Water Issues Region IV;Al.,Fl. etc

[kiwibird]

Florida:
http://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2006issue2/vj2006issue2iodine.htm

Vegetarian Journal 2006 Issue 2
Perchlorate Controversy Calls for Improving Iodine Nutrition
By David M. Crohn, PhD

Perchlorate is a water pollutant that can potentially interfere with thyroid function. Regulators across the United States are currently trying to agree on what is a safe perchlorate intake level. The chemical is of concern because it amplifies thyroid problems in people who are iodine deficient. Some scientists have concluded that vegetarians, and especially vegans, 1-2 can be more susceptible to thyroid problems as a result of perchlorate exposure because they may have lower iodine intakes than the general public. Impaired thyroid function is especially problematic for women who are pregnant or nursing a child. Fortunately, adequate dietary iodine can effectively eliminate the toxicity of commonly occurring levels of perchlorate.

Perchlorate is used in solid fuels that power high-energy devices such as rockets, flares, fireworks, and airbags. Perchlorate pollution is usually traceable to sloppy rocket fuel manufacturing or disposal, though modest amounts can occur naturally. Recent improvements in the ability to detect perchlorate at low concentrations have revealed widespread contamination of both water and irrigated vegetables. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has detected elevated perchlorate levels in drinking water (>4 parts per billion, or ppb) at some 400 locations in 35 states, 3 the majority in California and Texas. 4 The highest concentration observed in a United States drinking water was 200 ppb in Duval County, Florida. Once in the environment, perchlorate is quite water-soluble so that it washes easily into rivers and moves readily through soils. Today, more than 11 million people have perchlorate in their drinking water at or above its standard detection threshold of 4 ppb; however, no national drinking water standard is in place as of yet. Also, perchlorate accumulates in fresh vegetables, such as lettuce, if they are irrigated with polluted water, so the mechanisms for exposure include both water and food. 5 Because it is so water-soluble, cooking vegetables in water removes perchlorate.

Government estimates of safe perchlorate concentrations in drinking water range from 1 ppb in Massachusetts to 6 ppb in California 1 to 24.5 ppb nationally. 4 .......

Other differences arise from assumptions about the occurrence of perchlorate in foods, about which information is limited. The presence of perchlorate in foods is currently under study by the Food and Drug Administration. 6 Only 14 of the 400 detected incidents of perchlorate contamination in drinking water exceeded 24.5 ppb, but the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) believes that the federal government, particularly the Department of Defense, needs to be more proactive in looking for incidences of water contamination, particularly in areas where solid fuels are in production or active use. 4

Depending on the amount ingested, perchlorate may affect the body in a number of ways, but it is normally expected to interfere with the thyroid first. The thyroid is a small butterfly-shaped gland at the front of the neck. It uses iodine to produce the only biologically active compounds in the body that contain iodine, the hormones T3 and T4. To produce these hormones, the thyroid must collect and concentrate iodine from the bloodstream. When perchlorate is present, the thyroid will collect both iodine and perchlorate so that the amount of iodine that can be concentrated is reduced. Perchlorate is seldom a significant problem for people with adequate iodine in their diets because the thyroid still absorbs enough to meet the body's hormone production needs. If a person is already iodine deficient, however, perchlorate can further impair their ability to produce T3 and T4.

Adequate T3 is absolutely vital for fetal and infant health. During early development, T3 links the central nervous system's genetic blueprint to its actual construction. Insufficient T3 permanently impairs learning ability and neuromotor skills. .....

To be fair, perchlorate is not the only chemical that interferes with the thyroid's iodide collection. At least two other compounds common in the American diet, nitrate and thiocyanate, can also interfere with iodine collection. Nitrate, the most widely occurring groundwater pollutant, results from over-fertilization with nitrogen fertilizer or manures. Nitrate concentrations are regulated in drinking water because it can contribute to a type of anemia in infants known as 'blue baby syndrome,' not because of its possible effect on thyroid function. Thiocyanate occurs naturally in certain vegetables, such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, turnips, and Brussels sprouts. Although perchlorate interferes more strongly with thyroid function than thiocyanate or nitrate, these last two compounds are more common in most people's diets.



News Report

Florida Historical. Tampa Bay water utilities usually test once a year and generally have lower nitrate levels. Pasco is adjoining Pinella

Utility bans drawing tap water for babies
Colonial Manor Utilities customers are warned to not give it to children who are under 6 months old.
By BRIDGET HALL GRUMET
Published September 7, 2005

..
U.S. Water Services announced Tuesday that all Colonial Manor Utilities customers should stop giving tap water to any infant younger
than six months. The reason: Recent tests showed high levels of nitrate in two of the utility's four wells.

The nitrate could be seeping into the wells from septic systems or lawn fertilizers, utility officials said. Drinking water high in
nitrate can cause serious illness, even death, for young infants because nitrate hinders the oxygen-carrying capacity of the baby's
blood. Infants who have been exposed suffer from shortness of breath......
Although the two tainted wells were taken offline Tuesday morning, high nitrate levels have been an continuing problem
for Colonial Manor. The utility serves about 700 homes along Moog Road, east of U.S. 19. While most utilities test for nitrates
once a year, regulators require Colonial Manor to run tests once every three months because the levels have been high in the past, utility president Gary Deremer said Tuesday.He suspects the residents' septic tanks are the culprit. The utility is wrapping up a study to pinpoint the problem and identify
possible solutions, such as additional water treatments or, perhaps, replacing the septic systems with a central sewer, he said.
"The utility is very proactive about that, very concerned about those levels," Deremer said. "As we look at our infrastructure needs,
we are looking at how to correct this long-term nitrate issue."

Under federal drinking water standards, the wells should contain less than 10 milligrams of nitrate per liter of water. An Aug. 29
test showed levels of 10.8 and 10.4 milligrams per liter, and a Sept. 1 test showed levels of 10.3 and 10.6 milligrams per liter.
As soon as the utility got the lab results Tuesday morning, it shut down the two high-nitrate wells and sent notices to the state
Department of Environmental Protection and the media, Deremer said.
The utility also plans to notify customers by hand-delivering notices to each home, said Scott Lewis, U.S. Water director of operations.

...snip

Sources: Colonial Manor Utilities; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
[Last modified September 7, 2005, 15:43:32]http://www.sptimes.com/2005/09/07/Pasco/Utility_bans_drawing_.shtml

Approximately 40,000 residents in Palm Bay, Florida, rely on septic tanks as a means of sewage disposal and on wells as a drinking water source. High levels of precipitation (>63 cm) during the months of July to September and the presence of porous sandy soils result in high water tables and septic tank overflows. The inability of septic tank leachate to percolate through the soil during the wet season results in ground water contamination, thus posing a health risk to those who drink from local wells.

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/j...TRY=1&SRETRY=0

Pinellas has a 100% violations of discharge of contaminants from septic tanks due to and aging WWT system - more than any other county.

http://www.cleanwaternetwork-fl.org/...-SewageRpt.pdf

In contrast to the situation elsewhere in Florida, Sanibel Island has undertaken to replace all septic tanks with a new system. They have 90% of the system completed. It is, however, a very small community, pop 6,000.