Document ppoo0mz6R4GjpxVkDb5oNY88a

FITCHBURG, MSS. FITCHBURG-LEOMINSTER SENTINEL t ENTERPRISE 0. 23.400 JUl 29 1976 f EPA Says N.E. Water Quality Improved . : BOSTON CAP) - The U S EmriraunenUl Protection . V Agency said today the quality ; of New England's water was ' " inpnnring but new problems v were cropping up. Hie second annual report d . the agency's regional office said $1 per cent of the region's i miles of rivers were suitable for fishing and swimming in 1975, up from 45 per cent die previous year. ,; The state-by-state breakdown of river miles suitable for fish ing and swimming: Con* necticut, 42 per cent; Mas ' saefaueetts, 36 per cent; Maine. C2 per cent; New Hampshire, - 54 per cent; Rhode Island. $4 per cent; and Vermont, 63 per The report said the amounts of lead wss dropping in the drinking water supplies of Bos* ton-area romnumitics because of new treatment programs. Bacteria levels woe dropping sod, because of more judicious salting of winter highways, chloride levels were also on the decline. But tbe EPA said organic compounds in water signifies, particularly chloroform and carboa tetrachloride, posed a problem of uncertain dimensions. The compounds are believed to form through tbe action of chlorine used for dis infectant an other substances present in the water from mu nicipal or industrial discharges, or even naturally present. Chloroform is known to cause cancer in mice and rats. A nationwide study found chloroform in the water sup plies of Lawrence, Mass.; New port.' R.I.; Waterbury, Conn.; and the Metropolitan District Commission in greater Boston. One Newport sample showed chloroform at MB parts per bil lion, and EPA said it was work ing wifi) city officials on ways to reduce it. A followup study will include 10 New England cities -- New Haven, Waterbury and Hart ford, Conn.; Providence and Newport, R.I.; Springfield and Boston; Manchester, N.H.; Burlington, Vt., and Portland, Maine. For solid wastes, EPA said it bad identified IS industrial users of polychlorinated biphe nyls, a substance more longlasting than DDT and causing serious illness if absorbed in high concentrations. River sediment showed PCB present ia concentrations of up to 130,000 parts per billion. --- ' -- - Sludge from the New Bedford sewage treatment plant con tained PCB at a concentration of 64.000 parts per billion, and EPA said it would study emissions from New Bedford's sludge incinerator. Monsanto Co., tbe only manu facturer W PCB, has annomced plans to stop making it. In air quality, EPA said all New England monitoring sites found no violations in 1975 of the standard lor sulfur oxides. New violations of the 24-hour standard for particulate matter were found at Bangor. Maine, and Worcester. Mass., along with a repetition of 1974 violations at another Worcester location and at Springfield, Mass. Each state shewed some violations of the one-hour stand ard. EPA said.' A11 test sites showing violations of the eight-hour standard for carbon monoxide in 1974 also showed violations in 1975. However, maximum levels of the pollutant were down sig- . nificantly in some (daces, par- ' ticulariy New Britain. Conn., and Burlington, Vt. - All test rites in 1974 showed violations of the standard for photochemical oxidants, s prin cipal component of smog. In 1975 stations at Burlin, N.H., and Portland, Maine, reported no violations, but the monitor ing stations were not working in the summer months when violations would be expected. The number of violations dropped in New Hampshire and . significantly in Connecticut and Massachusetts, but rose in jRhode Island, probably bemuse . a number of Rhode island test Lsites were not in operation in / 1974. ... HONS 0 3 7 2 2 8