Perchlorate
Look what's going on now...
Rocket fuel in the water.
That's right, Rocket fuel.
It's called Perchlorate. Ammonium Perchlorate is the main ingedient in rocket fuel and its been in the water of Rialto California since 1997.
The people of Rialto are understandably upset. On August 21, 2007,
the California State Water Resources Control Board has scheduled a hearing to determine who will be responsible for cleaning up the Perchlorate contamination in the drinking water of Rialto.
This is how the situation stands now. Low levels of perchlorate have been detected in 35 states in the US. What is confusing is that it occurs naturally; but that it also can show up in larger and potentially dangerous doses as a result of contamination from industrial sites that use or manufacture perchlorate, or in the soil dating back from 19th century use of Chilean fertilizer imported to the U.S..
For half a century, Perchlorate has been used as a medicine to treat thyroid because it can temporarily inhibit the thyroid gland's ability to absorb iodine. However, there is no evidence that it causes brain damage, birth defects, cancer, or even thyroid damage.
The EPA has not determined a national safe level, partly because science has not adequately defined whether or not it is harmful, or if it is harmful, how harmful it is.
With 35 states having low levels of percholates in the water, isn't it PAST time to answer these questions?
And this leaves the people of Rialto hanging in the balance. Is their Perchlorate the result of industrial contamination, hundred year old fertilizer or is it naturally occurring? How will they be able to determine the truth? Who will be paying for the cleanup? The whole country will be watching and waiting to see what happens next.
Currently, I am the President of the consulting firm, Brockovich Research & Consulting, where I am involved in numerous major environmental cases 
Comments
August 21, 2007
OPEN LETTER TO STATE PUBLIC OFFICIALS
Dear Leaders:
Today is the day an important hearing was to begin. The hearing would adopt a Clean Up and Abatement Order for the perchlorate contamination in the Rialto area. As the communities directly affected by Goodrich/Black & Decker/PyroSpectacular perchlorate contamination, we are alarmed and shocked at the games being played with our lives. Once again the public process for issuing a Clean Up Order and beginning to address this environmental disaster has been delayed through legal tactics by these polluters.
It is criminal that these corporations—Goodrich, Black & Decker and PyroSpectacular—continue to be allowed to manipulate and delay the public process in this way. Their actions demonstrate quite clearly their lack of regard for the health and well-being of the hard working families of Colton and Rialto. Justice delayed is justice denied.
This leaves us wondering who is protecting us? Who can we count on to represent our families? How long are we going to sit by and allow this plume of pollution to grow? How long do we need to suffer?
With each postponement the plume of chemicals continues to migrate. It is estimated the perchlorate travels about 20 inches a day. With just this latest postponement of 62 days, our rudimentary math calculates that another 800 million gallons of fresh drinking water will be lost— 800 million gallons of drinking water polluted with a chemicals now known to affect the thyroid, creating major health problems for our families especially our children.
If such delays were tolerated when San Bernardino suffered its major fire disaster a couple of years ago, there would be no homes standing in San Bernardino. Do we sit back and haggle over the cost of fighting fires while the flames bear down on us? Of course, not! We step in provide the resources necessary to stop the flames before they destroy more homes and to protect our families.
In the perchlorate case, we are threatened –not with the loss of houses and structures— but with the health and lives of our residents. Why are you as our leaders standing by fiddling around while our communities’ resources are destroyed? We need you to act and act now. Step in and take whatever measures you need to in order to stop the migration of the plume and the destruction of more of our drinking water.
If someone crossed our borders with a gallon of chemicals and dumped it into our drinking water source we would have the Department of Homeland Security and every other agency there in minutes to secure the situation and the terrorist hauled off to Guantanamo – no attorneys, no questions, we’d take immediate action. But here we have domestic corporate terrorists who have dumped millions of gallons of a deadly pollutant into our drinking water source and we sit back negotiating with them. How absurd can it get!
It is time for each of you as our representatives to show some back bone and stand up to this abuse with strong action. We demand that the government of the people, by the people and for the people start acting on behalf of the people!
So far, the City Council of Rialto is the only group to step up to the plate and go toe to toe with the corporate bullies. Where are the rest of you—Governor Schwarzenegger, Attorney General Brown, Congressman Baca, our Assembly members and Senators; and our public agencies whose very existence is to protect us and our environmental resources. Where are you? We demand you step forward and treat these corporate eco terrorist with the same zeal as we would treat any other terrorists. This is an environmental disaster that continues every day. There should be a state of emergency call, resources and funds allocated to stop the plume and begin the cleanup.
Goodrich, Black & Decker and PyroSpectacular do not have the right to destroy our common water resource. They must we held accountable!
When government fails to do its job, the people must step in to ensure their own safety.
In outrage,
Penny J. Newman
Executive Director
Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice
PO Box 33124 Riverside, CA 92519 951-360-8451 San Bernardino office:909-381-8883
The Residents of Rialto along with Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice held a march and press conference on Tuesday Auguest 21, in front of the building that the hearing was supposed to heard. Here is a clip from CBS in LA.
Jan Misquez
http://www.cbs2.com/video/?id=46411@kcbs.dayport.com
Posted by: Jan Misquez | August 24, 2007 11:31 AM
As a former resident of Rialto, CA (1979-2003), I find it deplorable that this is allowed to go on. With all of the systems out there to filter and clean the water supply, why would this be allowed to happen? I appreciate you bringing this to my attention, and I will be following up with this story to see what is done about this very serious issue.
Posted by: Sheldon Sherman | August 30, 2007 8:32 AM
The Author, you - super hero!
Good luck!
Posted by: escakyker | November 5, 2007 8:17 AM
I lived in Rialto for close to 10 years and was not aware of this potentially harmful element in the water. I started having medical problems that my Doctor's could not determine a cause of and am still going through testing to this date. I hope that something is determined about how harmful this element is to humans and something is done about it. That is someone is held accountable for it. I also hope that people step up to the plate that are experiencing medical problems that their Doctor's have not been able to determine a cause. I would say this is just the tip of the iceberg with out nations water supplies and the harmful chemcicals that are in them.
Posted by: DAN CURRAN | April 24, 2008 9:38 AM