Evidence suggests, contrary to recent reports, that private wells in Malibu have not been found to be contaminated by the dreaded chromium 6, a carcinogen.
However, one private well in Malibu was found contaminated with total chromium of 5.52 parts per billion (ppb), exceeding the State Public Heath Goal of 2.5 ppb. Public Health Goals are limits of contaminants in drinking water that pose an insignificant risk to public health. One purpose of PHGs is to provide information to consumers about drinking water contaminants. Another purpose is to identify contaminants whose standards in drinking water need to be reviewed. The current state standard for total chromium is 50 ppb. The state standard is more restrictive than the Enivironmental Protection Agency’s standard of 100 ppb. The Malibu well chromium levels are far below that of private wells in Lancaster, which were found to have levels of total chromium from 9.18 ppb to 14.80 ppb. Chromium 6 was found in the Lancaster wells as well, with readings as high as 13.70 ppb.
Three of the four private wells tested contained low levels of lead.
The wells were tested in a 2001 pilot study prepared by the Environmental Toxicology Bureau of the county Agricultural Commisioner/Weights and Measures Department. All small water wells under the jurisdiction of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services were sampled.
The private wells tested in the Malibu area were at Decker Youth Camp, Camp Bloomfield, Camp Sholem and Camp Hillel.
Camp Sholem’s well, located on Mulholland Highway west of Little Sycamore Canyon, had a total chromium level of 5.52 ppb, while Camp Bloomfield, located on Mulholland Highway west of Sholem, tested with levels of lead at 4.63 ppb. All four wells were under the state and federal action levels of lead at 15 ppb. The action level, according to the EPA, is “the lowest level to which water systems can reasonably be required to control this contaminant should it occur in drinking water at their customers’ home taps.”
Again, Lancaster wells and others not only were higher, but exceeded the state and federal action levels of 15 ppb. A private well in Castaic contained levels of lead of 115 ppb, while another in Lancaster contained levels at 56.20 ppb.
Chromium exists in water in two forms, according to the study, as trivalent chromium (Cr+3) and as hexavalent chromium (Cr+6). Chromium 6 is regarded by the scientific community as posing the greatest risk to animal and human health. However, adverse health effects are unknown at low levels.
Too much lead in the human body can cause serious damage to the brain, kidneys, nervous system and red blood cells, according to the study, and young children, infants and fetuses are particularly vulnerable to lead poisoning. A child’s mental and physical development can be irreversibly damaged by exposure to lead poisoning.
Maximum Contaminant Level Goals (MCLG), determined by the EPA after Congress passed the Safe Drinking Water Act in 1974, are nonenforceable, as they are based solely on possible health risks and exposure. The MCLG for lead has been set at zero, because, according to the EPA, this level of protection would not cause any of the potential health problems described below.
Short-term effects of exposure above the MCLG could include interference with red blood cell chemistry, delays in normal physical and mental development in babies and young children, slight deficits in the attention span, hearing, and learning abilities of children, and slight increases in the blood pressure of some adults.
Long-term effects from a lifetime exposure at levels above the MCLG are stroke, kidney disease, and cancer.
It is unknown what adverse health effects are cause by low levels of lead, as found in the Camp Bloomfield well.
Most public water in Malibu comes from the state water system supplied by Water Works District 29.
Larry Young, environmental health specialist for the city, said he does not know of any wells that are used for residential drinking water in Malibu.
The lead contamination of the wells may come from pipes that deliver the water from underground to the surface, or the water may be contaminated under the surface, according to the study.
Arsenic levels were also tested.
And while the study says that there is substantial evidence regarding the adverse effects of high levels of arsenic and lead on human health, it adds that “no conclusion can be made about the safety of the well water supply in Los Angeles County, nor the state as a whole based on this report.”
This pilot study is the first time that the county has tested well water for total chromium, chromium 6, arsenic and lead.