Water quality standards are just recommendations made by the EPA. These recommendations are suggested safe levels of particular types of waters.The Clean Water Act (CWA) required states to develop water quality standards to protect all water uses and to designate uses for each waterway. The legislation also mandated that industries and waste water treatment plants obtain permits that set restrictions on the discharge of specific pollutants. But the final determination of how clean the water must be is decided by the state. Therefore varying states will have varying water quality standards, but all these levels meet the required level of the CWA.
Water quality standards consist of four basic elements:
1.Designated uses of the water body (e.g., public water supply, aquatic life, recreation)
2. Water quality criteria to protect designated uses by limiting chemical constituents that may be present in the water body. The criteria consist of numeric concentrations and/or narrative requirements.
3. An anti degradation policy to maintain and protect existing uses and high quality waters.
4. General policies addressing implementation issues (e.g., low flows, variances, mixing zones).
Because of these varying elements, different bodies of water may have different standards for what is considered healthy and safe. For example, a lake would be allowed more pathogens within the water compared to that of the water coming out of your sink at home.
DRINKING WATER
The Safe
Drinking Water Act (SDWA), sets legal limits are set to a level
that is acceptable for human health and the level that can be achieved with the
available technology, as well as offering up these legal limits, the EPA does
regular water testing. The rules also list acceptable techniques for treating
contaminated water. SDWA gives individual states the power to regulate and
enforce their own drinking water standards as long as they are at least as
strong as EPA's national standards.Different conditions are regulated with
different standards such as groundwater, lakes, ocean coasts. Rivers or
streams, storm water, waste water watersheds.
RECREATIONAL WATER STANDARDS
Despite the common belief that pool water is clean, chlorine does not kill all germs instantly. There are germs today that are very tolerant to chlorine and were not known to cause human disease until recently. Once these germs get in the pool, it can take anywhere from minutes to days for chlorine to kill them. Swallowing just a little water that contains these germs can make you sick. The main carrier of diseases in
water is feces. When in contact, it is advised to leave the water immediately,
because feces contain bacteria, and diseases(most recent :diarrhea)
http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/swimming/rwi/
http://www.dep.wv.gov/WWE/getinvolved/sos/Pages/WQS.aspx
What is an example of a drinking water level versus a water for recreational use level?
ReplyDeleteSince water quality standards are just recommendations, what would happen if nobody followed them?
ReplyDeleteNot all standards are recommendations, for example E-coli cannot be positive is drinking water, however, the amount of nitrates has a suggested amount for health. But I'd imagine the water would be very unsafe
DeleteAlso, although they are in fact just recommendations, the Clean Water Act mandates that the water be healthy. So if you find a way around the recommendations that's fine, but the water must still be reasonably healthy according to the C.W.A.
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ReplyDeleteHow do water quality standards differ from country to country? Because I've heard that in some other first world nations, fluoride is not added to the water.
ReplyDeleteYes,in many developed countries fluoride is being removed due to the argument that it is "bad medical practice" because its added for medical treatment. It is known as "unethical" because it is medication without consent.
DeleteWhat units are used to measure water quality standards?
ReplyDeleteThere are many different units to measure the water quality. For instance the unit used when measuring the turbidity of water is Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU). Another example is when measuring the phosphorus of water the unit used is milligrams per liter (mg/L).
DeleteWhen did the Clean Water Act start being enforced?
ReplyDeleteYou say that chlorine may not kill all germs instantly. Why is this and is the Clean Water Act trying to fix this problem? Also, what else is used to clean this infected pool water other than chlorine?
ReplyDeleteWhy are the standards for E.Coli lower for recreational purposes of water like swimming than they are for drinking water because when you're swimming in water aren't you just as, if not more exposed to E.Coli by accidentally drinking it or by it getting into pores or openings in the body such as the ears or eyes as you are when you are solely drinking it?
ReplyDeleteHow does the SDWA go about determining what levels in the drinking water are acceptable for human health?
ReplyDelete