OT: Chromium 6 in CA drinking water

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So many here are in CA, and I think one is in Oakland - did you know of this???

My View: Chromium 6 still threatens California's drinking water

By Brockovich

Special to The Bee (Sacramento Bee)

Published: Monday, Oct. 26, 2009 - 12:00 am | Page 15A

Polluters who contaminate drinking water and make people sick shouldn't get off

easy. That has been the focus of my work for two decades, and I'm not planning

to stop now.

My work focused the attention of the world on a carcinogen called hexavalent

chromium (hex chrome). In 1996, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. " a

multibillion-dollar corporation " paid $333 million in damages to the people of

Hinkley for contaminating their drinking water and covering up the problem for

decades while people got sick and died. This victory was immortalized in film.

But the story doesn't end there.

More than 500 California communities and 30 million state residents drank water

contaminated with hexavalent chromium at levels above safe levels between 1998

and 2003. Hex chrome has been detected in nearly 60 percent of the drinking

water sources sampled in California.

These problems are especially widespread in the Central Valley and the Inland

Empire. The PG & E-Kettleman case settled in 2006 for $335 million. Another PG & E

site in Topock affected the Colorado River †" a drinking water source for

millions. In Burbank, contamination by Lockheed affected thousands, and

in Riverside, TXI Corp's cement kiln contaminated the soil. Even Disney is

responsible for chromium contamination in the San Valley.

Communities all over the United States and around the world have been poisoned

by this chemical. I am currently working on a case in Midland, Texas, with

enormous levels of hexavalent chromium in well water. Chromium polluters include

a Who's Who of major corporations. It doesn't take a genius to know that these

polluters don't want people to realize the extent of the problem, since they'd

be on the hook for an expensive cleanup.

So it doesn't surprise me that five years after California regulatory agencies

were required by law to set an up-to-date enforceable standard for hex chrome in

drinking water, consumers are still not protected. I've fought these powerful

interests for years, and I know firsthand how good they are at delay tactics.

The good news is that Cal-EPA's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment

†" the public health agency that the governor tried unsuccessfully to eliminate

in the last budget cycle †" has just come out with a proposed drinking water

level that would protect Californians.

The new assessment uses research from the National Toxicology Program to

identify the levels of hex chrome that cause cancer and then calculates a safe

level for vulnerable populations including children. There was a public meeting

in Oakland last week to accept comments on this proposal; written public input

is welcome until Nov. 2.

I read through the 140-page Cal-EPA document with mixed feelings. On the one

hand I felt vindicated, but I also felt saddened. The National Toxicology

Program concluded in a 2007 study that hexavalent chromium is considered

carcinogenic not only by inhalation but by ingestion. Gosh, who knew? Maybe if

someone had believed all these people in Hinkley many years ago, many more lives

would have been saved.

I was saddened by the descriptions of liver and kidney degeneration, blood

abnormalities including anemia, testicular damage, infertility, miscarriage,

fetal toxicity, chromosomal abnormalities and a litany of cancers. The clinical

descriptions in the Cal-EPA document weren't abstract to me †" they brought

back the names and faces of people who I know who have lived and died with these

illnesses.

a , the original client in the movie, was poisoned by Chromium 6.

PG & E recently tested her new well at her new home and found levels of hexavalent

chromium at 1.26 parts per billion, well over the proposed level of 0.06 ppb.

I congratulate the hard work of attorneys who fought on behalf of those poisoned

and I applaud agencies and scientists for overseeing, setting and hopefully

enforcing stricter standards. My fight for the people of Hinkley isn't over. To

bring this dark chapter of history to a close, California must adopt a legally

enforceable and truly health-protective standard for hex chrome in drinking

water.

I cannot protect every contaminated community, but if we have a uniform

standard, I will rest easier knowing that people won't be unknowingly drinking

this dangerous substance. This chemical is a serious problem and I am glad it is

being addressed. California has always led the way in setting standards that

other states follow. We need to make prevention the goal of the future.

© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.

Brockovich is an environmental investigator with Brockovich Research &

Consulting and a longtime public health advocate.