Water agency kept uranium contamination secret

Friday, 10 October 2008
An interesting article on water contamination in California. This certainly brings home the point that we must always be vigilant.

Friday, October 10, 2008
Water agency kept uranium contamination secret

Metropolitan water district knew of radioactive contamination at Hayfield site for eight years. Agency says the problem is not a "show-stopper."

By BRIAN JOSEPH
The Orange County Register
Southern California's largest water agency kept a groundwater project on its books for eight years without disclosing to key officials or the public that the site is contaminated with uranium and other toxic chemicals, an Orange County Register investigation has found.

Documents and interviews show that the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which provides water to 18 million people, knew in 2000 about a "major stumbling block" with the proposed Hayfield Groundwater Storage Program.

Water tests found that uranium contamination at Hayfield averaged roughly 16 picocuries per liter, with a high of 35 picocuries per liter, documents from 2000 show. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's limit for uranium in drinking water is 20 picocuries per liter.

Water from the Colorado River, a major source of Metropolitan's water, generally has 4 picocuries of uranium per liter. The five largest community water agencies in Orange County report uranium levels of 1.9 to 9.4 picocuries per liter, on average.

Since those 2000 tests, water planners have touted the Hayfield project in front of Congress and, earlier this year, at a water conference in San Diego.

In July, agency staff cited Hayfield as a resource available if drought conditions persist in California. Staff told the district board that nearly 4 billion gallons of water – enough to supply the city of Buena Park for a full year – could be retrieved from Hayfield in 2009. On Tuesday, the staff plans to ask the board to approve preliminary steps to extract water from the site.

The top official at the water district says the contamination is isolated and the water can be diluted with clean Colorado River water to the point that it's not a problem. He said that everyone who needed to know about the contamination was told about it.

"It was never communicated as a show stopper because we didn't believe it was," General Manager Jeff Kightlinger said.

But environmentalists and state water officials were surprised when the Register showed them documents detailing the uranium contamination.

"I would expect a higher level of truth," said Elden Hughes of the Sierra Club, a Joshua Tree activist who once urged the district to pursue the Hayfield project. "They should have been more forthright."
Water experts said that Metropolitan's plan to dilute the water to lower the concentrations is a common and generally accepted solution.

Well tests from this year, provided by the district, show uranium levels ranging from 2.3 to 17 picocuries per liter, with an average of 5.87. Those numbers are different than the earlier numbers, in part, because the 2000 numbers reflect multiple tests on eight wells. The new numbers represent one test for each of 13 wells.

District officials also said that all water tested at Hayfield represents "raw," untreated water. Before any of that water is delivered to residents it would be treated, which would further lower the level of contaminants.

For the amounts typically found in water, uranium is dangerous not for its radioactivity but for its properties as a heavy metal. Uranium is toxic to kidneys and in high enough doses can kill tissues surrounding the organs.

As with many contaminants in water, there is disagreement among scientists about exactly how much uranium is too much. Although the EPA says 20 picocuries per liter is safe, the state Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment has set a goal of no more than 0.43 picocuries of uranium per liter in drinking water.

"How safe is safe?" asked UC Riverside soil chemistry professor Christopher Amrhein.

Science, he said, may suggest that the level be extremely low for health reasons, but federal officials also consider what's practical. "Science can only go so far in what these standards should be," he said, adding, "It's considered safe at" the federal limit.

But experts said the agency may face a public relations problem when the public learns about the uranium in the water, and some of Metropolitan's own member agencies may refuse to take it.

"A lot of people in Newport are upset about fluoride (in the water)," said Jan Vandersloot, an Orange County environmentalist. "Uranium in drinking water... I think that would be a cause for concern."

The Hayfield saga reflects a long history of controversy at the 80-year-old water agency.

Metropolitan currently faces two lawsuits that allege it is poorly managed and suggest it makes decisions based on politics instead of the public interest.

"There isn't a thing they do that doesn't have a political part to it," said Art Aguilar, general manager of the Central Basin Water District, which is suing the agency over its drought plan. "You protect your kingdom and the only way to protect your kingdom is to be politically astute."



Rest of article at: http://taccolorado.com/portal//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=189&Itemid=1