Nov 2, 2009 11:28 pm US/Eastern
I-Team: Arsenic In Homes' Well Water
Area Of Concern Covers 56 Communities
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
Arsenic and uranium are toxic chemicals that can cause serious illnesses like heart disease and cancer. They are just about the last thing any family would want to find in their drinking water.
The I-Team has learned that public health officials fear tens of thousands in Massachusetts could be exposed to tainted water every time they turn on the faucet. It's a danger they can't taste or smell.
Max Ferrick brushes his teeth with tap water at his Westford home, and he loves to swim in the pool. But his mother Margo won't let him, or anyone for that matter, drink the water that comes from their well. Even though the water is treated to remove arsenic, she feels safer not drinking it.
When they had the well water tested, they found dangerous levels of arsenic.
ARSENIC DANGERS
Paul Friot of Friot's Water Treatment Company did the test and installed the mitigation system. "They had a significant level," he says. "Their level came in at about 110 parts per billion. The standard is 10 ppb so they were about 11 times the EPA standard."
Margo says she was shocked when she heard those numbers. "We were really surprised and we really didn't know what it meant."
Friot says the concern is cancer. Arsenic "increases the risk for a number of types of cancer over the long term."
But cancer isn't the only concern. Arsenic can lead to heart conditions, and severe skin disorders. The I-Team has learned that both the state and federal governments want to find out just how wide spread the potential exposure is in Massachusetts, to both arsenic and uranium.
WIDESPREAD RISK
John Coleman of the US Geological Survey says the area of concern covers 56 communities stretching from west of Worcester, to as far east as Concord. "It's a big area that we are investigating," he added.
As a matter of fact, it is a big swath of the state, covering the counties of Essex, Middlesex, and Worcester. Coleman sent out a questionnaire to about 1,500 neighborhoods in the affected area, and request water samples from
homes with private wells.
Resource: Mass DEP Well Water Resources
Resource: Database of Certified Water Testing Labs
Resource: Find a Certified Water Specialist
When his study is all done, he hopes to map out areas with high concentrations of arsenic and uranium, and those with low levels.
When a similar study was conducted in New Hampshire, a state with much of the same geological makeup, the results were as chilling as the water itself. Many of the private wells showed high levels of the toxic chemicals. That's causing a concern in Massachusetts, particularly for arsenic.
Coleman said, "There's probably about 10 percent of the wells that we are sampling are over the standard; much less for uranium."
WHERE IT COMES FROM
It's believed these toxins are found in the bedrock where private wells are often drilled. But while there are mandates to test water from municipal wells and authorities like the MWRA, there is absolutely no state regulation for private wells. It varies from town to town.
Suzanne Condon of the Massachusetts State Department of Public Health has seen this first hand. "There are some communities that require private wells to be tested at the time of sale," she said. "I know other communities that I have certainly done research in, that I had to go into town halls to find out where the private well owners were, and lo and behold, no one had a list of who was on a private well, and who wasn't."
ARSENIC STANDARDS
Arsenic levels in private wells became more of an issue when the
Environmental Protection Agency lowered the acceptable levels from 50 ppb to 10 ppb. Now the I-Team has learned the DPH has requested urine samples from homeowners in affected communities to get a better reading on the level of exposure.
Standards also vary from state to state. Only three states require private wells to be tested when a home is sold. Rhode Island is the only state in New England.
Since New Jersey changed its law in 2002, 51,000 private wells have been tested. Twelve percent failed to pass the safety threshold.
TEST YOUR WELLS
Condon said, "The whole area of private wells and regularity of testing, the awareness of the proper guidelines of levels for certain contaminants in drinking water, is one that is not well known across the country."
She went on to say this needs to change. "So we don't have to worry about people getting cancer in the future as a result of drinking private well water."
Both her findings, and those of the USGS, are expected to be finished next spring.
In the meantime, public health officials urge the more than two million New England residents who get their drinking water from private wells to get their water tested periodically.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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