Published in the Asbury Park Press
By CAREN CHESLER
GANNETT STATE BUREAU
TRENTON -- Despite state and federal safe drinking water laws, wells near Superfund sites do not have to be tested for toxins.
That is one of several loopholes U.S. Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg hopes to close with the Drinking Water Right to Know Act of 1999, legislation he plans to introduce this week in Congress.
"People ... have a right to know about what kind of chemicals are in their drinking water," Lautenberg, D-N.J., said at a press conference in Trenton yesterday. "In the past year, the public has learned, through leaks, rumors and anecdote, about potentially dangerous contaminants in their drinking water. The unknown breeds confusion and fear, and this has been particularly true of the cancer cluster in Toms River."
Congress passed safe water legislation in 1996, known as the Consumer Right to Know Act. Two years later, New Jersey passed its own laws, requiring public water systems to send the results of annual test to customers, including lists of contaminants found and acceptable levels of those chemicals.
But environmentalists say those laws did not go far enough. New Jersey has 110 Superfund sites and 9,000 known contaminated sites, but wells near those properties do not have to be tested for the chemicals found on the sites if they are not among the 90 toxins regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency, Lautenberg said.
The result is that in Toms River, where statistics have revealed an above-average rate of childhood cancer, the local water company was not required to test for contaminants found at a nearby Superfund site, the Reich Farm. The farm sits directly above the aquifer from which Toms River obtains its drinking water. Styrene acrylonitrile trimer, a waste product of plastics manufacturing, has turned up in some wells, alarming parents concerned about the incidence of childhood cancer in Toms River. The trimer is not on the list of regulated chemicals.
Jan Schlichtmann, the Massachusetts attorney whose drinking water contamination case in Woburn was the basis for the new film "A Civil Action," was at the news conference and spoke in favor of the legislation, saying information is key.
"Before Woburn, ignorance was an excuse. We can no longer afford that excuse, because ignorance threatens our existence," Schlichtmann said.
Lautenberg's bill would force state officials and water companies to test for any chemical suspected of being in the area. His bill would also require that citizens be told about the potential hazards in their water on a monthly basis and what precautions they can take.
"There were hundreds and hundreds of chemicals that were dumped, and were in our drinking water for 20, 25, 30 years, and we did not know about it. Unfortunately, we have many children who have been affected, and many adults," Linda Gillick, executive director of Ocean of Love, a support group for families of children with cancer. Her 20-year-old son has cancer.
Among the other provisions in the law, water companies would have to disclose:
Known or suspected sources of the contaminants.
Contaminants in both raw water and treated water.
The presence of Radium 224, based on tests taken within 48 hours of sampling the water. In the past, tests were done weeks after sampling, so late that the chemical was difficult to detect.
The information also would have to be sent to all water users, not just customers. Under current law, landlords, and not the tenants who actually drank the water, were often sent water test results.
"The original provisions of Right to Know go a long way to that goal, but there's still a long way to go," said David Pringle, campaign director for the New Jersey Environmental Federation.
Pringle welcomed the federal legislation but said there is no need to wait. The state already has the authority, under the 1996 legislation, to pass all the rules called for in Lautenberg's legislation.
In the meantime, Gov. Whitman announced this weekend that she would ask the Legislature for $1.5 million to install two new water treatment systems in the United Water Toms River wellfield.
Lautenberg criticized the governor for putting off such action, saying she had not heeded the call of residents until he put together a press conference.
"What disturbed me was the inaction that followed this alarm," Lautenberg said. "Suddenly, it's become a reality. We had scheduled this meeting some days ago and what a coincidence over the weekend, suddenly this was announced."
Source: Asbury Park Press
Published: February 23, 1999
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