News Coverage
Concerns in California over the levels of the chemical perchlorate in the drinking water supply
Published March 12, 2004
ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel.
MELISSA BLOCK, host:
And I'm Melissa Block.
California health officials have taken the first step toward regulating a major contaminant of drinking water. Yesterday, the state announced guidelines for limits on perchlorate in the water supply. The chemical's been found in hundreds of wells in California and in drinking water in many other states. The federal government has yet to establish regulations for perchlorate. NPR's Carrie Kahn reports from Los Angeles.
CARRIE KAHN reporting:
Perchlorate was widely used in the '50s in the manufacturing of rocket fuel. It's also used in making munitions and even fireworks. Some of the highest perchlorate contamination is from defense contractors, especially one former rocket fuel factory in Nevada where the chemical is leaking into the lower Colorado River. That's the water supply for more than 15 million people. Sylvia Hamilton is a retired schoolteacher in Northern California. She says she knows more about perchlorate than she wants to.
Ms. SYLVIA HAMILTON: It's taken over my life. I couldn't even say the word 'perchlorate' a few months ago.
KAHN: Hamilton heads up a local community group working to clean up water wells in her rural community just outside of San Jose, California. Perchlorate has been found in more than 500 wells surrounding Hamilton's property, mostly at low levels. The nine-mile-long plume of the chemical runs straight out of a former plant that manufactured highway flares. Hamilton says she was hoping the state would set an acceptable level of perchlorate in drinking water at around two parts per billion. Instead, the state opted for six. That's the equivalent of six drops in an Olympic-sized swimming pool.
State officials say they set the guideline after conducting a rigorous scientific review. It's known that high doses of perchlorate can affect thyroid function, and many scientists believe that pregnant women and fetuses face a higher risk than others. Allan Hirsch, spokesman for state environmental officials, says a margin of safety was built into the number to ensure a high level of protection.
Mr. ALLAN HIRSCH (Spokesman): We're pleased that we can come out with this number that will benefit the people of California.
KAHN: Defense officials said they believe the number should be as high as 200 parts per billion. James Strock is a former head of the California Environmental Protection Agency, who now works for a defense industry-funded non-profit. He says it's important that the state use the best science available so that places with the highest levels are cleaned up.
Mr. JAMES STROCK (Former California EPA Head): Because if too much resource is put into the wrong thing, then people will not be protected from what they ought to be worried about. So it's a very important thing to use science and not to let politics drive these decisions.
KAHN: Defense officials had lobbied the state to wait until a perchlorate review by the National Academy of Sciences was completed. The state has agreed to adjust its guideline after the NAS review is published, probably this fall.
But environmentalists say the defense industry has already stalled the guideline, and has pressured that state to set the perchlorate level too high. Renee Sharp is an activist with the Environmental Working Group. She says the six-parts-per-billion level will let the defense industry off the hook for too much of the cleanup costs.
Ms. RENEE SHARP (Environmental Working Group): They have sued; they have lobbied; they have, you know, done their own science; they have managed to get their own people on peer review panels. And, you know, to think that all of the money that they've been spending isn't having any effect is hard to believe.
KAHN: For Sylvia Hamilton, she just wants to see the wells by her house cleaned up. She's worried that if the state's number is made permanent, a lot of people in her community won't get cleanup money. Most of the private wells near San Jose have perchlorate levels below six parts per billion.
Ms. HAMILTON: A lot of people are left out at that level also, if nothing is done to help clean up their water.
KAHN: It's now up to the state's Health Department to set a final regulatory standard for perchlorate limits in drinking water. That standard, which is expected out in a year, also takes into account the cost-effectiveness of cleanup and will undoubtedly stir up more controversy and lobbying. Carrie Kahn, NPR News, Los Angeles.