Possible Federal Perchlorate Limit Set in Motion

Water Technology Online , Staff
Published November 16, 2007

WASHINGTON — The Congressional Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials recently approved by voice vote a bill that would limit the levels of perchlorate in drinking water, according to a November 8 Congressional Quarterly (CQ) Today article. The measure, which could go to the full House of Representatives in 2008, requires the US Environmental Protection Agency to set a national drinking water standard on the chemical that is most commonly used in rocket fuel. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that perchlorate, which most often leaches into the water supply from military bases, causes changes to thyroid levels in women, and exposure to it is particularly dangerous for pregnant women. Richard Wiles, who heads the Washington-based advocacy group Environmental Working Group, which supports the bill, said in a November 13 WISN.com story, “It looks like there’s 100 percent exposure to the US population to this rocket fuel contamination. [It’s] very serious when you have millions of women potentially entering pregnancies with lower thyroid levels.”