News Coverage
Calif. Water Standard Prompts Debate
Published March 18, 2004
SACRAMENTO - California has become the first state to define a health standard for perchlorate, a rocket fuel ingredient that has seeped into the water supply of thousands, and possibly millions, of residents across the state. But environmentalists are expressing disappointment that the state opted for a less aggressive standard that may relax cleanup of a toxin linked to thyroid maladies and birth defects.
Environmental groups had been pushing for tough standards that they hoped would serve as a model for other states also grappling with drinking supplies contaminated with perchlorate.
Instead, California a week ago announced a "public health goal" of 6 parts per billion, a looser standard than the 4 ppb the state had been using as an unofficial guideline for the past two years - and much more lax than the 1 ppb the federal Environmental Protection Agency set as a working standard while it determines its own health standard.
"California has a reputation for being the most protective state, but I think we may now have to give way," said Jonathan Parfrey, executive director for Physicians for Social Responsibility, based in Los Angeles. "It's our view that California's public health goal will not sufficiently protect us."
It is now up to the state Department of Health Services to formulate a regulatory standard - a public policy decision that will not only consider public health but take into account the cost of cleaning up tainted water supplies. That means the permissible concentration of perchlorate in drinking water may go even higher.
If ingested in sufficient quantities, perchlorate prevents the thyroid gland from absorbing iodide, a necessary nutrient for proper physical and mental activity. Studies suggest that changes in the levels of thyroid hormones could result in tumors. In fetuses and newborns, the absence of these hormones could harm brain development and lead to mental retardation, attention-deficit syndrome, and impaired vision, hearing, and speech.
Dozens of wells across the state have been shut down because of high levels of perchlorate. At least 84 of the state's water systems have detected perchlorate in varying levels. San Bernardino County, in Southern California, found perchlorate levels in some wells as high as 820 parts per billion.
Waste from a perchlorate manufacturing plant near Hoover Dam in Nevada continues to flow into Lake Mead and the lower Colorado River, the source of drinking water for more than 15 million people in Southern California, Nevada, and Arizona.
Allan Hirsch, a spokesman for the state Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, defended the agency's health guideline, saying it was "based on a very thorough scientific assessment and was peer-reviewed."
Hirsch rebutted contentions by some environmental groups, who say his state is relying on inadequate science, and that the agency was pressured by the Pentagon and the defense industry to help save them millions, if not billions, of dollars in cleanup costs.
"It's our number, we've stuck by it, and we're going to continue standing by it," said Hirsch, noting that the Pentagon has been pushing for a much higher 200 ppb limit.
The Environmental Protection Agency is still years away from establishing a safe drinking standard for perchlorate. At the request of the agency, the National Academy of Sciences is reviewing the EPA's draft report on perchlorate.
Until it comes up with its own standard, the EPA is suggesting a 1 part-per-billion standard for perchlorate - the same level Massachusetts has adopted until it, too, establishes official regulations.
Environmentalists were pushing for the most stringent standard as the more prudent approach, considering the still-uncertain long-term health effects posed by perchlorate, said Bill Walker, the California director of the Environmental Working Group.
"We are disappointed," Walker said, "but at the same time we recognize that the state has taken an important step."