Westford (MA) perchlorate

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

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Residents boiling mad over water
Westford officials receive 100 calls, mostly critical of delay in public
alert 

By PETER WARD
Lowell Sun (MA)  
July 29, 2004

WESTFORD - Since the chemical perchlorate was detected in a public well
earlier this month, the Water Department has logged about 100 calls of
concern, about half from pregnant women.

Many calls were critical of the department for a perceived delay between
the time it learned about the contamination and the day it began issuing
a public warning. The warning included an advisory to throw out ice
cubes and baby formula made with water from before the one well affected
by the contamination, the Cote well, was shut off July 16.

But Elaine Major, environmental analyst with the Water Department, said
it shut off the Cote well as soon it received confirmed test results and
that it issued the public warning as soon as it was authorized by the
state Department of Environmental Protection.

"People were upset because of the timing of the whole process," Major
said. "We had to follow protocol for dealing with this substance. Even
though the public wasn't notified (immediately), the well was turned off
immediately, based on preliminary information."

...

for the entire article, see
<http://www.lowellsun.com/Stories/0,1413,105~4761~2302366,00.html>

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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