THE ANGELS –
California regulators voted Wednesday to set a limit on hexavalent chromium in drinking water, a toxic chemical compound made famous by the movie “Erin Brockovich.”
The rule is the first in the country to specifically target the heavy metal, known as chromium-6, and is expected to reduce the number of cases of cancer and kidney disease from long-term ingestion, state officials say.
The proposal was unanimously approved by the State Water Resources Control Board, although it needs approval from the Office of Administrative Law to take effect.
The rule could inspire other states to adopt their own. More than 200 million Americans are estimated to have the chemical compound in their drinking water, according to an analysis of federal water testing data by the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit research and advocacy organization.
Until now, California combined its drinking water standard for chromium-6 with the less toxic trivalent chromium, an essential nutrient. California’s new limit for chromium-6 is 10 parts per billion, about 10 drops of water in a swimming pool.
“I know there are mixed feelings about this decision today… that we should have a lower standard,” board member Sean Maguire said before the vote. “But I do want to take a step back and look at California compared to the rest of the nation, and I think we’re leading the way here.”
Community members and health advocates are concerned that California’s limit is not enough to protect public health from the metal. They want the state to adopt a drinking water limit closer to the public health goal of 0.02 parts per billion, the level that scientists say poses no significant health risks.
“This really leaves a lot of California communities unprotected from that really potent carcinogen,” said Tasha Stoiber, senior scientist at the Environmental Working Group.
The law requires the board to set a limit as close to the public health goal as is economically and technologically feasible.
Some public water providers warned that under the new rule, customers will pay more for water and the financial burden will fall disproportionately on disadvantaged communities. And some chemical industry groups have said the limit is not based on the latest science.
The new limit will cost public water systems between $483,446 and $172.6 million annually to monitor and treat water that exceeds the standard, according to state water board estimates.
Castulo Estrada, vice president of the Coachella Valley Water District board of directors and public services manager for the city of Coachella, said the limit would have “unprecedented” impacts on residents and customers. He said the city of Coachella’s six wells have chromium-6 above 10 parts per billion and that installing technology to reduce levels to the limit would cost about $90 million. “That would increase monthly bills.”
Monterey County resident Ana María Pérez urged the board to set a lower limit that would protect communities with chronic water contamination. “We have been waiting for a chromium-6 limit that protects our health,” she said in Spanish. “It’s not fair that a lot of people get sick.”
Water suppliers will have to begin testing for chromium-6, which occurs naturally and is produced in industrial processes, within six months of the effective date, expected in October. If water tests exceed the limit, they must submit a compliance plan within 90 days and comply within two to four years, depending on how many customers are served.
Chromium occurs naturally in soil, plants, animals, rocks, and more, and can leach from the soil into groundwater. It comes in several forms, including chromium-6, and is used in electroplating, stainless steel production, leather tanning, textile manufacturing and wood preservation, all of which can contribute to drinking water contamination, according to the Bureau. of California Environmental Health Hazard Assessment.
While scientists have known for decades that inhalation of chromium-6 can cause lung cancer, it was long unclear whether ingestion could also cause cancer.
The National Toxicology Program studies changed that. The results showed that rodents that drank water with high levels of chromium-6 for two years developed intestinal and oral cancer.
Some researchers have criticized the studies, saying the chemical concentrations the rodents received were thousands of times higher than what would be found in U.S. drinking water supplies.
California’s environmental health hazard agency is updating its public health goal for hexavalent chromium, which ended in 2011 at 0.02 parts per billion. At that level, the lifetime risk of cancer is one in a million, an amount generally accepted by health experts.
Some health advocates urged the board to wait to set a limit until an updated public health goal is released. But some environmental justice nonprofits that favor a lower limit said the board should not wait any longer.
Under California’s new limit, cancer risk is 500 times higher than the public health goal. One person in 2,000 exposed for 70 years to drinking water with 10 parts per billion of chromium-6 may develop cancer, according to a state water staff report.
Studies on the health impacts of ingesting chromium-6 through drinking water are limited, said Maria-Nefeli Georgaki, an environmental health specialist who has studied the health effects of ingesting chromium-6. But, she added, a maximum of 10 parts per billion is an important start that should then be “adjusted based on emerging public health issues and new research data, at specified regular intervals.”
Water staff must review the standards every five years. But during Wednesday’s meeting, Darrin Polhemus, deputy director of the water board’s drinking water division, said they are constantly reviewing the standards.
In 2014, the state adopted a limit of 10 parts per billion, but it was repealed in 2017 for failing to consider whether the rule would be economically viable.
The rule is the latest chapter in a decades-long fight to regulate the chemical that gained notoriety with the 2000 film “Erin Brockovich,” which earned Julia Roberts the Oscar for best actress. In the 1990s, Brockovich helped investigate chromium-6-contaminated groundwater that was making a Southern California community sick. Residents ultimately won a $333 million settlement with Pacific Gas & Electric Co. for contaminating their water.