U.S. EPA completes water sampling

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has completed collecting a total of 220 samples of groundwater from each private water well on the island for volatile organic chemicals (VOC) analysis, according to Division of Environmental Quality Director Ignacio Cabrera.

Samples have been sent to California-based Montgomery Watson, a certified drinking water laboratory in the United States. The VOC sampling performed by U.S. EPA will save water systems $160 per sample, the cost of the VOC analysis.

This developed as DEQ also took water samples from the wells of Commonwealth Utilities Corp. and in a private farm located near the Suicide Cliff for laboratory analysis to find out whether Agent Orange was used on the island.

Agent Orange is a herbicide sprayed during the Vietnam War under the code name “Operation Ranch Hand” which caused the health problems of veterans who served there.

Montgomery Watson Laboratory will conduct an analysis of the water sample. DEQ has interviewed a number of people who may have knowledge about the U.S. military operation during the Trust Territory.

The Department of Veterans’ Affairs provides compensation for 8,000 veterans with some dozen diseases believed associated with Agent Orange, including chloracne skin disorder, some nerve disorders and several types of cancer.

Meanwhile, a team from U.S. EPA with the private contractors carried out the tests on private water wells with the assistance of DEQ staff. Private well owners can count the test to be conducted by EPA as one of the quarterly samples required by the regulation.

The other contaminants that must be sampled by public water systems are the inorganic chemicals, the synthetic organic chemicals and the radionuclides.

DEQ has emphasized the need to perform chemical monitoring on water systems because the agency has already found harmful chemicals in the limited amount of testing that had been performed on some parts of the island.

In one instance, contamination was found at a concentration greater than 60 times the CNMI drinking water standard. The health risks ranging from gastrointestinal disorders to diseases of the liver, circulatory system, reproductive system and cancer, are very real and can no longer be ignored, Mr. Cabrera said.

Mr. Cabrera has emphasized the need to perform chemical monitoring on water systems because the agency has already found harmful chemicals in the limited amount of testing that has been performed on some parts of the island.

DEQ is the agency responsible for implementing the CNMI’s Safe Water Drinking Water Program and has required private water well owners to conduct chemical monitoring on their water systems. Only those public water systems that provide water for human consumption to 25 or more people are covered by the regulation.

DEQ would be analyzing in water the presence of some 84 organic and 15 inorganic chemicals as well as a number of radionuclides. Every water system that has its own well or surface water source will be monitored.

The planned water testing, which is part of the CNMI regulations since 1997, require public water systems to be sampled for solvents and other man-made organic chemicals every three years. Within the three-year period ending in 2001, a water system must collect one sample every three months for four consecutive quarters.