EDITOR: When you turn on your tap water today in Morgan Hill you
can be sure of one thing, there is perchlorate in it. The city is
pumping water from a well known to hold perchlorate, treating the
water through an ion exchange process and pumping it to your
home.
EDITOR:
When you turn on your tap water today in Morgan Hill you can be sure of one thing, there is perchlorate in it. The city is pumping water from a well known to hold perchlorate, treating the water through an ion exchange process and pumping it to your home. The process apparently does not make the water perchlorate-free. Our only assurance is that the water from the contaminated well is below the 4 ppb, the state guideline.
Water from city wells according to the assistant to the city manager is comingled and we are receiving water from all wells (contaminated and not).
The city refuses to test below the 4 ppb advisory telling us that such testing is unreliable and not required. How unreliable, 1.5 to 2.5 ppb? We don’t know and the city refuses to do more, holding on to aging and changing state guidelines.
If testing were so unreliable why would other states consider of which three states have already adopted a 1 ppb maximum contaminate level? If testing is so unreliable why does the EPA advisory recommend 1 ppb for human consumption? Obviously such testing does exists or exists in a manner where there is statistical certainly that levels can be measured below 1 ppb. Other than rules-driven bureaucrats nothing prevents this city from doing more – nothing.
We are at risk. City administration has convinced this council that current actions are prudent. I strongly disagree, and I would gather there are thousands more who would have similar concerns.
The prudent action would be to shut wells down with any measurable amount of “rocket fuel” and not allow it to mix with other wells. Our water supply is already high in nitrates and other minerals and the “cocktail” we are drinking should be of great concern of every man, woman and child in this community. Why are we settling for anything else than pure drinking water? Who are we allowing to make these decisions for us? What gives any one the right to pump toxins to our homes at any level under the assurance that it’s harmless?
Enough is enough. We’ve been told that a little ppb of this and a little ppb of that are not harmful. This cannot be acceptable for the sum of all parts cannot be anything but unhealthy if not lethal for some. The water we drink today should be pure and safe, for the day we begin to settle for anything less, and I mean anything, is the day we start accepting and setting mortality rates. That is something I cannot do, and our local elected and appointed officials are not empowered by me or anyone else to make such decisions.
The issue has become a compromise of values, and I for one cannot compromise on that which I value most – human life.
Mark Grzan,
Morgan Hill
