Urban-Area Drinking Water Held Under Increasing Threat

Aging water systems, outdated water treatment plants and pollutants are increasing threats to the safety of drinking water in metropolitan areas, it was reported Sunday.

Environmental officials and industry analysts said that the primary culprits in the cases of contamination of lakes and reservoirs are bacteriological contaminants and corrosive minerals that threaten aging pipelines, the New York Times reported.

The newspaper cited a wide range of problems from Woburn, Mass., where some residents have charged that chemically contaminated water from wells caused six fatal cases of leukemia, to Rochester, N.Y., where residents were forced to boil their tap water last month because of gypsy moth caterpillar droppings that washed into nearby lakes.

Chlorine Not Enough

Walter Andrews, of the Environmental Protection Agency, said that more than chlorination appears to be required to ensure the safety of drinking water in cities that use reservoirs and rivers.

The EPA has proposed rules, scheduled to go into effect in 1988, that would require filtration of all surface water supplies.

The newspaper said authorities in the Northeast have reported an increase in giardia, a bacteria carried by beavers and other animals, which can cause diarrhea.

A federal jury in Woburn last week found that the W. R. Grace & Co. had “substantially contributed” to the contamination of two wells that served eight families.