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Dear Editor: Chemicals in Sedona Tap Water

City Councilors, .

Since there was no disclaimer accompanying Councilor Dan McIlroy’s latest Sedona Red Rock News “City Talk” column (saying the views expressed were his and not Council’s) I can only assume that the views expressed are those of all of you.  How unfortunate.

McIlroy’s article is the usual half-truths, misinfo and disinfo I have come to expect from Sedona’s political establishment.

How sad to see what is basically a load of total BS endorsed by people we just elected; people who were supposed to be different from the last bunch we voted out. .  

McIlroy repeats the tired line that is meant to guilt trip us all into thinking sewer rate increases are OK and to be expected: “For fourteen years, the residential sewer fee remained unchanged at $32.54  per month.”  That’s true. But it is only half true.

 The full truth is that for fourteen years residents have been ripped off. Only now is Sedona’s sewer fee close to what is being charged in neighboring communities. Cottonwood’s sewer fee was $5.95 fourteen years ago and has only now been raised to $23 per month. Flagstaff was $7 fourteen years ago and now is $21 per month. .

 McIlroy writes,”Some fifteen years ago, Sedona decided to build a waste water treatment plant to replace individual septic systems. This was done to protect Oak Creek from pollution and to ensure the sanitary disposition of waste products.” Again, that’s true, but it is only half true.

It was primarily the commercial interests along the creek that were polluting, not residents. Building the sewer was tied to incorporation.

Residents were promised then that the sewer would be subsidized by sales tax. That promise was a major factor in getting residents to agree to incorporation. .

McIlroy propagandizes: “On July 1, 2010, the City Council approved a plan to gradually increase the sewer fee to bring it more into line with the actual cost, thereby allowing part of sales tax revenue to be diverted into supporting other community needs.”  

This is meant to sound reasonable, responsible — “bring it more into line with the actual cost”. Never mind previous promises. And after all, then sales tax revenue can “be diverted into supporting other community needs”.

Right. How noble. Then Council can continue to waste money on: Over-the-top salaries for City employees (top echelon make $60+/hr., and City manager in excess of $100/hr.).  A surfeit of in-house lawyers, the ridiculous “Arts & Culture” Dept. which exists to give free money to artists (Why no free money for other hobbies andaoccupations? If the City had any brains they would have people pay the City to display their art in roundabouts instead of the other way around!)

The ridiculous Parks & Rec. Dept which dreams up, promotes and busies itself with things like camp-outs in City parks, tile painting class, and underwater hockey. A dog catcher so useless he won’t even write a barking dog citation after 2 dozen noise complaints because ‘he likes animals’ and Corporate welfare to the tune of $478,207 for the Chamber and $68,102 for the Main Street Program (If commercial interests truly valued those organizations there would be no need for City subsidies.)

Free money for “non-profits” (If non-profits are valued by the community, they will be supported voluntarily, especially if the community has any after-tax and after-fee money left.)Free money for “events” (When I put on Maui’s largest motorcycle run and Toys For Tots collection every year it cost thousands for my organization to pay the government for cops and buy insurance indemnifying it. There was no free money for “events” yet events occurred.)

Empty, polluting Road Runner buses, and on and on.

Like every article or statement issued by Sedona’s political establishment McIlroy’s article does not mention that ADEQ’s sewer mandate was met ages ago and no further sewering need occur. The sewer’s overcapacity is the City’s own fault for being on a sewer crusade. Sewer extensions need to stop now. This is the only sensible option yet the one no one discusses.
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And this brings me to the real heartbreak of the issue.

Passing off half truths as full truths is bad. Guilt tripping residents is bad. Breaking
the promise made to residents is bad. Wasting money is bad. But what is truly criminal is that an act of gross and irreversible environmental vandalism is about to occur.
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So-called injection wells, also euphemistically referred to as “aquifer recharging”, are actually aquifer poisoning. McIlroy paints a rosy picture of the City turning the current rated waste water to quality. “A Plus”? Hey, sounds great.

