Editorial: Get moving on making water safer

Thursday, Sept. 30, 2004 | 9:11 a.m.

In recent years federal studies have concluded that arsenic in drinking water is unhealthy even at the level once thought to be safe. This led the Environmental Protection Agency, in 2001, to lower the allowable amount of arsenic delivered through public water systems. States have a deadline of Jan. 23, 2006, to meet the new standard. Nevada, which the EPA says has the highest rate of arsenic contamination in the country, has not yet begun to address this costly but necessary upgrade of municipal water systems.

As part of the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1976, the Environmental Protection Agency was required to establish an allowable concentration of arsenic in public drinking water. Its standard of 50 parts per billion was a continuation of the standard set by the U.S. Public Health Service in 1942. At the time, no unhealthy effects from arsenic at this level of concentration had been observed. In the 1990s, however, federal studies of arsenic levels in drinking water outside the United States convinced the EPA that the standard for safety should be no more than 10 parts per billion.

Scientists for the federal government concluded that high-level arsenic contamination in drinking water can lead to cancer of the skin, bladder and lungs. It can cause high blood pressure and diabetes. In can affect the immune system and possibly cause birth defects and respiratory problems. During lengthy scientific and political debates, the EPA proposed an allowable level of 5 parts per billion but settled on 10. On Jan. 22, 2001, the EPA adopted its new standard and gave public water systems five years to comply.

Arsenic occurs naturally in rocks and soil in many parts of the country, including many parts of Nevada. Water passing through the soil or over the rocks becomes contaminated and is eventually drawn from wells and distributed through municipal treatment plants. Wells testing positive for high levels of arsenic should be closed. The EPA's rules apply to public water systems, which can be upgraded to meet the stricter standard. Nevada's water averages 12 parts per billion, but in some places the concentration can be vastly higher. A University of Nevada, Reno professor told the Sun that concentrations vary from below the standard to 10 to 100 times above it.

Most of the arsenic contamination comes from groundwater. In Southern Nevada, where 90 percent of the drinking water comes from the Colorado River, the danger is not yet high, but will be in the future as more water comes from groundwater sources north of Clark County. At least 140 public water systems throughout the state have concentration levels that are or will be above the new standard. Only one, in Fallon, has been upgraded. This was accomplished with federal money after research into a leukemia cluster revealed arsenic at 100 parts per billion.

We believe Nevada should make complying with the new arsenic level a top priority, despite a 2001 estimate that it would cost more than $400 million. The priority is due in part to our mining heritage, which has dispersed arsenic into the environment by disturbing large areas of rock and soil. The 2003 Legislature, over the loud objections of people who claimed the state did not need any more money, approved new and increased taxes and this would be a good way to spend some of that money.

The alternative is for local governments to flood the federal government with requests for extensions on the 2006 deadline. Fernley, a town 30 miles east of Reno, has already been granted an extension. But why delay the inevitable? Years of studies have now associated arsenic with grave public health issues. The state and local governments have already let nearly four years go by -- precious time that could have been used to put together a financing plan and conversion schedule.

Sure, the state and local governments could could probably dodge the deadline and save money. But we'd rather see them meet the deadline and save lives.