In response to new rules from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Radford officials are considering a $1.2 million upgrade to its water intake system from the New River.

The new intake could result in safer drinking water for residents and cut water treatment costs. It also would restrict the number of recreational activities allowed at the water intake section of the river. But plans for the intake are far from final, and city council has yet to wrestle with how to fund the project.

The proposal stems from an EPA rule that requires municipalities to more closely monitor water quality, especially for cryptosporidium, a parasite found in water contaminated with sewage or animal waste.

In the early 1990s, Milwaukee experienced an outbreak of cryptosporidium in its water system that killed more than 100 people and made 400,000 others sick. The EPA has since implemented stricter water testing standards for cryptosporidium and other microbial pathogens and disinfection byproducts.

Under the new rules, Virginia municipalities with populations of more than 100,000 were required to begin the stricter testing this month, said Richard Puckett, field director of the Virginia Department of Health's Office of Drinking Water in Abingdon. Smaller localities, like Radford, with populations ranging from 10,000 to 50,000 will be held to the stricter standards beginning in April 2008.

Radford's plan would replace the current intake located in shallow water on the north bank of the New River with a submerged structure in 17 feet deep water in the center of the river, with buoys and signs marking its perimeter and limiting access to that stretch of river.

Puckett said the city's current water intake on the river bank pulls from more muddy water where there is a "possibility" cryptosporidium is more likely to settle. Water in the center of the river is typically less muddy and less likely to contain elevated levels of cryptosporidium, he said.

Lawrence Rice, Radford's water treatment plant superintendent, said treating the water for cryptosporidium from the current intake could be significantly more expensive in the long term than treatment costs for water pulled from the center of the river.

He said finding money to pay for the project will be a challenge. The state health department supplied an initial $21,000 planning grant. Rice hopes to receive more grant money from the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Program, but to be eligible for those funds the city must first submit an application for construction funding to the health department.

Rice said the treatment plant will also be seeking grant money beyond the health department. The city may be asked to chip in as well.

Assistant City Manager David Ridpath said the city hopes to hold meetings about the project later this year.