FRUITLAND, LIKE DOZENS OF OTHER IDAHO COMMUNITIES, FACES A FUTURE CHALLENGE TO ITS DRINKING WATER SYSTEM WHEN NEW FEDERAL REGULATIONS TAKE EFFECT BEGINNING IN 2006. • A UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO RESEARCH PROJECT PROMISES TO PROVIDE A SIMPLE AND LESS EXPENSIVE WAY TO HELP SMALL COMMUNITIES ACROSS THE NATION LIKE FRUITLAND MEET NEW FEDERAL STANDARDS FOR ARSENIC LEVELS.

Testing in several locations, including Fruitland, show the Vandal- IONTM process can reduce arsenic levels below the new federal limit.

UI researchers tested a new, simple method that relies on readily available commercial materials. The research is a cooperative effort with the UI, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Like many communities nationwide, Fruitland's water supply now meets the federal regulation but won't when new restrictions are applied. An estimated 3,300 small water systems across the U.S. face changes to reduce arsenic levels. For systems that supply 100 or fewer homes, EPA estimates the cost may be as high as $1,000 per household each year. The experimental UI system would reduce costs per household year to $40 for large systems and $160 for small systems.

Fruitland Mayor Tom Limbaugh's cooperation was essential to the testing, said Greg Moller, a UI environmental scientist, who leads the project. UI's Remy Newcombe, who just earned her doctorate in civil engineering, oversaw the testing. Other UI students helping test were Brian Hart and Gary Keller.

The testing relies on a tank-like "reactor" that holds chemically active granule arsenic scrubbers. The pilot project can treat 15,000 gallons a day, which equals a flow of 10 to 15 gallons per minute. The Fruitland tests reduced arsenic concentrations from the natural background of 30 to 40 parts per billion, purer than the 50 ppb set as a threshold by current federal regulations.

The Vandal-ION process successfully removed enough arsenic to drop levels well below the future federal standard of 10 ppb. In some tests, concentrations even dropped below 1 ppb.

What we have works

"We know what we have works," Moller said. "Now we are working to fine tune the process."

The process removes arsenic almost immediately, requiring only a 10 to pure 15 minute “contact time” when the water must be in contact with the treatment process.

That is an economic advantage because the treatment system can be smaller since water passes through it quickly. Some water treatment systems require water to be held for hours, requiring much larger holding tanks.

Another advantage of the Vandal- ION process is the arsenic residue can be disposed of inexpensively and is not considered hazardous waste.

The Idaho Research Foundation has protected the process and has licensed its use to Blue Water Technologies, Inc., of Coeur d’Alene, a start-up company with five employees. Newcombe is its chief technology officer.

Now for the larger systems

Moller said the process is undergoing additional engineering and economic analysis so that it can be scaled up to treat larger water volumes required by cities like Fruitland, which has a population of 3,805 according to the 2000 Census. Fruitland might require a treatment system 100 times larger than the pilot system.

The process was tested previously at a small water system near Sandpoint, Idaho, and on a water system near Moscow.

The new federal rules are intended to make drinking water safer and are based on health studies that suggest the current threshold needs tightening.

A $200,000 EPA grant to the UI Environmental Research Institute through the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research supported the pilot project.