U.S. EPA to conduct water tests • DEQ says presence of chemicals in local wells can no longer be ignored

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will conducts water tests on the island in May to find out if the water wells have been contaminated with volatile organic chemicals.

According to Norman Lovelace, manager for Pacific Insular Area, the planned tests will cover most of the private water wells without any expense to the owners.

Earlier tests conducted by the Division of Environmental Quality on some water wells in Saipan showed the presence of TCD chemicals in a well in Capitol Hill.

DEQ Director Ike 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 carried out 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.

A team from U.S. EPA with the private contractors will be arriving here next month to carry out the tests on 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.

DEQ, which is responsible for implementing the CNMI’s Safe Water Drinking Water Program, 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 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 testings 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.

In the second three-year compliance period starting 2002, however, DEQ may be able to reduce or completely waive sampling requirements for some chemicals. DEQ can do this if information, including previous monitoring results, indicates contamination does not threaten a water system’s source of water.

While businesses are not against the chemical monitoring per se, they have complained about the high cost of testings which came at a time when many of them are reeling from the effects of the decline in the island’s economy.