Section A · Page 8
The University Daily Kansan
Tuesday, January 18, 2000
Investigating campus
George Wilson, distinguished professor of chemistry, explains the mechanics of a new computer system to Tiffany Addington, Kansas City, Mo., senior, and Samadhi Vitharana, Sri Lankan graduate student. Wilson's Analytical Chemistry class teamed up with Tom Eblen's Reporting II class to study campus drinking water last semester. Photo by Nick Krug (KANSAN.
WHAT IT MEANS
The water coming out of the drinking fountain is cloudy, smells a little off and leaves a lingering taste reminiscent of rotten eggs and chalk. You make a note to skip the fountain from now on and lug around a bottle of water.
If it looks, smells and tastes bad, it has to be toxic, right? Wrong
"It's as clean a water as it can be," said Shari Stamer, water quality manager for the City of Lawrence, which supplies the University of Kansas campus with its water. The water travels through several miles of nine before it finally flows through a campus drinking fountain.
A student's definition of water quality may vary from the standards the city follows. That smelly, musty water is a byproduct of algae — called geosmin — in Clinton Reservoir that grows and dies at an accelerated rate in early summer and fall. It isn't a health concern. Stamer said, but the city tries to remedy the taste and smell by treating the water with powdered, activated carbon.
The cloudy water is caused by millions of tiny air bubbles, which are not a health concern, either. Stamer expects the condition to continue as the lake ages. She said the city was studying extensively the excessive algae problem to remedy the odor and taste concerns.
BriAnne Hess and Shea Mayberry
PROJECT BACKGROUND
The Water Quality Project during the fall semester sought to evaluate the quality of drinking water on campus.
The project was done with the cooperation of an Analytical Chemistry class taught by George Wilson, distinguished professor of chemistry, and a Reporting II class taught by Tom Eblen, general manager and news adviser of The University Daily Kansan.
Reporting students helped determine the water sources that were sampled and collected the samples. Chemistry students carried out experimental analysis on water samples collected from 22 campus sites.
Journalism students chose the sites based on several factors, including the age of the buildings from which the samples were taken and the number of students who use the building and, thus, are likely to drink water from its fountains on a daily basis.
The study was not comprehensive by any means. Wilson said it was not reasonable, given time and experiential factors, to make a comprehensive assessment.
"The purpose was to pick several illustrative examples that are part of a picture of water quality assessment," he said.
To this end, the chemistry class chose to monitor three factors that can influence water quality: atrazine, nitrate, chloride. They also looked at water hardness. Students did not, however, test for things such as bacteria count or lead content.
Wilson said his class learned a few valuable lessons about sampling during this study. First, there are constraints imposed by having to analyze a sample promptly after it is taken. For example, one of the factors the students tested for, nitrate, converts to another compound if the sample sits around too long.
"I knew it was going to be a problem, and it was a problem," Wilson said. "You make decisions about what you can and cannot do with the resources you have."
Second, both the reporting students and the chemistry students learned that sampling must be consistent with the questions being asked. There were differences between the methods and procedures used by the chemistry students and those used by City of Lawrence officials who test the city's drinking water against federal standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Although this discrepancy was of great concern to several of the chemistry students, Wilson pointed out that this project was not asking the same question that the city asks on a daily basis. The recommended sampling procedure requires running the water for 10 minutes. The city's primary concern is to make sure the treated drinking water meets federal guidelines for safety when it arrives at the point of consumption.
But the goal of the student study was to determine the quality of the water that actually flows out of drinking fountains and taps on campus. Although the student results do not have legal standing they are legitimate in that they form a small part of a larger picture of the quality of campus drinking water.
Mindie Miller
City expert says treatment assures healthy product
Shari Stamer steers clear of bot tled water.
"Everybody in my house drinks tap water," she said. "I believe in my product."
As Lawrence's water quality manager, Stamer is responsible for conducting quality and compliance testing on the city's water supply — the same water supply that provides drinking water to the University of Kansas.
The Safe Drinking Water Act passed in 1974 and reauthorized in 1986 and 1996 by U.S. Congress requires each state to protect public health by setting maximum contaminant levels. With the assistance of several laboratory technicians, Stamer tests for elements in the treated water supply that are dangerous to humans at certain levels.
Lawrence and the University get their water from the Kansas River, Clinton Reservoir and alluvial wells near the river. Two treatment plants — the Kaw River Water Treatment Plant, located on Third and Indiana streets, and the Clinton Reservoir Water Treatment Plant, located on Clinton Parkway and Wakarusa Street — treat the raw water before it is distributed to city residents.
At the Kaw Plant, for example, employees test water every two hours as it enters the plant. These tests are not as extensive as the tests Stamer and her lab technicians run once a day, the results of which must be reported to the state biweekly.
Stamer said they test for atrazine, lead, copper, chromium, nitrate and other contaminants that could affect water quality and safety. She said that chillers in water fountains and plumbing also could affect the quality and taste of water. Although the age of pipes can have a bearing on water quality, new pipes don't always guarantee good-tasting water.
"I've had experience with complaints about the taste of drinking water in a renovated building," Stamer said. "New-pipe taste can bother people, too."
Although her department does not test the campus water supply, she said that if there had been a water quality problem on campus, her department would have been involved. She said it would test the
Stamer said it did not matter how bad water was in the beginning of the treatment process. By the end of the process, the water is good for consumption if treated properly.
