(Los
Angeles) Nearly ten years after the first discovery of perchlorate
contamination in Rialto drinking water supplies, today the staff of the
Santa Ana Regional Water Board issued the first proposed cleanup order
against Goodrich Corporation, a major suspected cause of the
contamination crisis.
If adopted, the order would hold Goodrich
Corporation, a corporate relative of Black & Decker Inc., and
fireworks manufacturer Pyro Spectaculars jointly responsible for
cleanup of contamination, reibursing the City of Rialto for the cost of
stop-gap treatment measures implemented to date; and providing a safe,
alternative water supply.
"Foir too long Goodrich Corporation
and other polluters have been laughing all the way to the bank," stated
Penny Newman, Executive Director of the Center for Community Action and
Environmental Justice. "It's about time they are require to begin to
clean up their mess."
Costs for cleanup of perchlorate
contamination may exceed $200 million. Less than one percent of these
cleanup costs have been recovered from suspected polluters. As a
result, contamination continues to spread throughout Rialto's aquifer,
the region teeters on the brink of future water shortages and local
residents continue to pay rate hikes to pursue polluters and fund
stop-gap treatment measures.
While the order is the Santa Ana
Water Board's first major step toward cleanup since contamination was
first discovered, community advocates will seek to strengthen the
proposed order. If adopted in its current form, the cleanup order
would not require polltuers to fully safeguard residents from
contamination below the state's proposed drinking water standard of six
parts per billion.
Drinking contamination levels at six parts
per billion could subject Rialto residents to three times as much
contamination in their drinking water as allowed in other states such
as Massachusetts and ignore a recent study issued by the Centers for
Disease Control that suggest levels will below six parts per billion
can alter levels of essential hormones in women.
"Rocket fuel
should not be in Rialto's drinking water. Period." stated Sujatha
Jahagirdar, Clean Water Advocate for Environment California Research
& Policy Center. "Asking Rialto residents to continue to drink any pollution dumped by Goodrich and other polluters is bad public policy."
