California becomes country’s first state to set limit for cancer-causing contaminant in water
(FOX40.COM) — California has become known throughout the country for being one of the more environmentally friendly states, and a new regulation approved by the state promotes that notion even more.
On Wednesday, the State Water Resources Control Board voted unanimously to pass a water limit on hexavalent chromium, or chromium-6, a carcinogen linked to various illnesses including lung cancer. According to the Associated Press, laboratory rats have developed cancer after drinking water tainted with hexavalent chromium.
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The approved limit for chromium-6 is 10 parts per billion, which works out to about 10 drops of water in an Olympic-sized swimming pool, according to CalMatters, and is the lowest level allowed in the United States. However, scientists have said that a level of 0.02 parts per billion does not pose any health risks, which is much lower than the limit recently approved by the State Water Resources Control Board.
The board’s chair, E. Joaquin Esquivel, said to the LA Times, “The standard adopted [on Wednesday] improves health protections for communities with impacted drinking water supplies.”
But Tasha Stoiber, senior scientist with the Environmental Working Group, had a different sentiment, saying to AP, “This really leaves a lot of California communities unprotected from that potent carcinogen.”
Additionally, the cost associated with the new water limit is something that some water providers have said could have “unprecedented” impacts on California’s residents and water customers, especially those in disadvantaged communities.
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The new limit is expected to cost public water systems between $483,446 and $172.6 million annually, according to state water board estimates. The LA Times adds that the new standard for chromium-6 will cause a majority of Californians to see increases in their water bills of less than $20 a month, but some smaller systems will see increases of around $40 a month.
State Water Resources board member Sean Maguire said, “[The new standard] is going to impact affordability for many small systems.” He continued, “The economic analysis shows that. And that’s what makes this decision so difficult, in part.”
According to CalMatters, hexavalent chromium has become a controversial contaminant, primarily after a 2008 study showed that rats and mice that drank high doses of the chemical grew cancers in their mouths and intestines.
The nonpartisan and nonprofit organization adds that about 10 years ago, California regulators tried to enact the same limit for hexavalent chromium, but the regulation was overturned in court because it “failed to properly consider the economic feasibility of complying.”
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