The problem is that drugs and chemicals, and even radioactive medical waste do not get removed. The problem is that these substances can then cause health problems for anyone ..
drinking water contaminated with them.

Get educated on this and now –and not from people with vested interests. Do you even know who those people are?  They are your City staff, the company hired to drill, any so-called “consultants” who recommended this nonsense, and ADEQ. Start with the articles and links I have provided at the end of this email.
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I brought the issue of contaminated waste water to the attention of City Engineer Mosley a year or so ago and he replied that “only the lower life forms were affected, amphibians.”

Right.

I can imagine Mosley as foreman in a coal mine: “Don’t worry about that dead canary, fellas; it’s just a lower life form.”
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McIlroy talks about ‘storing’ the water underground. The problem is that nobody — not the company drilling the wells, not ADEQ, not any geologists or “consultants”, nobody — knows where that water will end up and when.

Pumping the waste water into the ground does not mean it stays put in some big underground lake.  Underground water moves all over through fissures and layers.

On Maui, where I moved from, injection wells are leaking out in the ocean floor and causing
environmental damage. The waste water did not stay put.
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My suggestion for anyone recommending aquifer poisoning is that if they think the water is so great — “A Plus”! — then let them drink it. Do that for 20 years and then we’ll revisit the issue. Any takers?
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Sincerely,
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Warren Woodward
Sedona resident and taxpayer
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AP did a study of the water of many areas around the country. You can watch an interview with the AP reporter here:
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Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AleoM7jNhE8  (10  min.)
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbqACHslO6g&feature=related  (10 min.)
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrZYKMtVnYI&feature=related  (1 1/2 min.)
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First It Was Drugs Being Found In The Water, Now It’s Artificial Sweeteners

Source:  http://www.chattahbox.com 
June 24, 2009
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The next time you drink a glass of water from your tap, you may also be ingesting several types of artificial sweeteners that linger in drinking water, even after advanced water treatment methods. The artificial sweeteners may also pollute our streams and rivers, entering the food chain, leaving scientists to wonder what long-term effects the chemicals may have on
wildlife.

A team of scientists from the Water Technology Center in Karlsruhe, Germany analyzed water samples, using a new methodology that specifically extracts and analyzes seven commonly used artificial sweeteners. The scientists searched for the existence of cyclamate, acesulfame, saccharin, aspartame, neotame, neohesperidin dihydrochalcone and sucralose.

The scientists collected samples from two sewage treatment plants and a soil aquifer treatment facility. In all cases, traces of the artificial sweeteners remained in the water after treatment. Four out of seven sweeteners were detected, acesulfame, saccharin, cyclamate, and sucralose.

Artificial sweeteners are everywhere. They are added to a variety of food, drinks, drugs and hygiene products. The results of this study have implications for possible health risks from
the consumption of artificial sweeteners over a long period.

The FDA approved certain artificial sweeteners as safe, based on recommended levels of daily consumption. Saccharin has been linked to bladder cancer, but not conclusively proven
and some studies have linked Aspartame to certain cancers as well.

                     Pharmaceutical Drugs Found in U.S. Water Supplies, 

 

by Richard Mesquita,  AquaMD      

 

Take a look at these incredible findings from a nationwide U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) report of water samples tested in 30 states for 95 different prescription and nonprescription drugs:

 

75 percent of the water tested contained  two or more drugs.
54 percent of samples had more than  five drugs.
34 percent of samples had more than 10 drugs.
13 percent of samples had more than 20 drugs.

 

 What types of drugs were found?    Try painkillers, tranquilizers, anti-depressants, antibiotics, birth control pills and chemotherapy agents, to name a few …

 

 How Drugs Get Into Your Water Supply

 

Here are the two primary contributors to drugs in the water supply:  

 

Forty percent of all antibiotic drugs are fed to livestock. These animals generate significant amounts of manure, containing traces of these drugs that’s sold and used as fertilizer on lawns, gardens and farms. When it rains, the drugs in the manure are washed into rivers, streams, and underground water supplies.