WATER WEB SITES
Environmental Protection Agency
American Water Works Association
www.awwa.org
Kansas Department of Health and Environment
www.kathe.state.ks.us/wate
*City of Lawrence*
www.ci.lawrence.ks.us
Useful Phone Numbers
EPA Safe Drinking Water Hot line 1-800-426-4791
1-800-426-4791
Department of Utilities Offices
Department of Utilities Offices (785) 832-7800
(785) 832-7800 KDHE/District Office
KDHE (District Office)
(785) 842-4600
Water Quality Manager [Shari Stamer] (785) 023-7917
■ KU Dept. of Environment, Health and Safety
[785] 832-7817
(785) 864-4089
KU Hazardous Materials Manager (John Rossillon) (785) 864.2853
"I've had experience with complaints about the taste of drinking water in a renovated building," Stamer said. "New-pipe taste can bother people, too."
Lawrence water quality manager
Shari Stamer
water at its point of entry to campus to see if the incoming water was contaminated.
In eight years as water quality manager, Stamer never has had a violation or a late report, despite having the smallest budget of the five city water divisions. Stamer said she often showed city commissioners specimens of treated and untreated river water at meetings where she has had to justify her budget.
Stamer said the public was welcome to take a look at the water treatment process as well.
"We have Water Week the first week of May," she said. "We encourage people to come out and tour the plants."
Stamer said plant operators gave tours throughout the year. To arrange a tour, call 832-7800.
- Mindle Miller, Rasika Dhavee, Hurry Evans, Diana Victor and Sheila Vehn
Building Name Year Built
1) McCollum Hall 1965
2) Lewis Hall 1960
3) Burge Union 1979
4) Learned Hall 1963
5) Allen Fieldhouse 1955
6) Oliver Hall 1966
7) Malott Hall 1954
8) Wescoe Hall 1973
9) Strong Hall 1911
10) Stauffer-Flint Hall 1897
11) Watson Library 1924
12) Fraser Hall 1967
13) Kansas Memorial Union 1927
14) Watkins Hall 1926
15) Robinson Center 1966
16) Watkins Health Center 1973
Campus H20 meets federal standards
Continued from page 1A
E. Michael Thurman, head of the organic geochemistry group at the Kansas Biological Survey, said atrazine was a major concern in the Midwest. Atrazine enters the water supply as run off from farmers' fields and is thought to be carcinogenic. And nitrate has been linked to Blue Baby Syndrome, a birth defect that inhibits oxygen transport through the blood, causing newborns' skin to look blue.
Chlorine is used as a disinfectant during the drinking water treatment process. Although toxic in pure form, diluted chlorine is not harmful to humans.
Calcium, which causes water hardness, is naturally abundant. While hard water generally is not considered a public health problem, it can cause kidney stones and calcium deposits in plumbing.
Campus drinking water comes from the Kansas River, Clinton Reservoir and alluvial wells near the river. It is first treated by the city at one of two water treatment plants and then transported to campus through underground pipes. The University does not treat its own water.
The Environmental Protection Agency sets standards and procedures the city must follow when conducting compliance testing. The KU chemistry students did not follow these standards and procedures precisely. Therefore, the results obtained by the students should not be compared directly with the city's results. This does not make their results irrelevant.
The purpose of the campus study was to test the water students actually drink, so most of the samples were taken from campus drinking fountains. The city does not test water from drinking fountains because this water undergoes further treatment as it passes through the fountains' chilling system.
Furthermore, EPA guidelines require the city to run tap water for at least 10 minutes before taking a sample. The samples in the campus study, however, were taken after only one minute because busy students don't run fountains for 10 minutes before taking a drink.
The chemistry students' test results revealed levels well below maximum contaminant levels in EPA standards for safe drinking water. So even if campus water fails to meet students' aesthetic standards, it's still a safe, reliable way to wet a whistle.
KU health department
Jon Rossillon, hazardous materials manager at the Department of Environment, Health and Safety at the University of Kansas, said most people did not know whom to call when they were unhappy about the quality of the drinking water on campus. He did not receive any complaints last semester.
20 percent—checking water quality
75 percent — dealing with hazardous waste on campus
20 percent — checking water quality
5 percent — investigating complaints about water quality
"We act as consultants," Rossillon said.
"We don't look for stuff — people come to us."
The department does not monitor the water on a day-to-day basis because it buys water from the City of Lawrence already treated for nitrate, pesticides and metals.
Environment, Health and Safety takes 40
samples every month to testf campus is divided into eight samples are taken from each rias, child care centers and h areas are targeted. Samples Kansas Department of Heal ment in Toeka for analysis
If excessive bacteria gro KDHE requests another same site as well as resam above and below the affected
Rossilion said that since pling began in 1992, exc growth was discovered only cott Hall. However, the excess not confirmed on second sam
Samples are collected from than water fountains, beco have chillers that can affect t
The University also monit
City must tell residents wl
In October, students living off campus should have received information about the quality of their drinking water.
The City of Lawrence is required to inform customers via mail, Internet, apartment managers or subdivision newsletters once a year about what's in the water.
The Consumer Confidence Act, part of the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1996, requires that the information be sent out to consumers of public water systems. The information consumers received in October pertained to contaminant levels from 1998.
The Consumer Confidence many results of the Clean W was passed in 1972. The goal rivers, lakes, aquifers and make them safe for swighing.
Lori Allen, Lawrence sent the analytical chemistry data on campus drinking water: Safe Drinking Water Act for said the Safe Drinking Water a result of the Clean Water the act was mandated by the