Friday, Dec. 16, 2005 | 7:23 a.m.
Despite plans to the contrary, Interior Secretary Gale Norton will not be in Las Vegas today.
A new federal initiative unveiled Thursday is designed to eliminate health risks posed by cryptosporidium, a potentially deadly pathogen that was linked to the deaths of 32 people in Las Vegas 11 years ago.
The Environmental Protection Agency announced two rules to curb exposure to similar biological threats and limit exposure to the byproducts produced in some water treatment systems.
While smaller water systems nationwide are concerned about the potential costs of the new federal rules, the impact could be limited in Las Vegas because of improvements taken since the 1994 outbreak.
EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson said the rules would require drinking water system operators to test for the presence of cryptosporidium and remove it from supplies.
"The quality of the water we drink greatly contributes to the quality of our health," Johnson said. "The presence of cryptosporidium has posed particular concerns because of its resistance to water treatment systems such as chlorine disinfection."
Cryptosporidium is a tough, single-celled organism that is often found in surface water, including swimming pools and reservoirs such as Lake Mead, where the urban area gets 90 percent of its drinking water.
In the 1994 Las Vegas outbreak, along with nearly three dozen deaths there were at least 130 others sickened in what the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said was likely to have been exposure to cryptosporidium in the drinking water. However, no definitive link to the Las Vegas water system was identified.
The CDC reported in 1996 that it "could not identify a specific source of contamination. The quality of the source water and the state-of-the-art treatment plant in Clark County ... would be the envy of most cities in the United States."
Nonetheless, many observers feared that the water from the tap was the source of the problem, and the Southern Nevada Water Authority took steps afterwards to eliminate the potential risk from the pathogen.
In 2002 the Water Authority -- which serves as the wholesaler for municipal distributors throughout the urban area -- brought the River Mountains Water Treatment Facility on line for $198 million. In 2003 the agency completed an $80.6 million upgrade of the 30-year-old Alfred Merritt Smith Water Treatment Facility.
Both facilities now treat water coming up from Lake Mead with ozone, a process that kills microorganisms without the use of chlorine.
J.C. Davis, a Water Authority spokesman, said the new federal rules are not likely to affect his agency because it already tests and treats water for both microorganisms and treatment byproducts.
"We're not going to have to do anything," he said. "We have already taken the necessary steps."
The EPA estimated the national cost of the new rules to be $90 million to $130 million annually, or about $3 a year for each American household.
Launce Rake can be reached at 259-4127 or at [email protected].
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