Ricker Watchdog picks up a nugget: we tell you what it means. Is your drinking water well poisoned? by gimleteye

One of the operating principles leading to the Gulf Oil Spill is simply this: if government does not look for a problem, then it cannot be said to exist. In the case of deepwater offshore oil drilling, the problem that government regulators didn't look for was 5,000 feet under the surface of the Gulf of Mexico. But we have the same kind of situation going on five or ten feet under our feet in South Florida. I gleaned this from the middle of Dan Ricker's Watchdog report:

"A small group of homeowners in the Falls area of south Miami-Dade County have been contacted by the Miami Dade Health Department regarding their private well water being contaminated by Dieldrin – a pesticide. Affected homeowners should contact the Health Department at (305) 623-3500. Homeowners who receive their water from Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department (WASD) are not affected by this issue. WASD tests for the presence of Dieldrin annually and there have been no detections found."

So far as I know, this is the first time that the Miami Dade Health Department has reached out to residents and taxpayers about a highly toxic agent in the aquifer. (click 'read more')I reached out to the state for confirmation, but received no response. It most certainly is not the first time Miami Dade residents who drink from dug wells have been exposed to pesticides. The generation of siblings to Janet Reno, as one notable example, are all suffering from neurological disease. None of their parents or grandparents did. The only obvious link is they all grew up on a family farm in Kendall and drank water straight from a dug well. In South Florida, there is no difference between surface water and ground water. It comes as no surprise to anyone who has tracked water policy and law in Florida.

It is no secret. The growth industries in Florida-- related mainly to real estate development in suburbs-- worry that too much knowledge about drinking water quality can only lead to more inhibitions against growth. I don't call this point of view, "growth at any cost" for nothing.

My own view is that Miami-Dade County citizens are owed much, much more than glossy brochures mailed from WASD regularly, that feature how wonderfully processed our water is. It the water version of those ads for BP. You've seen them: "Beyond Petroleum". It really is a scandal, a serious scandal, that West Dade rock miners got away with polluting the aquifer that supplies our processed drinking water -- proved in federal court-- and have not, so far as I know, been required to pay the costs of a new water treatment facility which would otherwise not be needed to protect public health. The cost to taxpayers? Hundreds of millions and unlimited liability.

Here is a suggestion: that the State Department of Health and local health department collaborate on providing clear and easily understood statistics on the prevalence of cancer, by type, in the same sub units used by the Miami Dade planning and zoning department and of water quality, too, in the drinking water aquifer as measured by commonly used pesticides and organic compounds. That this hasn't been done, and that this information is held closely as a state secret, is just another aspect of how regulations have been throttled to serve the needs of industry. In the case of public health, what you don't know can very definitely hurt you.


(Here's a story that continues to burn: The Acreage in West Palm Beach. How many Acreage's are there, in Florida, that we don't hear about because government isn't dedicating the resources to investigate?)


Thousands of water wells in The Acreage drilled shallow and illegally, exposing homeowners to health risks
By STACEY SINGER

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Saturday, August 29, 2009

THE ACREAGE — Thousands of private wells in The Acreage have been drilled illegally, without permits, and many are so shallow that homeowners are exposed to health risks from both inside and outside their homes, a Palm Beach Post investigation has found.

Acreage residents are reeling this weekend from Friday's report that the number of cancer cases in their neighborhood might be higher than normal. At the same time, they learned that samples from 49 residential wells show they meet drinking standards.

Despite those findings, shallow wells are especially vulnerable to contamination, and other recent studies in The Acreage, unrelated to the cancer scare, found it.

The law has few restrictions on where and how deep wells must go. What requirements exist are ignored routinely in The Acreage and elsewhere in Palm Beach County, inspectors say.

Well drillers like Ed Hampson freely admit it. Now they, like Acreage homeowners, are worried.

"Somebody comes across the street and says, 'I got $500, and I don't want a permit'? Yeah, I did it," Hampson, of Ed's Wells and Pumps in Loxahatchee, said of the easy drilling. "I'm not doing it now."

The families whose children have brain tumors and cancer are his neighbors: the Dunsfords, the McCanns, the Klopfensteins, the Samarripas, the DeCarlos.

"I hope, for the Dunsfords' little guy, they find out what it is," Hampson said.

The state Department of Health says it will continue to investigate.

Some of his wells were no deeper than 15 feet in areas with "salt pockets," Hampson said. In other cases, he would stop as soon as he encountered clear water - maybe 20 feet deep, maybe 30 feet, maybe 40.

To be safe, some local water experts said, wells should be 60 to 70 feet deep or more.

"When you are working for a contractor, they don't want to pay you any more than they have to, so when you have water that's consumable, you stop," Hampson said. "I did a lot of shallow wells. I had to."

1 in 5 wells illegal

The rural Acreage is 17,000 lots, most about an acre, on dirt roads, alongside commercial orange groves and a natural area. Many of its residents are not wealthy. The water table in the low-lying area is only a foot or two below the surface.

To save $100, some homeowners encouraged drillers to forgo permits. Sometimes they saved another $25 and ignored the lone water quality test required, for bacteria.

