Town Water Has No Lead or Copper In Its Source Water or Distribution Lines.
ESTES PARK, Colo. — Customers of the Town of Estes Park water system recently received educational information regarding the potential health risk of lead in drinking water. Town officials say it is important for Estes Park residents to understand that there is no lead in the source water used for treatment, and there is no lead in the water being supplied to customers through the Town distribution system. The Town of Estes Park water system consists of pipes lined with concrete or steel, which contain no lead or copper.
Officials say in Estes Park’s specific circumstance, the source of lead in the water is lead solder used in household plumbing. Due to the corrosivity of water, over time metals used in household piping are leached into water on the customer’s premises. Estes Park’s source water (snow melt) is extremely pure with high oxygen content. Officials say this low-alkaline/high oxygen water is highly corrosive.
The EPA believes the potential for lead contamination in drinking water relates directly to the year a home was built. For more information on this determination, visit http://www.epa.gov/safewater/lcrmr/memo_nov23-2004.html attachment A (Tier1). Lead solder was banned nationwide in 1986. Homes built after that date should not be at risk. Homes constructed prior to 1980 are considered at low risk because any lead exposed to corrosive water has already been dissolved.
As a result, the EPA requires the Town of Estes Park to collect sample water from residences built between 1980 to1986. The few homes in the community which have tested above the lead action level were built in this time frame. In addition, the water tested was a “first draw” sample collected after the water had sat un-used over night maximizing the metals concentrations.
The notification, which was mailed in late 2008, was mandated by the EPA and was initiated because a few homes in the area tested above the “action level” for lead concentrations. However, exceeding the EPA’s action level is not a drinking water violation, nor does it mean that the water is unsafe to drink.
The Lead and Copper Rule is the only regulation in the Safe Drinking Water Act, which employs this action level concept. The action level for lead is 15 parts per billion and is intended as an early warning that public water systems may need to optimize their corrosion control efforts. It also provides at-risk individuals, primarily infants and pregnant women, the opportunity to consider protective action.
When the original Lead and Copper Rule was implemented by the state in 1992, the Town of Estes Park began adding a corrosion inhibitor. An adjustment to this treatment process is needed periodically as pipes feeding off of the Town of Estes Park’s water distribution system age. Because of the addition of a corrosion inhibitor, Town of Estes Park water customers can expect the life of their household pipes to be extended considerably.
The Estes Parkian Consulted With
CDC
Water Quality Control Commission
EPA – Environmental Protection Agency
AWWA – American Water Works Association
Water Quality Laboratory – State of Colorado
The State of Colorado
The Denver Water Board
Larimer County Health Department
Two Private Water Quality Laboratories
Seven Front Range Municipalities
Seven Colorado Mountain Resort Communities
The City of Alamosa
Dangerous and Irresponsible Actions and Misinformation
Why would the Estes Park Town Trustees inform us in December, they fed us lead laced water last summer?
When did Estes Park elected officials decide that a little lead is okay for our thousands of visitors and residents? As far as the Estes Parkian is concerned, a little lead is not okay! The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) doesn’t think a little lead is okay either.
If the water the town distributed last summer was harmful to at risk individuals (as the Trail Gazette article implies) like children, pregnant mothers, medical patients and people with chronic health issues, why did the Town of Estes Park Trustees remain silent and unconcerned at the time these precious people were at risk, last summer?
EPA mandated testing for Lead/Copper is conducted in July, why are we hearing about the negative results in December? Why didn’t your elected officials and town staff follow the guidelines, intended to protect public health set forth by the EPA?
How do we warn all those thousands of people we invite here on vacation? Our target demographic is “families with children from the Midwest”; the town trustees placed those children at risk. A “town department” chooses and spends millions of our rare sales tax dollars marketing to this demographic. A “town department” is responsible for water quality. Who created the Estes Park administrative policy, that marketing is a higher community priority in Estes Park than public health?
Does “take action” mean, “take action” that allows consumers the opportunity to avoid drinking lead laced water at the time of the health risk, or “take action” when it’s politically convenient for the Town Trustees? Obviously, to Estes Park elected officials, “take action” means take the action that is the most politically self serving and convenient for them; playing on the meaning of words, legal shell games, crafty articles hidden on the back pages of the Estes Park Trail Gazette, printed months after the fact. The bottom line, the Estes Park Trustees still fed you lead and ignored EPA recommendations.
