SACRAMENTO
– U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-CA, introduced a bill Monday that
would regulate the amount of the perchlorate allowed in public
drinking water, and a state senator has already introduced a bill
to control and supervise the chemical.
SACRAMENTO – U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-CA, introduced a bill Monday that would regulate the amount of the perchlorate allowed in public drinking water, and a state senator has already introduced a bill to control and supervise the chemical.
The federal bill would require the Environmental Protection Agency to set a minimum acceptable level of the chemical in water by July 1, 2004. The EPA’s current schedule would establish the standard by 2006. The need for such legislation became apparent in recent weeks, when nearly 200 wells from Morgan Hill to Gilroy tested positive for unhealthy amounts of perchlorate.
“Perchlorate is a clear and present danger to California’s public health,” Boxer said. “We can’t wait four more years to address this threat.”
Currently, the amount of perchlorate – measured by parts per billion – varies widely from state to state. Some as high as 24 ppb; some as low as 1 ppb. California’s advisory limit is, at present, 4 ppb, having been lowered from 18 ppb in January 2002.
The 4 ppb level was chosen in the absence of a federal standard, now varying between 2 and 6 ppb. State Senator Byron Sher, D-Stanford, introduced a bill requiring Gov. Gray Davis to establish a maximum contaminate level (MCL) by Jan. 1, 2004.
“Anything that anybody does in coming up with a standard for regulation would be helpful because right now we’re in the dark,” said Sig Sanchez, chairman of the Santa Clara Valley Water District board of directors.
The 24-year water board veteran described the existing advisory levels as “all over the place.”
It is widely expected that, when California sets a standard, it will be adopted by the rest of the country, said Mike DiMarco, a spokesman for the Santa Clara Valley Water District.
Boxer’s office confirmed that drinking water sources for 7 million Californians are polluted with some level of perchlorate.
“Sen. Boxer’s legislation is a long-overdue step toward addressing a toxic legacy of the Cold War that poses a health risk to Americans from California to Cape Cod,” said Bill Walker, West Coast vice president of the Environmental Working Group, an agency closely watching the perchlorate situation as it develops.
As of Feb. 27, the chemical had been found locally in 189 of 475 wells tested in south Morgan Hill, San Martin and north Gilroy. The perchlorate source is the former Olin Corp. plant on Tennant Avenue at Railroad Avenue. Olin – and the Standard Fusee Corp. – manufactured highway safety flares on the site from 1955 to 1996. The plant was razed in 1997.
Olin has accepted responsibility for the chemical percolating from an evaporation pond on site, down into the underground aquifer that has been carrying the chemical to wells south/southeast for an undetermined number of years. The company provides bottled water to residents whose wells are contaminated and those whose wells are being tested.
Perchlorate is also a by-product in the manufacture of rocket fuel, matches, fireworks, automobile air bags and even some fertilizers. Several wells in Hollister register significant levels of the chemical. They are located near several plants – including Teledyne-McCormick – that make the air bags.
The harm that perchlorate may cause humans and animals is not well-documented at this point though several studies are under way. It has been known to cause thyroid malfunction, especially in the vulnerable populations of pregnant women and young children. Perchlorate competes with iodide for uptake into the thyroid.
According to Dr. Martin Fenstersheib, Santa Clara County’s health officer, a person with a normal thyroid and a normal diet (iodide is added to salt), should not have much problem. It is the other situations that cause concern; the “safe” level of perchlorate intake is also unknown. The chemical is also linked with thyroid cancers.
However, EWG issued its own press release Monday praising Boxer’s bill but releasing “an analysis of the latest scientific studies on the health risks of exposure to even low doses of perchlorate and arguing that the national drinking water standard should be no higher than one-tenth the EPA’s current recommendation.”
“Small disturbances in thyroid hormone levels during pregnancy,” Walker said, “can cause lowered IQ and larger disturbances can cause mental retardation, loss of hearing and speech or deficits in motor skills for infants and children.”
In Sacramento, Sen. Nell Soto, D-Ontario, has introduced SB 1004 that would establish a fee of 6 cents per pound on facilities storing large amounts of perchlorate. The fees would be used to set up a monitoring program to assist the state. The bill will require disclosure of perchlorate levels used in the manufacturing process by any company since Jan. 1, 1950. The companies must also disclose how the chemical was stored.
Soto’s bill will also establish an emergency fund to provide loans to communities needing emergency water supplies when their local wells have been contaminated by the perchlorate.
Details of state Senate bills: visit www.senate.ca.gov and click on Legislation, then enter the bill number, author’s name or key word.
