Ehhhh… not really. The Environmental Working Group published a report on Chromium 6 found in various tap water samples in US cities.  Tennessee was a blank.  So does that mean no Chromium? Well, not exactly. Apparently, TDEC was asked several times by EWG to fill out a form asking about how they regulate chromium and TDEC never responded. That Tennessee is blank has more to do with TDEC staff than whether or not we have chromium in our drinking water.

So back to the original question.  Here’s the long policy explanation.  The rules that govern how much pollution gets put in Tennessee’s water has a list of criteria that must be followed.  For surface waters, Tennessee has a “domestic supply” criterion of 100 ppb (or 100ug/L - same thing) for total Chromium.  That’s the water in rivers that can be used to drink.

There is a criterion for “fish and aquatic life”. The criterion for Chromium 6 is 16 ppb maximum or 11 ppb on the average. This is for rivers that have fish species that you may want to eat and the aquatic bugs that those fish feed on.

Now for the criterion used for what the drinking water plants need to follow - 100 ppb of total Chromium.

Why are fish more protected than humans? My guess?  Fish are in a water environment and therefore are more susceptible to the effects of chromium.  That’s my guess.

We looked at a couple of sites in Tennessee to see what kinds of chromium we find there.  Smokey Mountain Smelters in Knoxville had about 0.001 ppb in testing we did in 2004. That’s very low.  We looked at effluent from a landfill. We found no chromium.  There was some chromium found from the Kingston disaster, but low levels. In short, some of the nastiest places we’ve looked at don’t seem to be a problem.

That doesn’t mean it won’t be a problem in the future, but for now I’m not worrying about it.

RvH

EPA settled an enforcement action against a residential developer, fining the permittee $925,000 for numerous violations on various construction sites throughout 21 states.  Beazer Homes USA, Inc. discharged pollutants to waterways without a permit, failed to provide information in the form of permit applications to the EPA Administrator, and failed to comply with the conditions of their permits such as to design, implement and maintain adequate best management practices at construction site.  See all the details on EPA’s website.

TCWN in conjunction with Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment (SOCM), the TN Chapter of the Sierra Club, and TN Environmental Council (TEC) created and submitted a questionnaire on a range of environmental issues to gubernatorial candidates Mike McWherter and Bill Haslam.  Their responses are in and can be checked out here.

In April, President Obama announced the creation of the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative – now it’s our chance to weigh in.

The President’s Initiative is a critical opportunity to enhance the stewardship of our nation’s rivers and increase ways for the public to enjoy them.  The Obama administration is reaching out to the public to listen to our priorities. In their own words, the administration aims “to develop a conservation agenda worthy of the 21st century and to reconnect Americans with our great outdoors.”

We’re working with American Rivers to get Obama to take bold action as well. Specifically, we’re asking the Administration to: (1) launch a new Blueways Initiative to improve recreation and protect river corridors; (2) designate more places as wild and scenic rivers and as wilderness; and (3) fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund, a national matching fund for parks and conservation.

The listening session is scheduled for Nashville on August 27, 10:00 a.m. at the Main Branch of the Nashville Public Library.

To learn more about this session, click here.

Learn more about Blueways which include water trails.
http://www.americanrivers.org/our-work/protecting-rivers/blue-trails/

Learn more about the President’s America’s Great Outdoors Initiative
http://www.doi.gov/americasgreatoutdoors/Americas-Great-Outdoors-Video.cfm

Last week EPA announced its intent “to propose a limited set of targeted changes to the water quality standards regulation.”  According to the Agency this is an effort to improve water quality.  To learn more, go to EPA’s website.

There will also be listening sessions for the public August 24 and 26.