Water rates are likely to go up in Syracuse within the next couple of years, say city officials.
This is because of new regulations by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The E.P.A. is requiring the city to treat its drinking water for disease-causing parasites. The regulations, said city and federal officials, are a preventative measure rather than a response to a problem.
“We’ve never had a sickness,” said Mike Ryan, commissioner of the Syracuse Department of Water. “But why should we take that chance?”
The regulations are aimed at a parasite called cryptosporidium. Cryptosporidium, according to the federal Center for Disease Control, is a waterborne parasite. It causes cryptosporidiosis, a disease characterized by diarrhea, stomach pain and nausea. The disease can sometimes be fatal to people with weak immune systems, such as infants or the elderly, according to the E.P.A.
The new regulation is called “The Long Term 2 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule.” The rule was passed by the E.P.A. in January 2006 as a national, preventative measure against waterborne illness. It requires that all municipal water systems treat their tap water for cryptosporidium.
Cities with water filtration plants already treat for cryptosporidium but cities with uncovered reservoirs or city’s that draw their water directly from a water source without filtration will need to change. Syracuse fits into both of these categories.
Syracuse is one of the seven largest cities in the country, according to Ryan of the Syracuse Water Department, that are not required to treat their water in a filtration plant. He attributed this to the cleanliness of Skaneateles Lake, which supplies the city’s water, and the city’s “watershed protection program.” That’s a program to work with people — such as farmers and business people — in the area around Skaneateles to monitor the quality of the water and to keep it clean. Because of this, Syracuse was only required to add fluoride and chlorine to its water. Cryptosporidium is resistant to chlorine so the city will need to add extra treatment.
The treatment system, Ryan estimated, will cost $15 million to install and about $500,000 to maintain each year. They city is looking into getting state and federal aid for the project, said Ryan, and the remaining cost will be covered entirely by revenue from water rates. This will mean a rise in water rates, said Ryan. But, he said, the city cannot estimate how much rates will go up until it knows how much outside money it will receive from the state and federal governments.
The city, said Ryan, is looking into a treatment system that would “zap” the cryptosporidium with ultra-violet light so it cannot reproduce. This would stop it from causing diseases because parasitic diseases can only happen when parasites reproduce inside the body. Water would flow past the lights after leaving the reservoir. This way, the city can kill two birds with one stone, zapping parasites that could have entered the water in the lake and in the reservoir. The city is required to submit its plan for treatment by April 2009 and the system must be operational by March 2012.
Brenda Nordenstam, a professor of environmental studies at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, studies balancing risks and public health. The E.PA., she said, is not responding to a health risk in Syracuse but has to weigh burdening some cities financially with the risk of public health issues in places where cryptosporidium is a problem.
“The problem is they have to pass these laws on a national level,” said Nordenstam. It would be too great a task, she said, for the Environmental Protection Agency to evaluate every city individual.
The regulations, Nordenstam said, do not seem that important now but may be needed in the future. The growing population and urban development around Skaneateles Lake, she said, could cause changes that would require these rules in the long run. The E.P.A., Nordenstam said, “is not just mandating based on the risk that is today, but they’re looking down the road.”
(Liam Migdail-Smith is a junior newspaper journalism major.)
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