We received the flier in the mail, we read the article in the newspaper, presumably all seven of the town’s elected representatives were informed at the same time we were. None of our seven representatives seemed surprised, shocked or curious enough to mention this issue in a public meeting. Not one elected official asked for a public explanation from staff. Can we infer from their deafening silence that this is a common practice; keeping quiet and protecting their own health and their families health, leaving the rest of us to drink tainted water or fish in streams tainted by raw sewage?
Did the Town Trustees create an administrative policy that runs counter to federal law? Why can’t we even take a good clean cool drink of water in the Estes Valley, without some lead laced drama?
Did the Town Trustees create an administrative policy, that it is acceptable to hide health issues at the peak of the tourist season?
Did the Town Trustees notify the Hospital last summer, when the lead was discovered?
Did the Town Trustees notify the Community Day Care Centers, when the lead was discovered?
Did the Town Trustees notify the Retirement and Assisted Living Center, when the lead was discovered?
Did the Town Trustees inform Spanish Speakers?
What did the Town Trustees do to protect our visitors?
How many infants and pregnant ladies were in town last summer?
Why is lead in toys from China offensive, but lead for children served by the Estes Park Water System okay with your Town Trustees and the Trail Gazette?
The Town Trustees risked the health of vulnerable citizens (infants and pregnant ladies) last summer, and the Town Trustees and the Trail Gazette seem good with that.
A peanut company right now is going out of business, for ignoring negative test results and passing along a tainted product, because it was convenient.
The “educational” material supplied six months after the fact, implies that corrosion control is all about your pipe longevity. Corrosion control and Lead/Copper laws were created, because lead is a serious health risk. Do not believe the erroneous information made by the authors of the newspaper article that all the lead has leached out of your pipelines. This statement printed in the Estes Park Trail Gazette is irresponsible, and it prompts you to ignore a dangerous situation. After all, if all the lead has leached out, why were the results of the test showing positive for lead? According to the EPA some water fixtures being sold and installed 2009, still contain alloys of copper and lead.
How long did this situation persist? The town was mandated by federal law to act within sixty days, to the negative testing results they received last summer. Our research indicated that the solubility issue possibly persisted from May to October 2008, nearly six months. To better understand the scale, the Town’s solubility issue concerned millions of gallons of water - over an extended period of time - for the water to be unstable enough to dissolve lead at a variety of taps, possibly valley wide.
Today the EPA considers no level of lead to be actually safe
This is absolutely and undeniably a “point source issue” a “water chemistry issue”…the point source in our opinion being the towns water treatment facilities. The article titled “Town water has no lead or copper in its source water or distribution lines” is dangerous, irresponsible, and crafted with intent to confuse consumers with a false positive and hide the real truth. Robbing you and thousands of visitors of the information to make an informed decision, making you just unlucky, did you buy a home or stay in a cabin or motel room that leached lead?
There is no lead coming out of the Town of Estes Parks two Water Treatment Plants, BUT…the “Town” failed to stabilize drinking water that in turn dissolved the lead in your pipes…is the whole truth!
Technically it concerns the “Langlier Saturation Index” about fundamental water chemistry and professional water treatment. Shouldn’t town officials be concerned with protecting the health of the consumer; not tricky phrasing to cloud incompetence, bad judgment, and rationalizations skirting EPA requirements to notify and educate? Someone in town hall should have taken the leadership roll, taken the responsibility at the time to inform and educate, sadly no one did the responsible adult thing required of leaders.
Three trustees; Richard Homeier, Eric Blackhurst and John Ericson sit on the Utilities Committee, they run that department. Someone created an administrative policy or manufactured an interpretation, that EPA mandated action levels, education, and reporting laws for Lead/ Copper contamination, are optional in Estes Park. According to the author of the newspaper article, Town Trustee policy is the Estes Park consumer shoulders the “blame” for the lead that appeared in the town’s drinking water. The intent behind EPA Water Quality Standards is the protection of public health; your health and the health of the thousands of people who chose to vacation here. Who protects us from our elected officials deceptive practices and incompetence?
