Lake County to test for arsenic in Dayton
By JENNIFER McBRIDE/For the Eagle
Arsenic is in pesticide, wood preservers and the drinking water in Dayton Elementary School, which has arsenic levels more than 30 times higher than limits set by the Enivronmental Protection Agency. The school well is one of several in Dayton with high levels of contamination. Where is the arsenic coming from? Has it always been there? What health risks, if any, does it pose to Dayton residents?
The Lake County Department of Environmental Health is going to try to answer these questions as it conducts a series of studies on wells in Dayton May 27-30. There will be also an informational meeting May 27 at 7 p.m. in the Dayton Presbyterian Church.
Dayton Elementary School students are drinking bottled water now, according to supervising teacher Nichole Fant. Though officials only found out about the arsenic in July 2007, students have been drinking bottled water for the past ten years because of its high mineral content.
"The water's always tasted bad," she said. "It tastes kind of 'iron-y.' "
The sample showed 375 parts per billion of arsenic in the school's drinking water. The EPA standard is 10 ppb. Other wells close by also tested far above federally-mandated levels, specifically the wells at Yacht Harbor, 516 C Street and the Hayes residence. The school's well has the highest concentration of arsenic in the community — a disquieting prospect, since, according to the Centers for Disease Control website, arsenic may actually lower I.Q. scores in children.
Dayton Elementary School budgeted for engineering a new well and water treatment system plan through the expansion bond, which passed last year. The district will begin digging the foundation of the school expansion project later this month.
Brueggeman is planning to investigate approximately 24 wells in and around Dayton. Other residents may have samples from their own wells tested for a $9 fee. Brueggeman said she plans to put a sign up sheet and sampling containers at the Idle Spur for residents who are interested.
"We're not here to alarm the public, but this is something we should understand better," she said.
The only other wells in the area with high concentrations of arsenic are in Big Arm, and they have levels of 30 to 50 ppb. Also, only wells of a certain depth seem be to affected. The three wells testing positive were all at depths of between 174 and 185 feet. Deeper and shallower wells both tested at lower levels.
"We're just trying to find some sort of pattern to it right now," Brueggeman said.
So far, statistics gathered by the health department haven't shown an increase in arsenic-related cancer in Dayton, though such an increase would be hard to track, according to Carol Bellew, an epidemiologist at the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services' Cancer Control Program.
"It would be extremely difficult to spot an increase in any of these cancers that might be attributable to arsenic, particularly in our relatively small Montana population," Bellew wrote in an e-mail to Brueggeman. "We rarely look at rates at less than a county level."
However, from information she does have, Bellew wrote she has seen "no evidence" of any rise in lung and bladder cancer, the two most common cancers linked to arsenic.
Brueggeman isn't sure how serious the health threat is. Even if the levels in the wells are thirty times the EPA standard, the amount of arsenic is still smaller proportionally than a single grain of sugar in a cup of sugar, according to a fact sheet from the Montana State University Extension Water Quality Program. A lethal dose of arsenic is near 100 milligrams, it said, so to consume that amount, someone would have to guzzle several dozen gallons of water in one sitting to reach the lethal amount.
"But the levels are substantial, so it is a problem," Brueggeman added.
In the meantime, Fant said the school will continue distributing bottled water until the new well is drilled.
For more information, contact the Lake County Environmental Health Department at 883-7236.