FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 29, 2002

ORANGE COUNTY WATER DISTRICT TAKES A PROACTIVE STANCE ON CONTAMINANTS OF CONCERN
New Contaminant of Concern, 1,4-Dioxane Discovered

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif. – Orange County Water District’s (OCWD) General Manager William R. Mills today announced OCWD’s plan to continue to proactively search for new contaminants of concern, identified by the California Department of Health Services (DHS) as compounds that may one day require a drinking water standard or Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL). Today, there are no Federal standards for these chemicals and safety levels vary among the states.

DHS has established action levels (AL) for approximately 50 compounds that have been identified for possible future regulation in drinking water. To date, OCWD has tested for all but 13 of these compounds in its Water Factory 21 water purification plant. In some instances, OCWD’s laboratory had to develop and verify its own testing methods in order to detect these compounds at the ALs established by DHS. With the new technology available to laboratories, more tests can be done to search for a wider variety of not-yet-regulated compounds. OCWD’s water quality program will keep OCWD on the leading edge of water quality testing in the industry.

“Our top priority is protecting public health through the production of high-quality water. As a result of this proactive program, OCWD has found a new compound, 1,4-dioxane, that exceeds California’s action level of 3 parts per billion. We want to be proactive and out front on this new substance, and that is exactly what we are doing.” said Mills. OCWD is one of the first water agencies in the state to test purified water for this new contaminant of concern.

The occurrence of 1,4-dioxane in drinking water is currently being studied by DHS, which has set the nation’s lowest AL at 3 parts per billion (ppb). Since there is no Federal standard for 1,4-dioxane, other states have reviewed health data and set safety levels varying from 85 to 70 to 50 ppb in Michigan, Maine and Massachusetts, respectively.

When an action level is exceeded, DHS requires that the governing board for the affected service areas be notified and recommends that the utility inform consumers of the contaminant and its potential health effects. If the concentration is 100 times the action level in a well or water supply, DHS recommends that source be taken out of service. Preliminary testing of about 19 wells shows levels of 1,4-dioxane ranging from non-detectible to 20 ppb. OCWD expects to find no wells anywhere near the 300 ppb level.*

1,4-Dioxane is a manmade chemical primarily used as an industrial solvent stabilizer that prevents the breakdown of chlorinated solvents during manufacturing processes. Industrial solvents are used in degreasing, electronics, metal finishing, fabric cleaning, pharmaceuticals, herbicides and pesticides, antifreeze, membranes, paper manufacturing and many other applications.

One source indicates 1,4-dioxane is found in manufactured food additives at the 10,000 ppb level and in a number of food products including shrimp, chicken, tomatoes, coffee and some condiments.

Reports indicate that 1,4-dioxane is present in ordinary household products at comparatively high levels, including shampoos (50,000-300,000 ppb), liquid/dishwashing soap (2,000-65,000 ppb), baby lotion (11,000 ppb), hair lotions (47,000-108,000 ppb), bath foam (22,000-41,000 ppb) and other cosmetic products (6,000-160,000 ppb).

You may recall in 2000, another new potential contaminant, N–nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), was found by OCWD and a treatment process using ultraviolet (UV) light was installed to remove the compound. OCWD is also working with the Orange County Sanitation District to determine if industrial discharges of 1,4-dioxane into the sewer can be controlled at the source.

“Water Factory 21 takes treated wastewater from the Orange County Sanitation District (OCSD) and purifies it to drinking water standards before injecting it into the groundwater basin along the coast,” Mills explained. “This creates a seawater intrusion barrier which protects the groundwater basin from ocean water.”

The UV light and hydrogen peroxide treatment process now at Water Factory 21 destroys 1,4-dioxane.

Because 1,4-dioxane has only recently become a water issue, there is no historical data on 1,4-dioxane in the water produced by Water Factory 21. The next generation water purification plant planned under the Groundwater Replenishment System already includes the use of UV light with hydrogen peroxide that will destroy 1,4-dioxane.

OCWD has set up a hotline to answer the public’s questions concerning 1,4-Dioxane: (714) 378-3333.

MORE INFO: 1,4-Dioxane Fact Sheet (65K PDF file - Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)

*EPA and DHS do not have an approved analytical method to test for 1,4-dioxane at the state action level (3 ppb) or lower. Analysis of 1,4-dioxane in water at low detection levels is accomplished using modified methods. OCWD’s method has been verified with a contract laboratory at the low detection limit. Drinking water well sampling results to date are preliminary and are being confirmed by an external laboratory.

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