Drugs are flushed down drains and toilets by: People cleaning out their medicine cabinets.
Hospitals and drug companies disposing of their old drugs.  People taking drugs and naturally excreting them into human waste.  The drugs are carried by sewage systems to wastewater treatment plants that unfortunately do not remove pharmaceutical contaminants from the water. So these drugs are released into the environment and back into the water cycle.

 

Researchers claim that the amount of pharmaceuticals and personal care products released into the environment each year is the same as the amount of pesticides released into the
environment each year.

 

So you are talking about 888 million pounds of drugs released into the environment each year, or about three pounds per year for each U.S. man, woman and child. 

 

Environmental, Health Risks
There is very limited information as to how drugs in our water supplies affect humans, fish and plant life. But, recently, researchers have found that:

 

Pharmaceutical drugs in water trigger hormone imbalances in fish causing the feminization of the male fish.   Antidepressants found in water cause premature spawning in shellfish.  Drugs that treat heart ailments prevent fish from repairing normal damage to their fins.  Antibiotics in water are contributing to the rise of bacteria that is resistant to conventional antibiotic treatment.  

 

Some researchers are very worried about the long-term impact of drugs in the water supply because:  Some people are now exposed to traces of multiple drugs at one time, and that is in addition to other harmful metals and chemicals in their water. Many drugs in the water supply are known to have dangerous side effects (when taken in normal prescription doses).

Drugs that were only intended for external application will now be ingested and vice versa.  

 

Some individuals are allergic to drugs found in the water supply. People are exposed to combinations of drugs that should never be combined.

 

What’s Being Done to Fix The Problem?

 

Not nearly enough. Yes, there are proposals in the works by the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for risk assessment guidelines
on new pharmaceutical drugs. Still, these guidelines simply involve putting labels on drugs that they feel have environmental risks. But putting more labels on drugs won’t stop people from continuing to flush them down the drain because it’s convenient!

 

And, the guidelines they are working on will not address drugs that are already being sold. They will only apply to new drugs being developed. There is research being conducted to figure out how to efficiently and economically remove pharmaceutical drugs from water supplies, but no silver bullet has been found.

Each water company solution tested so far creates its own problems.

For example, adding ozone to the water destroys many of these drugs, but it also forms bromate, a toxic disinfection byproduct linked to cancer.

 

Chlorination also destroys some drugs, but has its own side effects and creates Haloaectic acids and Trihalomethanes, which are linked to cancer, kidney damage, liver damage and central nervous system damage, among others.

 

 

3 Comments

  1. PAUL F MILLER says:

    This posting by Dan McIlroy …The City is exploring changing its effluent management program by injecting “A Plus” water into the groundwater, and also creating some wetlands. Before either of these processes can begin, the quality of the waste water must be raised from “B Plus” to “A Plus” quality. This will require the expansion of the ultraviolet processing equipment along with other plant modifications. There will be a need to drill several test injection wells to determine the feasibility of injecting A Plus water into the ground on a permanent basis. This testing will also determine if the injected waste water can be stored underground. The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality will have to approve and permit the injection process before it can be implemented. If approved, several injection wells will have to be drilled to dispose of the A Plus water not evaporated or placed onto wetlands.

    I write not to challenge anything Mr. McIlroy says but rather to offer a bit of a different perspective to assumptions made respecting what sewage effluent qualities actually mean. What may not be widely known is classification of “B plus” to “A plus” were established by negotiation essentially behind closed doors during the 1999 – 2000 ADEQ rule revision period. And, I can assure you that neither your voice nor mine was given honest consideration nor our legitimate concerns answered. This “game” is rigged, the playing field is not level nor do the “stakeholders” attend with equal stature or standing.

    Irrespective of effluent quality designation the current existing wastewater treatment plant serving the City of Sedona does not have the ability to deal with pesticides, common personal hygiene products or pharmaceuticals (which given the age of Sedona’s population) might cause you to raise your eyebrow just a bit.

