[CPEO-MEF] Bleach eyed as perchlorate source

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Bleach eyed as source of contamination
Hypochlorite being probed as link to perchlorate in Merrimack, Concord
rivers 

By VANESSA HUGHES
Lowell Sun (MA)
September 17, 2004 

Disinfectant used to treat wastewater is being eyed as a possible source
of perchlorate contamination in the Merrimack and Concord rivers after
tests found high levels of perchlorate in processed water from the
Billerica wastewater treatment plant.

Tests have also found perchlorate in water from the Lowell wastewater
treatment plant. 

The chlorination process could be adding perchlorate to the water, but
it is not a certainty, said Ed Kunce, deputy commissioner of the state
Department of Environmental Protection. If a disinfectant is determined
to be a source, it is not necessarily creating the perchlorate recently
found in Tewksbury's drinking water, he said. 

And there is no clear short-term fix.

"We are definitely focusing on the treatment plants, but we can't tell
people to stop flushing their toilets..." Kunce said. "Even if we could
say that's the cause, it's going to be a while to figure out how to fix
that because we just don't shut down wastewater treatment plants." 

...

for the entire article, see
http://www.lowellsun.com/Stories/0,1413,105~4761~2408759,00.html

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org
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