Groundwater tests ordered statewide

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Massachusetts
CAPE COD TIMES
Groundwater tests ordered statewide
By Amanda Lehmert
February 23, 2004

The state Department of Environmental Protection wants to know where
else it can find a groundwater contaminant that has plagued the Upper
Cape.

The DEP has issued statewide emergency regulations that require water
suppliers to test for perchlorate down to one part per billion between
two and four times a year over the next year.

Officials hope to discover how prevalent the chemical is in the
commonwealth and will decide within a year whether to set a maximum
contaminant level for the propellant, which is found in fireworks and
rockets.

But some worry that the state has set the monitoring level to an
impossibly low standard that will only frighten the public.

Two wells in Bourne remained closed yesterday, two years after traces of
the chemical, suspected to be coming from the Massachusetts Military
Reservation, were detected. Perchlorate is pervasive in the western
United States, but the federal Environmental Protection Agency has yet
to set a health standard.

Perchlorate is known to disrupt thyroid function and could be harmful to
young children and pregnant women, according to the DEP.

DEP officials will consider the known health effects of the chemical,
its prevalence in the environment, and technological capabilities to
test and clean up the chemical before they set any standard.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.capecodonline.com/cctimes/groundwatertests23.htm

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