From our perspective there are only two possible explanations for what happened last summer
The trustees knew about the violation, agreed as a group behind the scenes to dummy up, and conspired to hide and spin doctor tainted water. When and where are the Trustees meeting to decide these things? The Town Trustees spend millions of our sales tax dollars through a town department, buying ads and selling responses to motel owners (running a tourist enterprise). In our opinion, the trustees hid health risk information, which could have affected marketing numbers, devaluing the product they sell. At the time of the tainted water, last summer, Trustee Eric Blackhurst was in charge of the utility department, and lobbing full time for the Marketing District to save his wife’s lucrative job with the town. We believe the information was withheld to protect marketing numbers; marketing motel rooms to tourists, and trustees’ personal profit, has become a higher priority than public health.
Or
Town staff hid the situation from the trustees and utility commission members - covered their incompetence and the facts of the circumstances.
After All A Little Poison Is Still Poison
Harmfulness of Lead (Effects)
Lead is a toxin. Short-term exposure to high doses can make you seriously ill. Long term overexposure can cause numerous health problems, including:
Blood disorders including anemia
Damage to your nervous system and brain
Kidney disease
Lead is “the greatest environmental threat to the nation’s children.” (U.S. Public Health Service)
Reproductive impairments in men and women
Lead overexposure can also cause birth defects, mental retardation, behavioral disorders and death in fetuses and young children.
Lead kills wildlife (such as birds ingesting lead shot)
Three million U.S. children (10-15% of preschoolers) have lead levels high enough to impair their neurologic development (reading disorders, attention deficits). Chronic exposure to low levels of lead is tied to low birth weight, impaired mental development and hearing loss.
Today the EPA considers no level of lead to be actually safe.
20%-50% of total lead in children is attributable to drinking water (EPA, CDC).
Lead at 500 ppm in soil or solid waste qualifies the substance as "hazardous waste".
“Action level” means take action now, educate now. According to the EPA “action levels” were created for Lead/Copper because of the toxic nature of lead, and to eliminate uninformed political judgments. For example: political rationalizations like the one the Estes Park Trustees made, informing everyone after the tourists leave. The intent behind an “action level” is to notify consumers of a serious situation, so consumers may take action to avoid the contamination. The threat is serious enough concerning Lead/Copper the EPA has adopted “action levels” to alert the consumer before people start dropping, it is a preventative action. The EPA made it simple for local authorities; if lead is detected the authority must alert the consumers, take measures at the treatment plant and institute a flushing program now! But…I guess if you did that in the middle of the peak tourist season…the tourists would leave or once the word got out cancel their arrangements and go to an alternate destination, lead free.
Point Source Issue
What the Town Trustees and the Trail Gazette didn’t tell you in their article are: the EPA has determined the burden of proof concerning the safety of a purveyor’s product is the purveyors; this burden of proof is not to be born by the public, as the Town Trustee’s action implies. According to the EPA, where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of scientific certainty should not be used as an excuse for postponing measures to prevent environmental or health degradation.
The Estes Park Town Trustees elected to wait six months or more before taking “action” and then played word games in the local press, rolling the dice with public health. This is the kind of senseless - mindless act that destroys all believability and credibility with local elected officials. Why are we just finding out about lead in the drinking water in December, when the town erred last summer? Who crafted that Estes Park Town policy? Who decided that EPA determined solubility and Lead/Copper is not worth discussion? Why isn’t public health entitled to immediate action? Which Trustee decided they know better than the EPA? When it comes to the responsibility of public health, shouldn’t good judgment dictate precaution; not sitting on ones hands, holding ones breathe, waiting for the issue to pass?
