Wednesday, February 13, 2002
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Wednesday, February 13, 2002 |
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Officials unanimous: Our water is safe By DAVE HAMRICK
Two questions still haunt Fayette residents who have dealt with sweet-smelling water due to an overflow of deicing chemicals at Hartsfield Airport Jan. 3: Is the water safe now? If it is safe now, was the water contaminated shortly after the spill, and did that contamination cause local health problems? "I can tell you the water supply to your house is completely safe," Peachtree City Mayor Steve Brown told a group of residents during a hearing Friday to answer residents' questions about the Jan. 3 spill. An unknown quantity of deicing fluid composed of ethylene and propylene glycol mixed with hot water escaped the airport's containment system during the early January snowstorm and entered the facility's storm sewers, flowing directly into the Flint River. Ten days after the spill, Fayette residents began to complain that their water smelled and tasted "sickeningly sweet." Most of the tests conducted following the spill, the earliest of them conducted on samples collected Jan. 16, did not show any detectable levels of the chemicals, and state and local officials insist that at no time was the water dangerous to humans. Propylene glycol, which is used in some food additives, is considered generally safe. Ethylene glycol, though, can cause death if large enough amounts are ingested, according to experts. Short of death, the most common problem associated with the chemical is kidney problems. As the chemical breaks down in the body, it forms crystals that affect kidney function. But that requires that one ingest large amounts of the chemical. So how much glycol have Fayette residents ingested? Tests run by the state EPD showed no detectable levels of ethylene glycol in samples taken from Fayette homes, but one resident pointed out during Friday's meeting that while the official "danger level" for the chemical is seven parts per million in water, the state's tests are set at 10 ppm. It's difficult to detect less than that, said Bert Langley of the EPD. But although the city is not responsible for the water supply, Peachtree City collected its own samples and ran tests that could detect down to one ppm, said Mayor Brown. At least one of those tests showed about three ppm, Brown said. That level is not enough to hurt anybody, experts insist. But all of the tests were conducted on samples collected Jan. 16 and later. What about right after the spill, residents wanted to know. Tammy Ellerbee said she became ill after drinking the water, before switching to bottled water, and now she is having kidney problems. Another Peachtree City resident lost her unborn child during the spill event and wonders if it could have been a factor. Anything is possible, said Randy Manning, toxicologist for the EPD. "But it actually takes fairly large amounts [based on animal studies] to cause developmental malfunctions," he said. In one study, laboratory animals were given the human equivalent of 70 grams of ethylene glycol daily for three generations with no changes in reproduction, according to Manning. If levels in Fayette water did go high enough to cause kidney problems, he added, the problem should be short-lived. In humans, the only severe health problems that have ever come from glycol have been from accidental, usually job-related, ingestion of very large amounts, or suicide attempts, Manning said.
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