COUNTY ORDERS STUDY OF ARSENIC.Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer LOS ANGELES Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. - Responding to an environmental group's claim of unsafe levels of arsenic in Southern California water, the Board of Supervisors called for a study into the quality of the county's water supply. On a motion by Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich Michael Dennis Antonovich (born 1939 in Los Angeles, California) is a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors representing the Fifth District, which covers northern Los Angeles County, the Antelope, Santa Clarita, Pasadena, and parts of the San Fernando and San , the board unanimously directed the county's Department of Health Services Department of Health Services may refer to:
The motion was spurred by a study by the National Resource Defense Council saying there are unsafe levels of arsenic in drinking water drinking water supply of water available to animals for drinking supplied via nipples, in troughs, dams, ponds and larger natural water sources; an insufficient supply leads to dehydration; it can be the source of infection, e.g. leptospirosis, salmonellosis, or of poisoning, e.g. . The environmental group said it will file a lawsuit to force the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), independent agency of the U.S. government, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1970 to reduce and control air and water pollution, noise pollution, and radiation and to ensure the safe handling and to update its 58-year-old arsenic standard, maintaining that the agency allows thousands of people to be exposed to unhealthy levels of the cancer-causing chemical. The council wants the maximum arsenic content in the water to be no more than 3 parts per billion. Currently, the EPA EPA eicosapentaenoic acid. EPA abbr. eicosapentaenoic acid EPA, n.pr See acid, eicosapentaenoic. EPA, n. standard is 50 parts per billion while the international standard is 10 parts per billion. ``The National Academy of Sciences has concluded that excess limits of arsenic in drinking water can cause bladder, lung and skin cancer,'' Antonovich said. ``It is unconscionable Unusually harsh and shocking to the conscience; that which is so grossly unfair that a court will proscribe it. When a court uses the word unconscionable to describe conduct, it means that the conduct does not conform to the dictates of conscience. that this serious health risk is being allowed to continue.'' The county report is expected to include recommendations as to what the maximum level of arsenic should be. All of the Antelope Valley's drinking water is well below the EPA standard and most are at, or close to, the National Resource Defense Council's recommended level. Among the areas that are well over the council's recommended level are the Air Force Research Laboratory at Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base, U.S. military installation, 301,000 acres (121,805 hectares), S Calif., NE of Lancaster; est. 1933. It is one of the largest air force bases in the United States and has the world's longest runway. and the main base of Edwards. The council's study says arsenic levels at the laboratory are at 24.5 parts per billion and the main base is at 10 parts per billion. However, the base's 1998 report to the state shows arsenic levels at 14.33 parts per billion at wells at the laboratory and 9.46 parts per billion at wells at the main base. Both locations also use water from the Antelope Valley-East Kern Water Agency, which has arsenic levels at 3.1 parts per billion, according to the council. The Edwards arsenic level is well within EPA standards, base officials said. ``It's the responsibility of the EPA to set the standards; it's our responsibility to meet those standards,'' said base spokesman Gary Hatch. |
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