Feds concerned with arsenic levels at Preston Manor
PRESTON – The level of arsenic found in the well that supplies water to Chenango County’s Preston Manor adult home is too high, according to federal Environmental Protection Agency standards, and must be filtered.
Arsenic is a naturally occurring substance that has been linked to cancer. In 2001, the EPA lowered the threshold for the toxin from 50 parts per billion gallons of water to 10 ppb. Periodic testing at Preston Manor shows arsenic at levels of 30 to 40 ppb.
“We were well below that level before they changed it,” said Isaiah Sutton, environmental health sanitarian for the Chenango County Public Health Department.
Social Services Commissioner Bette Osborne, whose department oversees Preston Manor, told members of the county’s Health and Human Services Committee on Tuesday that the county was given seven years to rectify the problem. She also said that it would take more than 50 years for such trace amounts of arsenic to harm a human being.
Though the health department did not mandate it, bottled water is currently being supplied to the approximately 45 residents of the adult home.
Preston Manor received an official, though non-punitive, violation from the EPA in 2008 for not having the filtration system in place. Since that time, the county’s social services and pubic health departments have been working together to mitigate the problem.
Preston Manor’s neighbors have the same concentration of the contaminate in their drinking water, Osborne said, but aren’t required to have filtration systems because they aren’t public utilities. Arsenic is less likely to be found in spring water because of its distance from bedrock, Sutton said.
In her monthly report to county supervisors, Osborne said the $25,000 she budgeted for a such a system wouldn’t be enough to cover its estimated $58,000 cost. She also said when she first learned of the problem, there were no viable filtration technologies on the marketplace for smaller well systems like the one at Preston Manor.
Health and Human Services Committee Chairman Jeffrey Blanchard, R-Pitcher, directed the commissioner to request an extension from the EPA in order to give the county two years in which to budget for the expense.
“Tell them it’s been difficult to find a solution,” he said.
Town of Smyrna Supervisor James Bays asked why he didn’t know about the problem before. “I knew we had septic issues, but I don’t remember hearing about this before now. Seven years ago? That’s a long time. This has been hanging out there for awhile,” he said.
Osborne said she first learned that the arsenic levels were too high three years ago, and budgeted for a filtration system last fall.
Arsenic is a naturally occurring substance that has been linked to cancer. In 2001, the EPA lowered the threshold for the toxin from 50 parts per billion gallons of water to 10 ppb. Periodic testing at Preston Manor shows arsenic at levels of 30 to 40 ppb.
“We were well below that level before they changed it,” said Isaiah Sutton, environmental health sanitarian for the Chenango County Public Health Department.
Social Services Commissioner Bette Osborne, whose department oversees Preston Manor, told members of the county’s Health and Human Services Committee on Tuesday that the county was given seven years to rectify the problem. She also said that it would take more than 50 years for such trace amounts of arsenic to harm a human being.
Though the health department did not mandate it, bottled water is currently being supplied to the approximately 45 residents of the adult home.
Preston Manor received an official, though non-punitive, violation from the EPA in 2008 for not having the filtration system in place. Since that time, the county’s social services and pubic health departments have been working together to mitigate the problem.
Preston Manor’s neighbors have the same concentration of the contaminate in their drinking water, Osborne said, but aren’t required to have filtration systems because they aren’t public utilities. Arsenic is less likely to be found in spring water because of its distance from bedrock, Sutton said.
In her monthly report to county supervisors, Osborne said the $25,000 she budgeted for a such a system wouldn’t be enough to cover its estimated $58,000 cost. She also said when she first learned of the problem, there were no viable filtration technologies on the marketplace for smaller well systems like the one at Preston Manor.
Health and Human Services Committee Chairman Jeffrey Blanchard, R-Pitcher, directed the commissioner to request an extension from the EPA in order to give the county two years in which to budget for the expense.
“Tell them it’s been difficult to find a solution,” he said.
Town of Smyrna Supervisor James Bays asked why he didn’t know about the problem before. “I knew we had septic issues, but I don’t remember hearing about this before now. Seven years ago? That’s a long time. This has been hanging out there for awhile,” he said.
Osborne said she first learned that the arsenic levels were too high three years ago, and budgeted for a filtration system last fall.
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