By DORANY PINEDA (Associated Press)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Authorities in California voted on Wednesday to introduce a restriction on drinking water for hexavalent chromium, a harmful chemical compound famously spotlighted in the movie “Erin Brockovich.”
The regulation marks the first time in the country that this particular heavy metal, commonly known as chromium-6, has been targeted with the aim of reducing long-term ingestion and subsequently lowering the incidence of cancer and kidney disease, according to state officials.
The proposal received a unanimous vote from the State Water Resources Control Board, although it still requires approval from the Office of Administrative Law before becoming effective.
This standard could encourage other states to establish their own regulations. An analysis of federal water testing data by the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit research and advocacy organization, suggests that more than 200 million Americans may have the chemical compound in their drinking water.
Up to this point, California had combined its drinking water criterion for chromium-6 with the less harmful trivalent chromium, which is an essential nutrient. The new limit set by California for chromium-6 is 10 parts per billion — roughly equivalent to 10 drops of water in a swimming pool.
“I know there’s mixed feelings about this decision today… that we should be at a lower standard,” board member Sean Maguire said before the vote. “But I do want to take a step back and look at California as compared to the rest of the nation, and I think here we are actually leading the way.”
Members of the community and health advocates are concerned that California’s restriction does not offer adequate protection from the metal. They are calling for the state to adopt a drinking water regulation closer to the public health target of 0.02 parts per billion, the level at which scientists have indicated there are no significant health risks.
“This really leaves a lot of California communities unprotected from that really potent carcinogen,” remarked Tasha Stoiber, senior scientist with the Environmental Working Group.
The board is legally obligated to establish a limit as close to the public health target as is feasible from an economic and technological standpoint.
Some public water providers cautioned that the new criterion will lead to increased water costs for customers, with the financial burden disproportionately affecting disadvantaged communities. Additionally, certain chemical industry groups have asserted that the restriction is not based on the most recent scientific findings.
According to estimates from the state water board, adherence to the new limit will cost public water systems between $483,446 and $172.6 million annually for monitoring and treating water that exceeds the standard.
Cástulo Estrada, board vice president of the Coachella Valley Water District and utilities manager for Coachella city, stated that the restriction would have “unprecedented” effects on residents and customers. He indicated that all six of the city of Coachella’s wells have chromium-6 levels above 10 parts per billion, and that implementing technology to lower the levels to the limit would carry an estimated cost of $90 million, leading to increased monthly bills.
Ana Maria Perez, a resident of Monterey County, urged the board to establish a lower limit that would protect communities with ongoing water contamination. “We have been waiting for a chromium-6 limit that protects our health,” she said in Spanish. “It’s not fair that many people must get sick.”
Water providers will have to begin testing for chromium-6, a naturally occurring substance found in the environment and created during industrial processes, within six months of the effective date, which is expected to be in October. If the water tests above the limit, they must submit a compliance plan within 90 days and adhere to it within two to four years, depending on the number of customers served.
Chromium occurs naturally in soil, plants, animals, rocks, and other sources, and can seep from soil into groundwater. It comes in different forms, including chromium-6, and is utilized in electroplating, stainless steel production, leather tanning, textile manufacturing, and wood preservation, all of which can contribute to contamination of drinking water, as per the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment.
For many years, scientists were unsure whether ingesting chromium-6 could cause cancer, although it has been well-known that inhaling it can lead to lung cancer.
Research by the National Toxicology Program altered this view. Results showed that rodents which consumed water with high levels of chromium-6 over two years developed intestinal and oral cancer.
Some researchers have criticized the studies, stating that the chemical concentrations given to the rodents were thousands of times higher than those present in U.S. drinking water supplies.
The California environmental health hazard agency is revising its public health target for hexavalent chromium, which was finalized in 2011 at 0.02 parts per billion. At this level, the lifetime risk for cancer is one-in-one-million, a quantity generally accepted by health experts.
Some health advocates advised the board to wait for the establishment of a limit until an updated public health target is released. However, some environmental justice nonprofits, advocating for a lower limit, expressed that the board should not delay further.
With California’s new limit, the risk of cancer is 500 times greater than the public health target. According to a state water staff report, one person out of 2,000 exposed to drinking water with 10 parts per billion of chromium-6 may experience cancer over a period of 70 years.
Research on the health effects of ingesting chromium-6 through drinking water is limited, according to environmental health specialist Maria-Nefeli Georgaki, who has studied these impacts. However, she added that a maximum of 10 parts per billion is an important initial step that should then be “adjusted according to both the public health issues that arise, and the new research data, at specific regular intervals.”
Water staff must review standards every five years. However, during Wednesday’s meeting, Darrin Polhemus, deputy director for the water board’s drinking water division, stated that they are constantly reviewing standards.
In 2014, the state put in place a limit of 10 parts per billion, but it was overturned in 2017 for not assessing whether the rule would be economically feasible.
The standard is the most recent development in the long battle to regulate the chemical highlighted in the 2000 movie “Erin Brockovich,” starring Julia Roberts who won the Oscar for Best Actress. During the 1990s, Brockovich assisted in the investigation of groundwater contaminated with chromium-6, which was causing illness in a Southern California community. Eventually, residents won a $333 million settlement with Pacific Gas & Electric Co. for contaminating their water.
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