The water supply of a million Central California residents is contaminated with what is considered one of the most powerful carcinogens on the planet, and now the state is making a move to try to get the problem under control as the lawsuits against the companies responsible for the contamination continue to pile up. [RELATED: Dehydrated – CA residents’ drinking water reservoir nearly empty.]
According to NBC News, some people believe that the substance known as 1,2,3-trichloropropane, or TCP, in the water is behind the health problems plaguing those who live in the Arvin area.
Oregon Health and Science University’s Professor Paul Tratnyek, who studied the substance for the U.S. Department of Defense, said its toxicity is nearly unmatched by other chemicals. He noted that even tiny amounts of TCP in the water could cause health effects. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, it is “likely to be carcinogenic to humans.”
The California State Water Resources Control Board has now voted to set the limit of this substance in drinking water at 5 parts per trillion, and all wells in the state will be tested for it monthly starting this January. This will give water companies six months to fix any of the wells that are affected. The board’s vice chair, Steven Moore, applauded the move, saying that “it is disquieting how serious and insidious this chemical is.”
Exposure comes from drinking water that is contaminated with TCP or from cooking with it, showering in it, or otherwise inhaling its steam – for example, while washing dishes.
Tests from a state-certified lab revealed that the water in Arvin had more than six times the acceptable amount of this substance, which is a degreasing agent that is used to produce plastic products.
Problem traced back to pesticides
Lawyer Todd Robbins says the problem stems from two local industrial giants that were recycling TCP by pairing it with agricultural pesticides. He is now representing 30 communities that are suing the firms to cover the cost of the multi-million dollar filtration that must be instituted to clean the water supply.
He said, “TCP got into drinking water in the Central Valley because Dow Chemical Company and Shell Oil Company saw an opportunity decades ago to take a hazardous waste stream at their chemical plants, put it in barrels and sell it to farmers, who would then inject it into the ground.”
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