WEAR TV3 reported on Thursday, September 22nd that Chromium-6, “The Erin Brockovich” chemical, had been found in local water supplies in Northwest Florida. This report was based on sample results from 2013-2014 which tested for a list of potential contaminants in drinking water which are not currently regulated. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) utilizes what is known as Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR) to collect data for contaminants that are suspected to be present in drinking water and do not have health-based standards set under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA).
Destin Water Users did participate in the UCMR water testing which included samples taken from all of our drinking water wells and locations throughout our distribution system. DWU feels it is important to inform our customers that all of our results were absent of the Chromium-6 chemical, and there is no reason for our customers to be alarmed by the recent news report.
In other news, ABC reported on Tuesday, September 20th that “Scores of residents in Polk County, Florida have requested water quality testing after a fertilizer plant admitted a sinkhole on its property leached 215 million gallons of “slightly radioactive” water into the local Florida aquifer”.
Polk County is located east of Tampa and this was a localized event which the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) has been closely monitoring. The results of their sampling has indicated that affected water is being successfully contained, and that there is no evidence of offsite movement or threat to our drinking water source here in Destin.