Perchlorate standard not near, official says

[CPEO Moderator <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

The following article can be viewed online at:
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_calepa14.dc02.html

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California
THE PRESS ENTERPRISE
Perchlorate standard not near, official says
By Jennifer Bowles
11:10 PM PST on Friday, February 13, 2004

A state standard for perchlorate, a rocket-fuel chemical fouling Inland
groundwater, is at least a year and a half away, the state's top
environmental-protection official told Inland water suppliers Friday.

"I know how controversial it is; there's a lot of talk about it," Terry
Tamminen, secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency,
said at a speech sponsored by the Water Resources Institute at Cal State
San Bernardino.

Water officials are eagerly awaiting a standard because it could cost
millions to treat the chemical. It has seeped into supplies, leading to
the shutting or restricting of 20 drinking-water wells in the San
Bernardino Valley.

The toxic chemical, linked to thyroid problems, also has tainted the
Colorado River, a main drinking-water source for the Inland area and a
Coachella Valley irrigation source.

"The costs will be monstrous," said Robert Martin, general manager of
East Valley Water District, serving 60,000 people in Highland and
eastern San Bernardino.

Perchlorate has tainted six of the district's wells, and the agency is
plotting a strategy to meet the new standard, one that will include
costly well-heat treatments, he said.

Much of the perchlorate contamination, water-quality officials say, is
the result of defense contractors and fireworks companies that used the
explosive chemical for manufacturing or research.

Tamminen said the administration's environmental focus will include
taking a second look at windmills that generate renewable energy but can
leak lubricants onto the ground and taint water supplies; and funding
work to create standards for polluted water bodies so they meet the
Clean Water Act.

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