Protecting public health shouldn’t be up to the discretion and opinions of political volunteers; especially those who habitually demonstrate tainted judgment, habitually fall prey to “group think” rationalizations, and prefer playing at tourist entertainment, than assuring competent oversight of essential services. If Estes Park elected officials cannot discern the difference between lawful and unlawful acts, and lack the courage to speak out during a community health issue, if their judgment is that clouded, they should be invited to resign in mass.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency, has established very precise protocols in the event toxic contaminations occur in your drinking water, and lead is toxic. Treatment plants, such as those operated by the Town of Estes Park, were ordered in 1992 to install corrosion control treatment, and to conduct water quality parameter monitoring. This is an important point, because the town’s information flier and newspaper article was crafted to sound as though the problem was not theirs. The whole intent behind the public notification law is; in the event of a violation, the purveyor (Town of Estes Park) will inform the consumer, so they can run the water - flushing their pipes - before using the water. If the water stands stagnant in you lines for more than ten minutes - you need to flush for two more minutes - that’s in every faucet in your home. So why did the town notify us in December, when the pollution occurred last summer?
WE contacted the EPA and the State Water Quality Laboratory, we described the situation, after “your kidding” we were told it sounds like (and we quote), “something changed at your water treatment plant.”
LEAD IS COLORLESS, ODORLESS, TASTELESS, AND TOXIC: IF YOU HAVE LEAD IN YOUR WATER YOU MUST TELL PEOPLE “HEY PEOPLE THERE IS LEAD IN THE WATER” SO THEY CAN TAKE ACTIONS TO PROTECT THEMSELVES AND THEIR CHILDREN.
The ‘Estesparkian” in the past has demonstrated, on several occasions, the propensity of trustees to join the team, conspire with and appease “hired staff” including the fabrication of facts, and we have demonstrated how “town staff” in collusion with your elected officials blatantly ignore state law, to benefit personally. Now we believe you have the “trifecta”, as a matter of political convenience and trustee policy, this unholy alliance withheld information about the quality of your drinking water until months after the fact, and allowed the citizens of Estes Park, thousands of people in unincorporated Larimer County, and thousands of unsuspecting vacationers to consume lead laced water.
This has ugly implications concerning public trust and professional credibility. When you pour a glass of water and hand it to a child is it safe? Will your elected leaders do the difficult things, the unpopular things to keep that child safe? The unavoidable answer is sadly…NO…not in Estes Park.
Solutions and Prevention
Water is the “universal solvent”, by adjusting and monitoring basic parameters at the water treatment plant, the chemistry can be simply altered, so that the water will not corrode and dissolve lead. The testing procedure is called the “Langlier Saturation Index”; it is a common and fundamental tool in water treatment. It is impossible and impractical to test for lead in every home and motel room every day, the simple and practical solution is to adjust the water chemistry at the treatment plant, so the water will not dissolve lead.
The Langlier Saturation Index being the fundamental monitoring standard in the water treatment industry (AWWA), it is essential to determine the scaling or corrosion properties of drinking water, as it enters the distribution network. A shift in the saturation index at the treatment plant should have clued the “town staff” into some sort of action immediately, to prevent corrosion issues in the distribution network. This is important for you as a consumer to understand, because a few simple routine tests at the treatment plant level are the preventative measures.
Information from all the treatment plants we contacted around Colorado: the appropriate tests are run once per hour and the saturation index determined once per hour, assuring that the water they distribute does not dissolve lead. Glacial snow melt is notoriously aggressive, that is a matter of water chemistry, and a fundamental of water treatment in Colorado (after all - water is the universal solvent). If the treatment plant staff vigilantly attends to water stability and a testing regiment, the water they distribute will not dissolve lead. In other words, it is a point source issue. Professionalism at the treatment plant is the solution, not excuse making after the fact.
The Root Source Of The Problem in Estes Park Is Political
This is about the “lead in your drinking water”, but it reveals so very much more. It’s about trust, choosing priorities, and the condition of the infrastructure of the community. The lack of accountability, transparency, leadership and apathy have moved problems forward; ignoring major issues in preference of sexy projects like entertainment, nonprofit coddling, and free bus rides for tourists. The pollution issue we think originated at the Glacier Creek Water Treatment plant, this facility is referred to as a “peaking facility” turned on and used in the summer high use months as demand dictates, and notoriously decades out dated. The facility was modified in about 1992 to post treat Estes Park’s drinking water for solubility issues, specifically to prevent the lead issue that surfaced again last summer.
