Perchlorate-contaminated drinking water is safe at
concentrations more than double California
’s current public health goal, and about 14 times the level set
by the U.S.
Perchlorate-contaminated drinking water is safe at concentrations more than double California’s current public health goal, and about 14 times the level set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, according to a much-anticipated federal report to be released today by the National Academy of Sciences.
And if it’s adopted by state agencies, the NAS recommendation could dramatically lessen the responsibilities of the company that polluted South County.
“The committee believes that (this level) should protect the health of even the most sensitive populations,” said Dr. Richard B. Johnston, the chairman of the committee that produced the report. “We think the data we used established the fundamental level, below which we think is safe.”
In 2002, the EPA set a standard of one part of perchlorate per billion for drinking water. Last year, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment set the state’s public health goal for drinking water at six parts per billion. The NAS committee used a different formulation that translates roughly into 23 parts per billion, from both water and food.
Assuming, as does the OEHHA, that 60 percent of perchlorate intake is from drinking water, the NAS number allows for water contaminated at 14 parts per billion.
“I was hoping for a significantly more stringent standard that would be more protective of the community,” Sylvia Hamilton said Monday.
Hamilton is chairwoman of the Perchlorate Community Advisory Group in San Martin. “I couldn’t sleep at night recommending that people drink water anywhere near 20 parts per billion, or even 10.”
That number could have a major influence on the cleanup up of the 10.5-mile perchlorate plume flowing south of the Olin’s former flare factory on Tennant Avenue.
Later this year, California’s Department of Health Services is expected to release a drinking water standard for the state. That number cannot be lower than the public health goal, and spokesmen from the DHS and OEHHA said Monday that the NAS report will influence the state’s recommendations.
“Our initial take on it is that it’s very encouraging because the approach they used was so much in synch with ours,” said Allan Hirsch, spokesman for the OEHHA. “I think the question is whether we’ll need to fine tune the public health goal as opposed to making radical changes to it.”
Impact on Olin
But any change will alter Olin’s responsibilities. Currently the company is providing drinking water to residents whose water is contaminated at six parts per billion or higher, and the company could use a higher public health goal to argue for a less thorough cleanup.
Olin project manager Rick McClure said Monday that the company will continue to “negotiate all variables” relating to the cleanup.
“Olin has always done the right thing and will continue to do so,” McClure said. “We’ll continue to operate according to state law.”
And David Athey, project for the Central Coast regional water Quality Control Board, which is overseeing the Morgan Hill site, said that state law directs that all contaminated ground water must be cleaned to “background” or immeasurable levels.
But the law also gives Olin an opening to appeal a cleanup order on scientific grounds. The company can argue that it would be economically or scientifically unfeasible to cleanup to levels below the public health goal.
And Olin’s accountability will also depend on future studies of the nation’s food supply. It’s not yet known how widespread perchlorate is in the food supply, but late last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found it in lettuce and milk in all 15 states where it took samples. It’s also not clear whether perchlorate-contaminated food is as harmful as contaminated water.
Although the NAS figure was far below the 200 parts per billion advocated by the defense industry, it was met with passionate approbation from environmental advocates, who claim that the report was subject to “unprecedented influence” from the White House and Department of Defense.
“The Academy is supposed to be the Supreme Court of Science,” said Dr. Gina Solomon, of the National Resource Defense Council, who sits on another NAS committee. “That reputation was tarnished by this panel.”
The NRDC is suing the White House, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Defense Department to release documents that the NRDC says will show the government’s fingerprints all over the NAS report.
To compensate for a lack of information on the effects of perchlorate on pregnant woman, the NAS report suggests that they take iodine supplements.
“That’s unconscionable,” said Andria Ventura, of San Francisco’s Clean Water Action. “That’s putting the onus on the victim.
“It’s a travesty when pressure from those with political and economic power exert blatant influence on a such an historically reputable organization. The primary thing to remember here is that people should not have to drink water with a twist of perchlorate.”
Dispatch reporter Matt King covers Santa Clara County. mk***@************ch.com or 847-7240.
