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Major Inaccuracies in LA Times Piece on Cadiz Water Quality

A July 20 Los Angeles Times article, “Carcinogen in Mojave groundwater could require costly treatment,” misleads readers about the quality of the water in the Cadiz aquifer.

The article states:

The Mojave Desert groundwater that Cadiz Inc. wants to sell to Southland suburbs contains hexavalent chromium, a carcinogen, in amounts that are hundreds of times greater than the state’s public health goal for drinking water.

The presence of the toxic heavy metal, which occurs naturally in the aquifer Cadiz proposes to tap, could force the company to undertake expensive treatment, driving up the cost of the project and ultimately the price of its water.

The Times is to be commended for pointing out that the minute amounts of Chromium present in the Cadiz water are naturally occurring, but it fails to point out the significance of this fact. Naturally occurring Chromium is very different from the non-natural, industrial deposits of the chemical, which are at vastly higher levels. In the Cadiz Valley watershed, which feeds the Cadiz aquifer, there never has been the sort of industrial activity that has caused pollution problems in other areas.

Furthermore, the “public health goal” is not the current Federal or State standard, and, as pointed out by the Times, likely never will be. It is set at less than 1 ppb (part per billion). To put that minutely small amount in perspective, if the “billion” was a 32-year period of time, one part per billion would be a mere one second. This 1 ppb goal is 100 times greater than the current federal standard and 50 times greater than the California standard, which allows 50 ppb. By comparison, the Cadiz water’s total Chromium content is just 10 to 16 ppb.

The public health goal will likely never be approved because negative health effects cannot be attributed to such tiny amounts, and because Chromium is so prevalent in California water supplies at concentrations much greater than 1 ppb that treatment costs would make water prohibitively expensive throughout much of the state.

The Times is therefore wrong in stating that treatment costs associated with a tighter standard would make Cadiz water prohibitively expensive. Rather, the increased treatment would be needed for about half the water provided by California water providers, so the Cadiz water would remain competitive even in that unlikely scenario.

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