Water clean-up working

Thursday, April 18, 2002 | 10:01 a.m.

Southern California and Southern Nevada officials are optimistic that an industrial system will remove large amounts of perchlorate entering Lake Mead, the drinking water source for Nevada, California and Arizona.

Perchlorate, an oxygen-rich salt used to boost rocket fuel performance, is known to affect human thyroid activity. It was discovered in Lake Mead in 1997.

Pat Mulroy, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, and Ronald Gastelum, chief executive officer of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, said solutions are on the way. Kerr-McGee Chemical Corp. is preparing to start its full-scale removal system this month. The company, which made ammonium perchlorate rocket fuel additive, has removed 3,951 tons of the salt to date.

"We don't think it is going to bring immediate results," water authority spokesman J.C. Davis said, "but it is the single most important step that has happened."

The former Pacific Engineering and Production Company, which moved to Cedar City, Utah, after its Henderson plant exploded in 1988, is starting a six-month pilot project this month using naturally occurring bacteria to remove the perchlorate from groundwater, said Brenda Pohlmann, director of the Nevada Environmental Protection Division's Las Vegas Office.

There is no federal limit on perchlorate in drinking water. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a 1 part per billion limit, but independent scientists are reviewing it. An EPA decision is expected this fall.