Friday, April 6, 2007
Wednesday, January 3, 2007
Arsenic and the Feds
As most of you know we are now past the 1/1/06 deadline for getting our water system into compliance with the new EPA (FEDS) 10ppb (that's 10 parts per BILLION) standard. It used to be 50ppb. Where are we with our water? Well..... we haven't met the standard. We are all in GRAVE danger. Our water comes in at 12ppb. We will ALL, no doubt, get CANCER and DIE!!!!
I am not going to go into the problems with the science setting this standard. (they are myriad) I am not going to comment on the legality of the EPA (feds) even making this kind of sweeping rule change and forcing the States to comply. (Questionable at best) I am not even going to blast Clinton for signing the order that got the ball rolling.
What I am going to talk about is the cost/benefit.
It will take about $1,500,000.00 for us to meet the standard. The EPA estimates there are 4100 small water systems, serving 10,000 people or less, that will be affected. That is a capitol outlay of $6.15 billion just to meet the standard. That is if our system is average as I have been informed. The EPA estimate of annual operating cost increase will be 180 million dollars. Or about $43,900 ADDITIONAL per year for each system. For us that works out to an additional $300+ per year, per household on our water bill. As the sewer is tied to the water directly we can anticipate $300 more per year for that. Expect to pay about $50.00 per month more than you are now.
How many people are going to be "saved" for this huge expenditure of resources? Let's look at the EPA's own document. http://www.epa.gov/safewater/arsenic/pdfs/quickguide.pdf.
Under "PUBLIC HEALTH BENEFITS" Implementation of the Arsenic Rule will result in...
- Avoidance of 16 to 26 non-fatal bladder and lung cancers per year.
- Avoidance of 21to 30 fatal bladder and lung cancers per year.
- Reduction in the frequency of non-carcinogenic diseases
That works out to around $2.5 million per incident just on the annual operating increase. If you figure the hardware will last 10 years (a stretch) and plug that into the $6.15 billion number the cost per incident adds another $11 million. About 13.5million per incident.
I wonder how many researchers there are out there, doing research on ohhhh let's say the west nile virus, that could save thousands of lives for the money we are going to spend to save one (maybe). What an outrageous boondoggle.
We don't need this new standard in the U.S. as a whole and we certainly don't need it here in Bosque Farms. So when the water/sewer bill goes up, don't complain about our Council. They have to comply with this un-funded Federal mandate and we are going to have to pay for it.
I am not going to go into the problems with the science setting this standard. (they are myriad) I am not going to comment on the legality of the EPA (feds) even making this kind of sweeping rule change and forcing the States to comply. (Questionable at best) I am not even going to blast Clinton for signing the order that got the ball rolling.
What I am going to talk about is the cost/benefit.
It will take about $1,500,000.00 for us to meet the standard. The EPA estimates there are 4100 small water systems, serving 10,000 people or less, that will be affected. That is a capitol outlay of $6.15 billion just to meet the standard. That is if our system is average as I have been informed. The EPA estimate of annual operating cost increase will be 180 million dollars. Or about $43,900 ADDITIONAL per year for each system. For us that works out to an additional $300+ per year, per household on our water bill. As the sewer is tied to the water directly we can anticipate $300 more per year for that. Expect to pay about $50.00 per month more than you are now.
How many people are going to be "saved" for this huge expenditure of resources? Let's look at the EPA's own document. http://www.epa.gov/safewater/arsenic/pdfs/quickguide.pdf.
Under "PUBLIC HEALTH BENEFITS" Implementation of the Arsenic Rule will result in...
- Avoidance of 16 to 26 non-fatal bladder and lung cancers per year.
- Avoidance of 21to 30 fatal bladder and lung cancers per year.
- Reduction in the frequency of non-carcinogenic diseases
That works out to around $2.5 million per incident just on the annual operating increase. If you figure the hardware will last 10 years (a stretch) and plug that into the $6.15 billion number the cost per incident adds another $11 million. About 13.5million per incident.
I wonder how many researchers there are out there, doing research on ohhhh let's say the west nile virus, that could save thousands of lives for the money we are going to spend to save one (maybe). What an outrageous boondoggle.
We don't need this new standard in the U.S. as a whole and we certainly don't need it here in Bosque Farms. So when the water/sewer bill goes up, don't complain about our Council. They have to comply with this un-funded Federal mandate and we are going to have to pay for it.
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