Copyright 2004, 2007, The News-Dispatch, All Rights Reserved.
| April 7, 2004
Jason Miller The News-Dispatch |
| Tim Drexler, remedial projects manager for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said Tuesday the EPA decided to provide the school with bottled water after molybdenum readings in ground water at the school registered .8 of a point above EPA safety standards. Current EPA standards for children say 10.8 parts per billion of the chemical are too much for children to be exposed to. The agency's safety level is 10 parts per billion. Molybdenum poisoning in humans can cause cancer, reproductive and developmental problems and nervous disorders. Drexler said, however, that the agency is updating its safety - or "action," levels - and often seeks input from the Centers for Disease Control's Toxic Substance and Disease regulatory agency. That agency, he said, sets its "action level" at 50 parts per billion. "We're just being extremely conservative in our values for the minerals tested in the water at that school," Drexler said. "Our agency no longer supports the 10 level. But because this was above our levels, we made the decision Friday to provide water." Ken Theisen, the EPA on-site coordinator for the Town of Pines, let school officials know Friday morning that they'd be receiving water. Theisen has been working in the town for more than a year, helping with the contamination problem with the town's water supply. The EPA is providing several homes in the town with bottled water while NIPSCO pays to connect portions of The Pines to Michigan City municipal water. NIPSCO and Brown Inc., which owns the Yard 520 landfill, have taken responsibility for polluting Pines water with fly ash, generated through the power company's coal waste. Drexler said the EPA would draw water samples from the school within two weeks and during the next few months would try to figure out if the source of the school's contamination is man-made or natural. He said that determination would help set a time frame for whatever work must be done to remediate the problem. "A number of factors weigh in on how long this will take and how long we'll supply them with water," Drexler said. "It's hard to speculate how this will go. There are wells in the area that have some natural contamination. "We're studying the area regionally." EPA spokesman Mick Hahn said Tuesday he expects the agency to raise its "action level" soon, but added that the current level was sufficient to provide water to Pine Elementary. "We anticipate the level will be revised soon," he said. "But we're erring on the side of caution here." Contact reporter Jason Miller at jmiller@thenewsdispatch.com |
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Copyright 2004, 2007, The News-Dispatch, All Rights Reserved. |