[CPEO-MEF] Calif. City in Eye Of Perchlorate Pollution Storm

[CPEO Moderator <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

California
THE WASHINGTON POST
Calif. City in Eye Of Perchlorate Pollution Storm
Hard-Hit Rialto Worries About Its Water
By Braden Phillips
Monday, August 11, 2003; Page A03

RIALTO, Calif. -- Janitors conducting a termite inspection at J.P.
Kelley Elementary School last February found a five-foot-long missile
beneath the auditorium stage. Over the past 50 years, thousands of
missiles were manufactured in the city, and the Army stored thousands
more here.

Given the city's past, and that the missile was not armed, authorities
were not necessarily surprised or alarmed by the discovery; school
officials say they believe the missile was left over from an old
show-and-tell program. But that doesn't mean missiles have a benign
history in Rialto, a city of nearly 100,000 people 60 miles east of Los
Angeles. For missiles, armed and not, contain rocket fuel, and within
rocket fuel is perchlorate.

The chemical allows combustion and has many uses, from space shuttle
rocket boosters to road flares. But it also has been proved to inhibit
the production of growth hormones in fetuses and young children. At high
levels, it can cause thyroid cancer.

Officials have found perchlorate in 319 wells in California, but nowhere
is harder hit than Rialto. The city relies solely on groundwater for its
drinking supply, while other California communities have alternate
sources. Five of Rialto's 15 wells have been closed because of
perchlorate contamination.

The timing couldn't be worse. Drought is lowering water levels, and
water is being drained from the system for the construction of a new
freeway into town.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41741-2003Aug10.html

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