Report: Perchlorate cleanup needs tracking

Suzanne Struglinski

Thursday, June 23, 2005 | 11:10 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Perchlorate contamination and cleanup efforts in areas of the nation like Southern Nevada need to be tracked by the federal government and state agencies, according to a report by Government Accountability Office released Tuesday.

The office identified 400 sites across the country with soil or water contaminated by perchlorate, which is commonly found in rocket fuel used by the Defense Department and some civilian companies.

Overall, Nevada has the fourth highest perchlorate contamination levels reported in the country, with six sites that have reported levels between four and more than 500,000 parts per billion, according to the report.

The Kerr-McGee Chemical Corporation plant near U.S. 95 at Lake Mead Drive in Henderson is the site of the largest reported perchlorate contamination of ground water in the nation with 3.7 million parts per billion in Henderson's groundwater, 120,000 parts per billion in the surface water and 24 parts per billion in the drinking water according to the study, although clean up is under way.

Many other areas of the nation also need perchlorate clean up efforts, however, so and there needs to be "a national response to this problem." Erik Olson, a senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said.

"This is not just a problem in some isolated communities," he said.

Perchlorate is a salt that can be easily dissolved and transported through drinking water.

If relatively high levels of perchlorate are ingested, it can cause thyroid problems in adults or brain development problems in fetuses or newborns, although the exact amount that can lead to the problems is not known. The federal government does not have a required cleanup standard or drinking water level for the substance, although cleanup is planned or under way at 51 of the 400 sites through other environmental laws and recommended levels.

From June 2004 to March 2005, the GAO reviewed 90 health studies on perchlorate published since 1998, looked at data from the Defense Department, the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Geological Survey, and state agencies and looked at federal and state laws and regulations.

"Without a formal system to track and monitor perchlorate findings and cleanup activities, EPA and the states do not have the most current and complete accounting of perchlorate as an emerging contaminant of concern, including the extent of perchlorate found and the extent or effectiveness of cleanup projects," according to GAO.

EPA agreed that perchlorate contamination exists but did not want to establish a tracking program.

In comments sent to the GAO, Barry Breen, EPA's principal deputy assistant administrator said such a system would require "more resources or the redirection of resources from other vital ongoing environmental activities." He said it was unlikely EPA would fund a tracking program because there is sufficient information on the contamination already.

The Defense Department found the findings "factually incorrect and fundamentally flawed," according to comments by Phillip Grone, principal assistant deputy under secretary for installations and environment.

"It is not clear that new formal structures to track and monitor perchlorate will provide added value," Grone wrote.

Olson, however, said the fact GAO identified 400 contaminated sites, which had never been done before, proves a tracking system is needed.

But even if such a tracking system were put in place, it would not change things much in Southern Nevada, water experts say.

"I don't think it would have any bearing on Southern Nevada because we are so far ahead with mediation," said J.C. Davis, spokesman for the Southern Nevada Water Authority.

Davis said there has been a 90 percent decline in the perchlorate that gets into the Las Vegas Wash that goes to Lake Mead, even at a time when the lake levels are lower than normal.

Davis said the Southern Nevada Water Authority will be under four parts per billion of perchlorate in its water supply this year. That is the amount of four drops in an Olympic-sized swimming pool.

Perchlorate was first detected in Lake Mead in 1997. Kerr-McGee stopped making perchlorate in 1998 and a cleanup project began in 1999. The other plant, owned by American Pacific, moved to Utah in 1989. The American Pacific site also in Henderson, is in the planning stages of cleaning up 600,000 parts per billion of perchlorate contamination, according to the report.

Todd Croft with Nevada Division of Environmental Protection said a lot of work has been done in Nevada already and the contamination levels are below the possible standard EPA could set for the chemical, so another tracking system might not make much difference.