Darrel Graziani took over as the Palm Beach County Health Department's environmental administrator in 2007. The department is charged with inspecting and permitting wells.

He estimates that about 2,000 wells a year were drilled in Palm Beach County during the boom, and about 20 percent of them were illegal. No permit, no test, no inspection, nothing.

As part of their permit application, drillers submit a log. Those from The Acreage typically reported depths of 30 to 60 feet, Graziani's staff estimated.

Doug Tobin, spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection, said the 49 wells the agency sampled had reported depths of between 35 and 80 feet, but those depths have not been verified. That would require opening the wells, exposing them to contamination, health officials said.

"The water source is vulnerable and threatened," said Graziani's colleague, John O'Mally. "Deeper is always better, but it's not required. That's the unfortunate part."

While there are no requirements on depth, laws do specify that wells be 100 feet of horizontal distance from septic systems, which send wastes into the ground.

In The Acreage, they're typically installed in the front yard, for ease of clean-out, while wells are drilled in the back. Are unpermitted wells 100 feet from septic tanks? No guarantees, Graziani said.

Are contaminants such as bacteria and medicine being flushed down to the ground? Could be, he said.

Florida requires no annual testing for private well water quality, nor does it require wells to be tested when property is bought and sold, unlike many states. It may be time to reconsider that, he said.


*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:* August 28, 2009

*CONTACT: * Susan Smith, DOH – (850) 245-4111 or (850) 445-3260 (cell)
* * Doug Tobin, DEP – (850) 245-2112 or (850) 519-2897
(cell)

* ** *

*DOH & DEP ANNOUNCE INITIAL FINDINGS IN CANCER REVIEW INVESTIGATION FOR THE
ACREAGE COMMUNITY*

*- DOH will now begin a Level II investigation - *

*- DEP findings show all residential wells meet drinking water standards -*

*TALLAHASSEE*—The Florida Department of Health (DOH) and the Florida
Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) today released their initial
findings regarding The Acreage Cancer Review. DOH conducted a Level I cancer
cluster investigation and DEP conducted extensive drinking water sampling
within the community.

DOH’s Level I investigation was conducted to determine if there is evidence
of higher than expected rates of cancer in The Acreage community from
1995-2007. The Level I investigation involved the review of information
surrounding the cases, the geographic area in question and the cancer types
involved. DOH sent its findings to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention which endorsed the report as “thorough and scientific.”

The incidence of pediatric brain cancer was specifically looked at, and six
cases were found during the period from 1997-2007. The report also cites
total cancer rates in The Acreage may be elevated. Cancer rates have been
increasing from 2000-2007, although the increases may be a reflection of
dated population numbers.

“We recognize this is a difficult time for residents of the Acreage,” State
Surgeon General Ana M. Viamonte Ros, M.D., M.P.H., said. “We will proceed
with a Level II analysis to ensure we have the most complete and accurate
information for the community.”

DOH has determined a Level II cancer cluster investigation will begin
promptly. The Level II analysis will be conducted to:

- recalculate cancer rates using more recent population estimates;
- verify if any particular brain cancer is more common than expected; and
- describe the residence history and other risk factors of pediatric
brain cancer cases through interviews.

Understanding the community’s concerns regarding possible drinking water
contamination and serving as a partner to the DOH, DEP sampled 50 drinking
water wells in a 36 square mile area within the community and took one well
sample from the Seminole Improvement District water treatment plant to
determine if contamination is present in groundwater. DEP’s preliminary
findings show all residential wells meet drinking water standards. However,
a raw water sample – meaning before the treatment process takes place – from
one of the five water supply wells at the Seminole Improvement District
water treatment plant did show a minor exceedance for radium 226.

In an abundance of caution due to the minor exceedance, DEP this week
conducted additional water quality sampling. When initial sampling took
place, DEP only sampled one of the supply wells at the Seminole Improvement
District water treatment plant. This week, DEP sampled all five wells that
supply water to the treatment plant as well as the finished treated water
before distribution to customers, focusing on radium 226. The plant, which
is in compliance with DEP’s regulatory requirements, uses reverse osmosis
which is a state of the art filtering water treatment technology. DEP does
not expect to see an exceedance of radium 226 in the post treatment water
sample.

Radium is a naturally-occurring radioactive metal, which occurs at low
levels in virtually all rock, soil, water, plants, and animals.
Radiologicals that occur in groundwater above federal and state standards
can be easily treated.

“DEP is committed to conducting a thorough evaluation of the drinking water
samples collected,” said DEP Secretary Michael W. Sole. “Recognizing the
importance of the samples to the community’s peace of mind, DEP is having
the sample that showed a minor exceedance for radium 226 reanalyzed and has
increased the number of samples taken in the area. We want to make sure that
the information we provide the public is accurate and complete.”

While the current timetable to release DEP’s preliminary results could
change depending on the results of the new testing, DEP still anticipates
having a complete report by late September.

For more information about DEP’s drinking water sampling within The Acreage
visit www.dep.state.fl.us/southeast/acreage/default.htm.

DOH promotes, protects and improves the health of all people in Florida.
For more information, visit www.doh.state.fl.us.