Clean Water News

Letter signed by Erin Brockovich, Don Cheadle, Alec Baldwin calls for perchlorate drinking water standard that will ensure full cleanup of vital waterway

Several celebrities, including Erin Brockovich, Don Cheadle, Alec Baldwin and Dylan McDermott submitted a letter to Governor Schwarzenegger today, calling for immediate action to clean up rocket fuel contamination of the Colorado River. The letter asked the Governor to immediately establish a drinking water standard for perchlorate, the primary component of rocket fuel at a level that would force the primary company responsible for the contamination, Kerr McGee, to fully clean up the millions of pounds of rocket fuel it has leaked into the river over decades.

“Rocket fuel has no place in Southern California’s most important water supply.” stated Sujatha Jahagirdar, Clean Water Advocate for Environment California. “The River provides water to more than 135 California cities, irrigates much of the nation’s winter produce, and supports a $400 billion Southern California economy.”

The administration is moving toward proposing its final standard for perchlorate in drinking water this fall. A final standard issued at the level of the state’s health recommendation may leave millions of Californians exposed to Kerr McGee’s rocket fuel pollution. A December Environmental Protection Agency reports lists the maximum level of perchlorate in the Colorado River at Parker Dam at 5.7 ppb, just under the new health recommendation.

Perchlorate can interfere with the working of the thyroid gland, which is essential to normal brain development in children.  An abnormal level of hormones produced by the thyroid gland has been linked to conditions like attention deficit disorder and learning disabilities.  Massachusetts regulators have suggested one part per billion as a safer threshold to protect babies. When adjusted to protect infants and account for exposure through food, recent EPA and National Academy of Sciences studies point to the same.

“The Schwarzenegger Administration should protect our children and not the special interests and get rocket fuel out of drinking water,” stated Shiva Rose and Dylan McDermott (The Practice).

Contaminated water from the Colorado River is currently used to irrigate most of the nation’s winter produce crops. Tests conducted by the United States Department of Agriculture have detected perchlorate pollution in lettuce throughout the country. A January study released by Texas Tech University also found perchlorate build up in the milk of nursing mothers. In addition, polluted water from the Colorado River used the recharge groundwater is the suspected source of perchlorate contamination in Orange County.

“The bottom line is that any rocket fuel pollution in the Colorado River is unacceptable.” stated Sujatha Jahagirdar, Clean Water Advocate for Environment California Research & Policy Center and co-author of the recent Center study, Perchlorate and Children’s Health. "As the people's governor, Mr. Schwarzenegger needs to focus attention on cleaning up the most important water supply that Southern Californians have."