News Coverage
Environmental group wants much tighter perchlorate restrictions
Published July 29, 2001
An environmental research group wants children and fetuses protected with stricter water standards for a chemical that has been found at a former rocket plant in McGregor.
A report by the California-based Environmental Working Group seeks standards for perchlorate in water that are almost seven times more stringent than a provisional standard set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The organization's report "Rocket Science" was released July 16. It contends the EPA's standards do not adequately protect children and fetuses.
The Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission has a standard for perchlorate when groundwater is being cleaned up, said TNRCC spokesman Dick Lewis. The commission will be holding a hearing next month in McGregor on a permit application filed by the U.S. Navy to discharge treated perchlorate-contaminated groundwater. The water is from the former Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant, which manufactured rockets during the 1950s and 1960s.
Researchers with the environmental group recommend a perchlorate standard of no greater than 4.3 parts per billion in water. The EPA has a provisional standard of 32 parts per billion. California's level is 18 parts per billion. The Texas standard when there is contaminated groundwater is 22 parts per billion. No permanent standard has been developed for perchlorate in drinking water, Lewis said.
Perchlorate is a main ingredient in manufacturing rockets. It was used at the former weapons plant in McGregor. The Navy is now cleaning up the property so it can be turned over to the city of McGregor for use as an industrial park. Perchlorate has been a major focus of that cleanup since it was discovered in 1998 in Harris Creek, which flows into the South Bosque River.
Evidence of health risks from perchlorate in drinking water is spotty with the exception of thyroid problems. Thyroid hormones are crucial to proper development of many organ systems. The environmental group's report says infants and fetuses may be especially sensitive to the reductions in thyroid hormones that can be caused by perchlorate contamination.
"There are hundreds of untested wells and water systems across the country and many Americans may be consuming a toxin which is a health threat at very low doses, especially to infants and children," said Bill Walker of San Francisco, the environmental group's California director.
Jim Beltz, a Navy spokesman, said he is aware of the organization's report and its recommendations. However, he said the Navy officially has no comment on the report.
"We leave that to the regulatory agencies," he said. "We will comply with the regulatory standards of the state of Texas."
The Navy has been working on several methods to treat groundwater tainted by perchlorate at McGregor. Beltz said testing in the last two years of waters outside the facility has turned up traces of perchlorate, but at levels considered by the Navy to be so low the chemical is not thought of as having been detected. Those water bodies include Lake Waco and Belton Lake. Perchlorate has been found on the former plant site in amounts as high as 90,000 parts per billion.
The report says developing fetuses, infants and children with thyroid impairment may suffer conditions such as mental retardation, loss of hearing or speech, or deficits in motor skills.
Perchlorate is not believed to be a carcinogen, but there is suspicion of thyroid tumors caused by the substance, the report said.
Tom Zoeller is a biology professor at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, Mass. A member of the EPA's perchlorate review panel, Zoeller studied the environmental group's report. Zoeller said he agrees with the group's main finding concerning the vulnerability of developing fetuses and children from perchlorate contamination in water. He said the substance does not directly cause cancer but that perchlorate's interference with the thyroid gland can lead to the production of precancerous cells.
Zoeller said he doesn't agree or disagree with the environmental group's recommendation of a lower water standard for perchlorate. He said not enough scientific evidence is available for him to make such a recommendation.
A public hearing is scheduled Aug. 16 at McGregor High School to discuss the Navy's application to discharge treated groundwater. The water would be released into an unnamed tributary of Station Creek, which flows into the Leon River near Mother Neff State Park. The river supplies Belton Lake with water. The lake is the source of drinking water for most of Bell County including Killeen, Temple and Fort Hood. It also provides water to systems serving portions of Coryell and McLennan counties.
Within the past year, a stakeholders group has held meetings about the perchlorate situation. Members of the group represent entities with a vital interest in water potentially affected by perchlorate from the former McGregor plant. The group includes 17 cities and several water supply systems. Among the cities involved are Waco, Temple, Killeen and Gatesville.
David Blackburn, Killeen city manager, said the group is going with the state's perchlorate standard of 22 parts per billion. Most of those cities had opposed an attempt in 1999 by the Navy for a water discharge permit. Plans for such a permit were withdrawn by the Navy after the cities sought a hearing on the application from an administrative law judge.
The Brazos River Authority and Texas Tech University are studying perchlorate contamination. Phil Ford, BRA general manager, said his organization is actively encouraging public participation in the state's comment process on the Navy's water discharge permit. Ford also said the stakeholders group will be opposing the permit until the scientific knowledge needed to ensure safety of the watershed is available.