News Coverage
Waco and Belton lake users safe from perchlorate
Published April 5, 2004
Public water supply users of Lake Waco and Belton Lake are not at risk of exposure to a potentially harmful substance used in making rockets, says a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers report.
Corps and other officials including U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, announced Monday the water and other findings after almost four years of study into how perchlorate has affected the environment around the former Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant in McGregor.
The officials, speaking at a press conference on the grounds of the former rocket plant, said some potential for exposure to perchlorate remains on and around the 9,600 acres of the ex-Navy facility.
Edwards paved the way in 1996 for the Navy to transfer the property, once it is cleaned of harmful substances, to the city of McGregor for economic development. McGregor officials now see a clear path toward prosperity even though the Navy and its contractors may have to work for years to ensure all property is habitable.
"This is not just a good news story," Edwards said at the news conference. "It's a continuing news story."
Perchlorate became a major focus of cleanup at the former weapons plant when, in 1998, it was first detected in Harris Creek. The creek flows into the South Bosque River. Later monitoring found perchlorate in several tributaries of the Leon and Bosque rivers. The Leon is the source for Belton Lake, which provides most of Bell County's drinking water. The Bosque flows into Lake Waco. That lake gives most of McLennan County its water supply. Perchlorate has never been detected in either lake.
The $16.5 million study was developed by the Corps in conjunction with several partners, including Texas Tech University, the Brazos River Authority, the city of Waco, the Bell County Water Control and Improvement District and the private contractor, Montgomery Watson Harza, to determine the effects perchlorate could have on people and the ecosystem.
Perchlorate is the chemical used as a primary ingredient of solid rocket propellant. The chemical can disrupt thyroid function. The thyroid helps to regulate metabolism in humans. Changes in the thyroid may lead to tumors. The thyroid also plays a major role in the development of children. Some studies have indicated that perchlorate could cause problems with the development of fetuses, infants and children.
Cattle fed water that contained perchlorate also was studied and the report found beef from cattle raised in the area of the former plant appeared not to present a risk of exposure to perchlorate. Although beef and the water supply in McLennan and Bell counties were given a clean bill of health, the report says exposure possibilities continue to exist for people in and around the plant including those who:
* Consume vegetation from gardens irrigated with perchlorate-contaminated water.
* Use water from affected wells or streams or consume wild vegetation near streams that have been impacted by perchlorate.
* Accidentally ingest water during swimming or wading in "the watersheds where perchlorate is present at detectable concentrations."
* Eat fish caught in the watersheds, including from Belton Lake and Lake Waco. Exposure to perchlorate could be found "in fish fillets, although the risk of this exposure is thought to be low."
Speakers at the event lauded the cooperation of the many levels of government as well as the results. Waco Mayor Linda Ethridge said the scope of the study will be a model for those outside Central Texas.
"This is really an environmental management issue success story," Ethridge said. "This is adding to the scientific knowledge that I think will be beneficial to the nation."
The federal government is still considering whether to regulate perchlorate. Dave Bary, Environmental Protection Agency spokesman for the regional office in Dallas, said federal limits for perchlorate in drinking water range between 4 to 18 parts per billion. Texas has a standard of 4 parts per billion. But the state can only suggest, not force, a water system to shut down if it exceeds that limit, said Glenn Greenwood, a spokesman for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
Amounts of perchlorate found on the plant site and off vary widely. However, the largest reading found on the site was 90,000 parts per billion.
The Environmental Working Group, an environmental research group, has studied perchlorate and has warned about dangers that potentially exist from the chemical. Rene Sharp, a researcher for the Washington, D.C.-based group, said she still has concerns despite the positive aspects of the Bosque and Leon study.
"There is a lot of perchlorate coming off that site," Sharp said. "It's definitely getting into the ecosystem. It's probably not getting into the public drinking water system now, but it looks like there might be problems with public wells around there."
Sharp said the question remains on how to clean up the perchlorate.
The Navy and its contractors say the cleanup will continue. Several methods are being used, including microbes to attack the perchlorate. Capt. Fran Castaldo, the Navy representative at the press conference, said his branch will do all that is necessary to ensure environmental conditions at the former plant are up to state and federal standards.
Bobby Fillyaw, McGregor Economic Development Corp. president, said about 6,600 acres have been transferred from the Navy to McGregor for economic development use. It could be as many as 10 years before all the property is turned over, according to Fillyaw. But he said that the positive report will help in getting more entities at the developing industrial park, where one of the most recent additions is the new McLennan County Electric Cooperative offices.
"We are now officially full time in the economic development business and are ready to make some deals," Fillyaw said. "Since the first piece of property about four years ago, we have increased by between $22 million and $25 million in investments and added about 200 jobs in the community because of it."
Some eight businesses are now located on the former plant site, including an aerospace plant, a trailer manufacturer and a community rodeo arena that Fillyaw said attracted about 40,000 people to the community last year.