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 Texas
water scandal: state agency and
officials hid radioactive
contamination for years
by Tony Isaacs
(The
Best Years in Life) Newly
released documents and emails from
the Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality (TCEQ) show
the agency's top commissioners
directed staff to lower radiation
test results for years in defiance
of federal EPA rules. In addition,
top state officials and the EPA knew
about the agency violations but
choose to take little or no action.
The startling revelations came as a
result of an investigation by
Houston television station KHOU,
which obtained documents and emails
after the state attorney general
directed TCEQ to release them.
Examination of the documents
revealed a pattern of deception and
cover-up which has gone on for
almost 20 years. As a result,
hundreds of thousands of Texas
residents in the Texas Hill Country
area served by the Hickory aquifer
have been kept unaware that they
have been drinking dangerously
contaminated water.
"It's a conspiracy at the TCEQ of
the highest order," said Tom Smith,
of the Public Citizen government
watchdog group. "The documents have
indicted the management of this
commission in a massive cover-up to
convince people that our water is
safe to drink when it's not."
A key part of the deception was
TCEQ's decision to subtract the
margin of error from water test
results - though obviously it could
have been just as valid to add the
margin of error. The released
documents show that subtracting the
margin of error enabled TECQ to keep
from declaring 35 water systems in
violation of EPA standards. A formal
violation declaration would have
forced the water systems to inform
residents of the increased health
risks.
One example is Harris County
Municipal Utility District (MUD)
105. Thanks to the TECQ margin of
error subtractions, the utility was
able to avoid violations for nearly
20 years. A TCEQ white paper from
2001 showed that water samples from
TCEQ's reverse osmosis treated water
in many water districts exceeded
proposed safe levels for radioactive
radium by up to 50 times. In one
instance where water was treated by
ion osmosis, the radium levels were
a staggering 700 times the maximum
safe level. Even very small amounts
of ingested radium can cause cancer
and other health problems.
On December 7, 2000, the EPA said in
the federal register that states
should not add or subtract the
margin of error from test results.
In 2004, the EPA warned Texas that
if it did not stop the practice of
subtracting error margins the EPA
might take over the regulation of
Texas water systems, but the warning
proved to be a typically hollow one.
After the EPA's warning in 2004, the
Texas Water Advisory Council issued
its annual report to the speaker of
the House, the lieutenant governor,
and Gov. Rick Perry, saying:
"However, this result (the loss of
primacy) is unlikely. Of the 49
states with primary enforcement
responsibility to administer their
drinking water programs (Wyoming is
not a primacy state), EPA has never
withdrawn primacy status from any of
them because the federal agency
views both withdrawing primacy and
withdrawing funding as options of
last resort."
Making matters worse, the
measurements taken by TCEQ have been
taken before the water entered water
pipelines. Thanks to years of high
level radioactive contamination in
the water, the pipelines had
themselves become radioactive as had
water tanks, residential pipes and
hot water heaters. The contaminated
pipes and tanks would obviously have
contributed even more radioactive
contamination to the water.
As an indication of how badly the
radioactive contamination has been,
the manager of a regional Hill
Country scrap yard reported that he
had to reject 3 out of every 4 water
tanks, pipes, or other metal exposed
to Hill Country drinking water
because they are too radioactive for
him to accept.
Thus far it is still unexplained
whether the source of the radiation
is entirely natural or whether or
not there might be other sources
such as industrial waste. Oil and
gas rich Texas has long been known
as an industry-friendly state which
frequently turned its head away from
pollution and contamination
problems. However, it is far from
the only state with such a history
and, given the EPA’s pattern of lax
enforcement, one has to wonder if
what has happened in the Hickory
Aquifer area of Texas is only the
tip of the iceberg when it comes to
drinking water radioactivity and
safety nationwide.
Sources included:
http://www.khou.com/home/-Texas-politicians-knew-agency-hid-the-amount-of-radiation-in-drinking-water-122205439.html
http://images.bimedia.net/documents/TNRCC+White+Paper+for+review.pdf
http://www.epa.gov/rpdweb00/radionuclides/radium.html
http://www.khou.com/home/-I-Team-Texas-drinking-water-makes-pipes-and-plumbing-radioactive-122108194.html
See also:
Protective and Restorative
Measures to Take in the Event of Radiation Contamination
About the authorTony Isaacs is a natural health advocate and researcher and the author of books and articles about natural health including Cancer's Natural Enemy. Mr. Isaacs articles are featured at Natural News, the Health Science Institute's Healthiertalk website, CureZone, the Crusador online, AlignLife, the Cancer Tutor, the American Chronicle and several other venues. Mr. Isaacs also has The Best Years in Life website for baby boomers and others wishing to avoid prescription drugs and mainstream managed illness and live longer, healthier and happier lives naturally. In addition, he hosts the Yahoo Oleandersoup Health group of over 2000 members and the CureZone Ask Tony Isaacs - Featuring Luella May forum. Mr. Isaacs and his partner Luella May recently began hosting The Best Years in Life Radio Show for Rumor Mill News on the Micro Effect Radio Network..
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