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Backlash at EPA: New standards are tougher on water suppliers

Radium isn't the only problem local water suppliers have to worry about.

   When the federal government increased restrictions earlier this year duirng the finals days of President Clinton's term in office, arsenic also became an issue.

   Like radium, arsenic naturally occurs in the rocks surrounding ground water. The federal government has been aware of arsenic in drinking water for years, and some 50 years ago, set a standard of 50 parts per billion as a safe amount. The federal government has reaffirmed the standard several times, most recently in 1996.

   But earlier this year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lowered it to 10 parts per billion. The order caused a backlash among thousands of community water suppliers throughout the nation that had been well within compliance for years. Now they had to think about how to get arsenic levels in line — and the expense involved — by 2006.

   Hearing the outcry, President Bush has asked for a 60-day delay to review the arsenic standards, which has angered environmentalists and others who say tests back up the need for more stringent arsenic guidelines. Some say the delay could result in a compromise that would set the guideline somewhere between the old standard of 50 and the new one of 10.

   Meanwhile, at least one or two Will County community water suppliers are waiting for the answer.

   In New Lenox, one of the eight community wells last had a reading of 11 parts per billion. Neighboring Frankfort also has eight community wells, one of which had a reading of 13 parts per billion.

   Ron Sly, New Lenox public works director, said they're not overly concerned about the arsenic level. First, even with the new standards, he said the arsenic levels from the one well near U.S. 30 and Schoolhouse Road are not that high.

   Secondly, the village is due to get Lake Michigan water later this summer. Sly said they shouldn't need to use any of the wells anymore. Even if Lake Michigan water weren't on the way, Sly said the village most likely would get another test on the well. The slight increase in the test sample over the new standard was taken several years ago and could have been the result of a laboratory error.

   Likewise, the 13 parts per billion of arsenic found in one of Frankfort's wells could have been a glitch, said Village Administrator Jerry Ducay. But unlike New Lenox, Frankfort would be stuck with the new arsenic guidelines: Although the village has a Lake Michigan water allocation, voters turned down the possibility in a referendum last year by a 2-1 ratio.

   But Ducay also would like to see the scientific reason for dropping the arsenic regulations to such a degree after some 50 years. "I have not seen any basis for this," he said.

   Federal environmental officials say they've seen enough. The U.S. EPA changed the standard after reviewing reports done by the National Academy of Sciences, and after getting input from operators of community wells throughout the country.

   An academy subcommittee reviewed tests done in Taiwan, Chile and Argentina and found that arsenic levels of 50 parts per billion increase people's chances of contracting various ailments, such as lung cancer, bladder cancer, skin cancer and other stomach and bladder disorders.

   Regardless, Ducay said if the arsenic standard should remain at 10 parts per billion, and if new testing shows that one well or any others have a problem, the village could meet the requirement by blending water from its other nonaffected wells.

   Ducay also chastised the media for taking the environmentalists' statements and creating a small panic among residents in the affected villages. He and Sly said they both had some calls when the issue first was reported on in the media. The residents were comforted when they heard the dangers at those low levels were small.