DORGAN SAYS ARSENIC LEVELS IN 375 NORTH DAKOTA WATER WELLS DEMAND IMMEDIATE ACTION FROM EPA
New water system needed in area where groundwater is polluted by arsenic
U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan is pressing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to put on the fast track a project to replace the water system in a region of southeastern North Dakota where over one-third of the wells tested had arsenic levels more than five times the maximum level allowed by the EPA.
In a letter to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, Dorgan raised concerns about its slow pace of remediation at the Superfund site in Richland, Ransom and Sargent counties in North Dakota. The EPA has said a new rural water system for the region is the best way to ensure residents have access to safe drinking water, but the agency indicated recently that it may not allocate any money to the project in 2008.
Tests have shown the region's groundwater supply to contain dangerously high concentrations of arsenic, a naturally occurring chemical that is particularly abundant in the region because of improperly disposed pesticide containers.
Because this dangerous pollutant entered the drinking water supply, the area was added to the EPA's Superfund program, which aims to clean up the nation's uncontrolled hazardous waste sites.
According to data gathered recently in the area:
84 percent of the 375 water wells that were sampled had arsenic levels over 10 parts per billion - the level that marks a risk to public health, according to the EPA.
94 of the wells had readings between 50 parts per billion and 100 parts per billion - 5 to 10 times more than the EPA's maximum recommended level.
42 of the wells tested had readings over 100 parts per billion - 10 times the EPA's maximum level.
"It's clear that we have a significant problem with arsenic in groundwater in this region of North Dakota, and it seems to me the EPA has been dragging its feet in helping to address it. That is unacceptable," Dorgan said. "The agency needs to get moving on this project and get a safe drinking water supply to the people of southeastern North Dakota."