I asked Douglas County Director of Public Works Carl Ruschmeyer to provide me with a copy of the directive to lower the arsenic level of our drinking water to less than 10 parts per billion. He sent me a copy of a letter from the Nevada Department of Conservation & Natural Resources Division of Environmental Protection which included the directive to lower the arsenic levels to below 10 PPB. He also referred me to an EPA website for further information.
I checked out the website and found no scientific study or studies which proved that drinking water with less than 10 PPB of arsenic reduced any specific health dangers. I wrote a letter to Mr. Bert Bellows, P.E., the individual at the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection who wrote the directive and asked for a copy of or location where I could find such a study.
I have also written a Jan. 24, 2010 letter to the EPA asking the same question, but have not yet received a reply.
I was called by another individual at the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection in response to my letter and was told they merely accept the EPA directive and had no knowledge of any such study. I asked them if they ever challenged the directive and was told no. That individual suggested I call Bruce Macler, an EPA toxicologist in San Francisco, and gave me his number.
I spoke with the toxicologist Macler for more than a half hour and repeatedly asked for a copy of or location where I could find the results of such a study. I was referred to the National Academy of Science where I could find a number of "articles" on arsenic in drinking water in Chile, Argentina, China, etc., but none in the U.S.
I again asked for a scientific study in the United States with a substantial number of participants over a number of years which would prove the benefits of drinking water with less than 10 PPB of arsenic. I was told there was none as it would be "too expensive" to conduct such a study. I then asked why are you demanding that we spend billions of dollars to reduce the arsenic levels to below 10 PPB without such scientific proof of the benefits? I received no answer.
I was told there was evidence that the "articles" reported arsenic in drinking water was harmful, but there was no indication of at what levels - 50 PPB? 100 PPB? 200 PPB? Or more? Some areas in South America have hundreds of PPB of arsenic along with other environmental conditions different from ours.
Just why is the state and/or counties not challenging these requirements before they ask us users to spend huge sums of money to do something which is apparently based on assumptions and/or foreign "articles"? Where is the Nevada Association of Counties on this important issue? Have they even thought of challenging this directive?
We are being taken by a bunch of bureaucrats whose only job is to preserve their jobs. The citizens need to stand up and be counted and our government needs to protect us from these and other very expensive unfunded demands which are not based on fact. Each and every one of such unfunded regulations need to be challenged.
Is that not the job of our Attorney General Cortez Masto? I have asked her and our county district attorney to challenge this directive based on the above data but have yet to hear a response. Our county manager disagrees based on "logic" but without providing a scientific study. Hello?
Stuart Posselt is a northern Carson Valley resident.
