin Thompson, 763/551-1230. Small Systems, St. Cloud October 28, Operation & October 8-9, Water/Wastewater Maintenance, Wood Lake Workshop, Marshall. November 5, Water System Security November 5-6, Preventive Mainteand Operation & Maintenance, Fergus nance, Marshall. Falls Exam Prep December 10, Winterizing Your October 7, Mankato, Contact Mark Sweers, 507/389-5561. Water System, Bemidji October 9, Marshall, Contact John Blomme, 507/537-7308. December 11, Winterizing Your Water System, St. Cloud Hands-On Basic Training for Water Operators Vermilion Community College, Contact 1/800/657-3609 or 218/365-7200. MRWA Training for October 13-14—Groundwater Non-Municipal Systems *Schools/meetings marked with an asterisk include a water certification Minnesota Rural Water Association exam. To be eligible to take a certification exam, applicants must have September 24, Waconia hands-on operations experience at a drinking water system. October 8, Aurora For an up-to-date list of events, see the training calendar on the MDH web site at: http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/water/training.htm MDH Drinking Water Protection web page:http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/water Minnesota Department of Health 121 E. 7th Place Suite 220 P. O. Box 64975 St. Paul, Minnesota 55164-0975 ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
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