    But, Sedona is NOT alone as there is to the best of my knowledge and research no one single currently operating sewage treatment plant operating in Arizona or for that matter anywhere in the USA which will “treat” the above referenced products. They pass, in some cases undiluted through the system and are delivered in tact to “mother-nature” to deal with.

    Currently much of the sewage effluent from the Sedona sewage facility is sprayed into the air allowed to evaporate, which some could legitimately say is a waste. But, it is, given the fact WE don’t have a clue of what levels of residuals are SAFE to be put back into our ground to become at some point part of aquifer from which others or us, might at some point utilize as our source of drinking water.

    That Sedona might choose a different form of sewage effluent disposal is a discussion worthy of consideration … BUT … Don’t get caught up in the ADEQ sewage effluent “branding” game … it’s all a sham …

  2. Jerry Reynolds says:

    Check the connection with ADEQ and their supposed threat to put a “moritorium” on all new construction in Sedona if we didn’t put in a sewer system…as reported by the Red Rock News in the Friday edition before the next Tuesdays election for incorporation.

  3. AZ Republic Article Superfund and Elementary School says:

    Officials: Route contaminated water line away from school … by Megan Gordon – Apr. 2, 2010 09:20 AM … The Arizona Republic

    A pipeline carrying contaminated groundwater from a local Superfund site needs to find a new route. Litchfield Elementary School District will not allow a water conveyance pipeline through Palm Valley Elementary School’s playfields.

    The board voted 5-0 Tuesday to deny Crane Co. access to school property for a pipeline. “I recommend that it is prudent not to place the underground water conveyance pipeline on Palm Valley playfields,” Superintendent Julianne Lein said. “The general consensus of parents that we heard from . . . is that it is prudent to place the pipe under the concrete areas and that provides a better perceived barrier for student safety.”

    The alternate route under the asphalt on 135th Avenue in Goodyear will take longer to complete and be more expensive. Crane Co. is responsible for the cleanup of the north plume after dangerous chemicals were put into the ground at the former Unidynamics facility in Goodyear, where defense and aerospace component systems were manufactured. The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. is responsible for the south plume cleanup.

    The main contaminate was trichloroethylene, or TCE, which can cause cancer after prolonged exposure. The pipeline is part of the 1989 Environmental Protection Agency’s mandate to clean up the groundwater. Now, 11 wells pump contaminated water to four treatment facilities, which cleans out the contaminants and distributes the water back into the ground. Miles of pipeline are buried 4 to 5 feet below ground in Goodyear and Avondale.

    The project engineer with AMEC Geomatrix, the consulting and engineering firm hired by Crane, said if the polluted water isn’t contained by the pipelines quickly, the plume will expand and drinking water wells could become contaminated. Goodyear already has lost three wells due to the polluted water.

    Plume history … The contamination was caused in two sites, the former Unidynamics facility, north of Yuma Road, and the former Goodyear Aerospace Corp. that operated on Phoenix Goodyear Airport. Active operations took place at Unidynamics from 1963 to 1994. Crane is in charge of the Unidynamics site, while Goodyear Tire and Rubber is responsible for the aerospace site.

    The Arizona Department of Health Services found the contamination in 1981 and the cleanup started in March 1990. There are two plumes of polluted water stretching about 9 miles across the Southwest Valley. The south plume mass is about 1 mile, while the north makes up about 8 miles, Goodyear Water Resources Manager Dave Iwanski said.

    Officials with the EPA, Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, Liberty Water, Goodyear and district were on hand to answer questions.

    Parents were mainly concerned about student safety. … EPA Toxicologist Stanford Smucker said the TCE being pumped through the pipes is so diluted from the water that it would not have any effect on student health even if the pipes were to leak.

    For information about the Phoenix-Goodyear Airport (PGA) Superfund site, visit
    http://www.epa.gov/region09/phoenix-goodyearairport.

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