KNOWN AREAS OF PERCHLORATE CONTAMINATION / FEB 1, 1999

(See:Dec 11, 1999 - Rocket Propellant Chemical Found in Drinking Water /
ZWA Update 2/2/99: EPA will test wells in the Yardley area. )

>> From: "Larry Ladd" llladd@sprintmail.com /
>> Community Representative
>> Aerojet Health Assessment Site Team
>> Rancho Cordova, California
>>
>> The largest known point source for perchlorate is the sewage effluent of
>> Las Vegas, NV in the Las Vegas Wash, which contains approximately 1000
>> ppb ClO4- leached from buried stream beds. The subterranean stream beds in
>> turn were contaminated by dumping from the Kerr McGee perchlorate plant
>> in Henderson, Nevada. This factory used the electricity from Hoover Dam to
>> manufacture most of the nation s perchlorate. Kerr McGee, already
>> bruised by the Silkwood episode, has withdrawn from the perchlorate business.
>>
>> The effluent from Las Vegas flows into Lake Mead and the Colorado River,
>> contaminating Las Vegas s water supply to a level of 10-20 ppb, and the
>> drinking water for many communities between and including Los Angeles/San
>> Diego and Phoenix/Tuscon to a level of 5-10 ppb. The level of perchlorate in
>>Las Vegas's water depends on currents in Lake Mead, so that there has been no
>>perchlorate in Vegas water since last summer. High summer evaporation
>> rates in the desert would likely concentrate perchlorate in both irrigation
>> waters and food crops of the lower Colorado Basin. This source alone has
>> contaminated the water supply of over 10 million people, and quite possibly
>> contaminated the food supply of millions more.
>>
>> Suffolk County, New York (the eastern 2/3rds of Long Island) has found
>> perchlorate in the 2-8 ppb range in 5-10% of its wells. One well in
>> Westhampton Beach contained 150 ppb ClO4- and was shut down.
>>
>>In the first nation-wide survey for perchlorate, the American Water
>>Works Service Company reported finding perchlorate in 10 of the 400 wells they
>> own. Most of these contaminated wells were in California and part of
>> groundwater plumes already detected by the state Department of Health
>> Services, but there were five hits elsewhere: Yardley (Lower Makefield), Pennsylvania (5ppb)
>> north of Philadelphia and across the Delaware River from Trenton, New
>> Jersey; Davenport and Clinton, Iowa (up to 6 ppb) along the Mississippi
>> River; Greenwood, Indiana south of Indianapolis; and Clovis, New Mexico on
>> the central New Mexico-Texas border, in association with Cannon Air Force Base.
>>
>>AWWSC officials in Indiana report that they cannot duplicate their ClO4-
>>hit.AWWARF, the water purveyor organization given responsibility for
>>perchlorate research by Congress, is hesitating to survey nationwide until
>>toxicological studies are finalized.  A perchlorate test using ion chromatography costs
>>$20 wholesale, $100 retail.  Part of AWWARF's concern is that water
>>purveyors will find themselves entangled in personal injury suits when perchlorate is
>>discovered ( see http://www.rkmlaw.com/as_toxic.htm ).  While the "good
>>science" on perchlorate's health effects is still pending, AAWARF is
>>developing a computer model that will enable it to efficiently find ClO4-
>>in drinking water when the time is right.
>>
>> A much-improved list of contaminated wells in California can be found at
>> www.dhs.cahwnet.gov/ps/ddwem/chemicals/perchl/perchlindex.htm. Names,
>>test dates, and concentrations are available for each well.
>>
>> Perchlorate from several munitions and rocket plants is in the groundwater
>> supply to the west of the Utah urban area. It has only entered the water
>> supply to a level of 5 ppb in one well in Magna, Utah.
>>
>> Perchlorate at a level of 5 ppb can be found in Caddo Lake on the
>> Texas-Louisiana border 20 miles northwest of Shreveport, and up to 100 ppb
>> has been found in the water supply of East Camden, Arkansas, 100 miles to
>> the northeast of Shreveport. (end)