The federal government recognized what California has been
lauding for months: let’s better regulate how much perchlorate
– a chemical found in rocket fuel – is in our drinking
water.
The federal government recognized what California has been lauding for months: let’s better regulate how much perchlorate – a chemical found in rocket fuel – is in our drinking water.
The proposal by the Environmental Protection Agency comes after regulations were thwarted by the George W. Bush administration in 2008, the Department of Justice, NASA and aerospace industries which challenged the real danger of low levels in tap water.
Perchlorate is both a manmade and natural occurring chemical used in rocket fuel, explosives and road flares that is known to disrupt thyroid function in pregnant women and prenatal brain development. Scientific studies have shown ingesting perchlorate-laced drinking water led to lower IQs in small children and delays in development.
In February 2001, hundreds of South County residents’ way of life was disrupted when dangerous levels of perchlorate were discovered leaking into the groundwater basin from an old road flare plant on Tennant Avenue in Morgan Hill.
In the worst cases, water had 50 parts per billion of perchlorate, enough to alarm residents and cause the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board to hold Olin Corp. responsible for the clean-up, a multi-million dollar venture.
California’s “public health goal” is 6 parts per billion, though it’s been proposed to change that to 1 part per billion. The proposed change is currently going through the public comment portion of the process. Massachusetts and California are the only states which regulate perchlorate in drinking water. If the EPA decides to regulate perchlorate more stringently than California – a process that is expected to take several years – state standards will follow suit, though it’s uncertain what the federal standard might be. One part per billion is equivalent to a half-teaspoon in an Olympic-sized swimming pool.
“A family with a pregnant woman or infant could be affected at a lower level, that’s who should be paying attention. I do want to stress the progress being made in Morgan Hill and the surrounding area,” said Andria Ventura, the program manager for California Clean Water Action, a political advocacy organization. Ventura is a frequent attendee of the local Perchlorate Advisory Community Group meetings and versed in the perchlorate plume that was confirmed by the state in 2003.
“We’re a community that is making progress on its problem, but people are continuing to drink the contaminated water and there is no legal standard to regulate it. Now, this is a step toward that and that is progress,” Ventura said.
There are more than 800 affected private and public wells in the 9.5-mile contamination plume in Morgan Hill and San Martin. Residents were distributed bottled water for months and some for years. Nine residents still receive bottled water as their tap water is testing at levels too high to safely drink with or cook, according to the standard in place of 4 parts per billion for the affected plume wells, a decision by the Morgan Hill City Council in December 2008.
Olin Corp. owned and operated the factory from 1956 to 1995 and since the noxious chemical was found in the town’s wells, has funded the clean-up in part with the Santa Clara Valley Water District the county’s wholesale water retailer and the City of Morgan Hill. In March 2010, Olin settled a lawsuit with the water district that sought to force Olin to pay for debt it incurred during the clean-up process; $4.6 million remains on the water district’s tab and ratepayers are now forced to pay over the next two years what the water district couldn’t recover in a series of lawsuits and counter suits.
Water utilities serving more than 10,000 customers in California must test for perchlorate every year, according to state law, and maintain a level of less than 6 parts per billion. If the water tests higher, the utility company could be fined and if it’s found at 60 parts per billion it would be forced to shut down.
“With environmental laws, California is a leader and sets the tone often for other states. If the (EPA) standard is more stringent, then California will follow,” said Dean Thomas, an engineering geologist at the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board.
The change on the federal level won’t affect how the water district test its water said Vanessa De La Piedra, a senior water resources specialist at the water district.
“The district will continue to monitor perchlorate throughout the county,” she said. “The treated water served by the district and groundwater served by public water suppliers meet current drinking water standards and will meet standards as they change. The district will continue to be engaged in state and federal processes to establish drinking water standards.”
South County’s representative on the water district’s board of directors, Don Gage, said the district will follow the rules whatever they may be.
Sixteen other toxins are being examined by the EPA for first-time federal regulations, including chromium-6, which the water district board has recently discussed after its presence was found in drinking water in San Jose.
“Most of the time we are looking for them to give us some standards to follow because it’s like chromium-6, we don’t have the standards,” Gage said. California does not regulate chromium-6 in drinking water, though Senator Barbara Boxer has proposed regulations for the carcinogen that was made famous in Hinkley, by Erin Brockovich in 1993. A high number of cancer cases were tied to the chromium-6 plume and resulted in a $333 million settlement with PG&E.
Recently, the city of Morgan Hill dismissed its lawsuit against the Regional Water Quality Control Board over ensuring the clean-up was being conducted thoroughly. The parties agreed to relieve city employees of monitoring the Tennant well and order Olin to treat the water and pump it back into the groundwater basin.
Danny Wan, Morgan Hill’s city attorney, reported at Wednesday’s council meeting that the lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice leaving an out for the city if they believe the control board isn’t living up to the agreement.
“We’ve always said, well OK, but it’s not our responsibility to treat perchlorate, why don’t you tell Olin to complete that? Now we’re in position that we don’t have to spend money on this anymore,” Wan said.
