thedrifter
05-08-06, 08:50 AM
Water study starts
May 08,2006
CHRIS MAZZOLINI
DAILY NEWS STAFF
A federal agency investigating past water contamination at Camp Lejeune has released preliminary results on its modeling of the base’s water system to a community panel.
The water modeling project was initiated by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) in order to learn how much of the toxic chemicals tetrachloroethylene (PCE) and trichloroethylene (TCE) seeped into the base water system between the late 1950s and 1985, when the wells were capped. There is no known current contamination problem.
This project is linked to an ongoing epidemiological study, which is investigating the effects of TCE and PCE on infants in the womb between 1968 and 1985. TCE is a solvent used for cleaning metal parts, and PCE is a dry-cleaning chemical and degreaser.
The community assistance panel — made up of folks who lived aboard the base and now attribute a number of illnesses they or their family members are suffering from on contaminated water — received the preliminary water modeling results April 20, during a meeting at ATSDR headquarters in Atlanta.
According to the results, the amount of PCE in the wells reached 5 parts per billion — the upper limit allowed for such chemicals in drinking water — at one well, dubbed “TT-26,” in June 1957, and then the water treatment plant in February 1958.
Between 1968 and 1985, the water passing through the Tarawa Terrace treatment plant each month reached an average of 66 ppb and a maximum of 177 ppb, according to the simulation, said Morris Maslia, who’s heading up the water modeling project for ATSDR.
Maslia cautioned that the results are only preliminary; they have not been reviewed or approved by the agency so they are subject to change. Also, they only cover base areas — such as the Tarawa Terrace housing area, Camp Johnson and the old Knox Mobile Home park — supplied by the Tarawa Terrace water treatment plant.
Work on the Hadnot Point and Holcomb Boulevard water modelling is still ongoing, Maslia said. The screening process on the Tarawa Terrace results is expected to take about six months, and the preliminary results of the Hadnot Point and Holcomb Boulevard modelings are expected to be complete by the end of September, Maslia said.
While the water modeling is important for the current ATSDR study, the CAP members are hoping the results can aid in further studies that look at how exposure to bad water affected adults and children who lived, worked or went to school at the base during the affected period.
“This model is going to inform all these studies that we’re talking about,” Dr. Richard Clapp, an epidemiologist from Boston University’s School of Public Health who’s assisting the CAP, said during the meeting. “This is the basis for assigning who’s highly exposed, who’s medium exposed, who’s less exposed.”
ATSDR and the CAP are both hoping to create an Internet tool that will allow someone to put in their address aboard the base at a certain time and learn what level of contaminants they may have been exposed to. The agency hopes to have this available by mid-2007.
The CAP was created based on the recommendations of a 2005 advisory panel formed to discuss the prospects of further study on the Camp Lejeune contamination. A number of people who lived aboard the base at the time have come down with numerous ailments including cancers and birth defects.
The CAP will hold a teleconference in July and another meeting in September. Both will be observable by the public through the ATSDR Web site.
Log on to www.atsdr.cdc.gov/sites/lejeune/ for more information. A video of the meeting is available and a transcript will be posted soon.
Contact staff writer Chris Mazzolini at cmazzolini@freedomenc.com or 353-1171, ext. 229.
May 08,2006
CHRIS MAZZOLINI
DAILY NEWS STAFF
A federal agency investigating past water contamination at Camp Lejeune has released preliminary results on its modeling of the base’s water system to a community panel.
The water modeling project was initiated by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) in order to learn how much of the toxic chemicals tetrachloroethylene (PCE) and trichloroethylene (TCE) seeped into the base water system between the late 1950s and 1985, when the wells were capped. There is no known current contamination problem.
This project is linked to an ongoing epidemiological study, which is investigating the effects of TCE and PCE on infants in the womb between 1968 and 1985. TCE is a solvent used for cleaning metal parts, and PCE is a dry-cleaning chemical and degreaser.
The community assistance panel — made up of folks who lived aboard the base and now attribute a number of illnesses they or their family members are suffering from on contaminated water — received the preliminary water modeling results April 20, during a meeting at ATSDR headquarters in Atlanta.
According to the results, the amount of PCE in the wells reached 5 parts per billion — the upper limit allowed for such chemicals in drinking water — at one well, dubbed “TT-26,” in June 1957, and then the water treatment plant in February 1958.
Between 1968 and 1985, the water passing through the Tarawa Terrace treatment plant each month reached an average of 66 ppb and a maximum of 177 ppb, according to the simulation, said Morris Maslia, who’s heading up the water modeling project for ATSDR.
Maslia cautioned that the results are only preliminary; they have not been reviewed or approved by the agency so they are subject to change. Also, they only cover base areas — such as the Tarawa Terrace housing area, Camp Johnson and the old Knox Mobile Home park — supplied by the Tarawa Terrace water treatment plant.
Work on the Hadnot Point and Holcomb Boulevard water modelling is still ongoing, Maslia said. The screening process on the Tarawa Terrace results is expected to take about six months, and the preliminary results of the Hadnot Point and Holcomb Boulevard modelings are expected to be complete by the end of September, Maslia said.
While the water modeling is important for the current ATSDR study, the CAP members are hoping the results can aid in further studies that look at how exposure to bad water affected adults and children who lived, worked or went to school at the base during the affected period.
“This model is going to inform all these studies that we’re talking about,” Dr. Richard Clapp, an epidemiologist from Boston University’s School of Public Health who’s assisting the CAP, said during the meeting. “This is the basis for assigning who’s highly exposed, who’s medium exposed, who’s less exposed.”
ATSDR and the CAP are both hoping to create an Internet tool that will allow someone to put in their address aboard the base at a certain time and learn what level of contaminants they may have been exposed to. The agency hopes to have this available by mid-2007.
The CAP was created based on the recommendations of a 2005 advisory panel formed to discuss the prospects of further study on the Camp Lejeune contamination. A number of people who lived aboard the base at the time have come down with numerous ailments including cancers and birth defects.
The CAP will hold a teleconference in July and another meeting in September. Both will be observable by the public through the ATSDR Web site.
Log on to www.atsdr.cdc.gov/sites/lejeune/ for more information. A video of the meeting is available and a transcript will be posted soon.
Contact staff writer Chris Mazzolini at cmazzolini@freedomenc.com or 353-1171, ext. 229.