When the communities of Southwest Nebraska joined together to host the “Arsenic & Old West” water quality conference, area mayors held out hope that the federal government’s impending arsenic limit of 10 parts per billion could be scrapped.

After all, with naturally occurring arsenic in this region’s water supply, the average life span of people in this area has ranked well above the national average for longevity.

But — before and during the conference — it became apparent that the Environmental Protection Agency was dead-set against changing the rule, which goes into effect in January of 2006.

So what can be done, other than spending millions of dollars to install new community treatment systems or drilling new water wells with arsenic concentrations below 10 parts per billion?

The answer — which came into focus at the water conference — is to develop less costly treatment systems to bring down the levels of arsenic and other contaminants.

There were hints this would happen at the water quality conference when James B. Gulliford, the Region 7 Administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency, advised small towns to go slow on arsenic compliance. As described by Paul Hammel of the Omaha World- Herald, Gulliford’s advice “was to sit tight, seek some extensions of the deadline and await development of cheaper alternatives.”

Today came evidence that is happening, with Hammel reporting that the EPA has selected two small towns in Nebraska, Lyman and Stromsburg, as potential demonstration sites for new and less-costly systems to reduce arsenic level in drinking water.

What exactly those systems are have yet to be revealed, but those attending the conference in McCook received several hints. One possibility is Adedge, a process that absorbs arsenic in water supplies. The patented process does so through the use of granular ferric oxide. Low cost arsenic control methods are also being studied by Dr. David Gosselin of the School of Natural Resources Sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. During his presentation at the conference in McCook, Gosselin told about the two methods. One is modifying well pumping management strategies, as is being done in Stratton, and the other is injecting oxygenated water, as has been done in some Scandinavian countries.

The science is still in the developmental stage, but at least there’s hope. If EPA is going to insist on the 10 parts per billion arsenic limit, it had better accelerate the study of low-cost alternatives. Otherwise, small towns face massive costs that they can ill-afford to pay.