Update: EPA Wants to Regulate Amount of Rocket Fuel Chemical in Lakewood Drinking Water

Lakewood Water District department heads have not dismissed findings of a chemical found in rocket fuel and explosives in The City of Lakewood's resource wells years ago under direction of the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

But they are contesting the Joint Base Lewis-McChord military installation as the root source.

Patch published a story about perchlorate, the potentially harmful contaminant found in drinking water in 26 states across the country over the minimum reporting level. The district has since posted a response on its website. You can read it here.

Perchlorate is found in more than 4 percent of public water systems nationally, according to the EPA. There is speculation about how it adversely affects human health by disrupting the thyroid’s ability to produce hormones that are critical to developing fetuses and infants, an EPA report stated.

The first test in Lakewood was conducted on five resource wells in May of 2002 and the second in October 2002; there are 31 total within the city limits. The state reporting level was set at 4μ/L (parts per billion), which is the minimum standard for reporting traces of it.

"The results showed two wells with a perchlorate level of 5μ/L; two wells with a perchlorate level of 6μ/L; and one well with a non-detected perchlorate level while the fifth well with the original non-detected tested at 4μ/L," the district report stated.

The cost for limiting perchlorate levels in drinking water is one of the district's greatest concerns. The report stated the chemical's mitigation and removal technologies are still in the design stages and that launching an environmental project would take about four years.

The cost for compliance may be significant, and the report stated it may have to be born by Lakewood ratepayers.

The report claimed part of the regulatory process is to determine a Maximum Contaminant Level for perchlorate in potable water systems. Currently, there is no federal MCL standard for perchlorate. Only two states, California and Massachusetts, have set a MCL for perchlorate at 6 μ/L (parts per billion) and 2 μ/L respectively, the report said.

There is reportedly 17 million people who have ingested the chemical. The EPA has recently stated that it intends to propose a National Primary Drinking Water Regulation, because of the water sampling data collected.

Sampling for other chemicals normally found in flame retardants and explosives produced zero findings, the report stated.

There are looming questions regarding the source of the toxic chemical found in rocket fuel.

"Due to the district’s location and proximity to JBLM (Joint Base Lewis-McChord) there is a tendency to draw the conclusion that any perchlorate levels result from contamination due to past practices," the report stated.

However, the report continues by saying that JBLM is not responsible for the chemical findings in the Lakewood water, despite lower environmental standards from the decades ago compared to now.

The EPA is currently writing and adopting the new rule regarding perchlorate, the report said, adding the district has no clear picture of what the final rule will be.

"Rest assured, the district will diligently monitor the rule-making process and prepare cost effective compliance strategies as information becomes available," the report said. "The health and safety of our customers remains our number one concern."

Patch will update this story after an interview with Lakewood Water District officials later today.