The assertion by the author of the Trail Gazette article, that the town’s distribution system is devoid of lead, is a ridiculous and a dangerous assumption; in fact in our opinion “town staff” is hard pressed to even locate major portions of the water distribution system, which in some cases is one hundred years old. As a matter of routine, town staff must contract with outside professionals to locate pipes. For most of those one hundred years, in the Estes Park Valley, local contractors (often friends and relatives) installed whatever components they wanted - anyway they wanted - unencumbered by oversight. Much of what was installed exists outside Town limits, and town staff has no clue about what type of material was buried, to claim the distribution system is concrete and steel is foolish, as the standard for years was Ductile iron. We fear this still goes on today, as ordinances and oversight rules are selectively enforced, if at all, in the Estes Valley. The truth is, ordinances and oversight rules are selectively enforced, based on staff generated political views. Ignoring laws, rules, and ordinances is standard practice; there is no rhyme or reason connected to the enforcement or even the recognition of the rule of law in the Estes Valley. Without rules and competent adult oversight, this is what you get, drinking water that dissolves the lead out of your pipes for you to drink, and artfully crafted articles pinned by a Trustee’s wife telling you “all is well”.
Of course, there is lead in your drinking water, what did you expect? Of course, the Town Trustees knowingly break the law. Of course, the Town would have the local press print an article that is worded to defer the blame to you. Of course, the local press didn’t investigate the issue; they just blindly print what they are told, even if that information is false and dangerous to your health. Of course, the responsibility is absolutely the Town Trustees. Of course, it affects all of the people who travel here, stay in motel rooms, eat the food and drink the water.
The lead “action levels” were achieved in enough homes that the Town Trustees were responsible by law to educate you; using direct mail and the local news media to protect you when the danger exists, not six months after the fact!
The Town Trustees, as elected representatives of the people of Estes Park, should have one mission and that is to prevent health issues like lead in your drinking water. We do not pay “town staff” millions to make excuses; faking solutions for issues like lead in your drinking water, but to prevent issues like lead in your drinking water. There is a big difference between prevention and solutions. A mistake is one thing, but purposeful deception through silence, during a potentially serious health issue, is something else entirely. Taking from you (and thousands of tourists) the choice to drink the water or not. Public health is not a political guessing game, and certainly not the Estes Park Trustees decision to make.
You would have been protected (last summer) if - you would have run the water two minutes before you drank the water (last summer) - is not educational, it is grounds to recall your elected officials, in mass.
If you ran a poll, you would discover most tourists would prefer lead free drinking water - to a free bus ride.
Every motel room in the Estes Valley should have a sign on the bathroom mirror:
“DANGER LEAD IN THE WATER - RUN THE TAP TWO FULL MINUTES BEFORE YOU DRINK THE WATER - NEVER CONSUME THE HOT WATER.”
In Summary
During the summer of 2008, a series of preventable events occurred, that culminated in the appearance of lead in Estes Park drinking water at the height of the tourist season, every motel room was full of people from around the World. The fact the lead was in the water was hidden until December 2008. We see this as a blatant disregard for the health of the public, a dangerous flaw in judgment, and a serious lack of integrity on behalf of all seven of our elected officials. Nobody stepped up to do the right thing; staff, elected officials, or the local press. Spinning blame and misrepresenting the facts are not the actions of responsible adults, elected as our representative oversight.
Estes Park politicians are promoting “Rocky Mountain National Park Wilderness Designation” as being beneficial to Estes Park citizens, there has never been an explanation of why this is beneficial.
In 2008 alone, elected officials in the Estes Valley were responsible for more environmental senselessness than any other community in Colorado.
Two significant raw sewage discharges directly into the Big Thompson drainage
Two drinking water quality violations - requiring public notifications
Traffic gridlock and bottle necks – admittedly created by the town
Noxious air pollution – unmonitored – untested - uncontrolled - ignored
Unsightly development and ill conceived land use policies - that brought about negative national scrutiny
This lead issue is not the first - this is not an isolated incident – this is a pattern of abuse, a deeply troubling and reoccurring theme. We are the closest municipality to the “proposed wilderness” and your elected representatives have proven to be the most irresponsible stewards to visitors and citizens imaginable.
The “Estes Parkian”
