RSSEPA picks Valley for well project
Yakima Herald-Republic
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YAKIMA, Wash. -- The Yakima Valley has been selected as one of 10 communities nationwide for a special project to reduce health risks faced by minorities drinking contaminated water from private wells.
The Seattle office of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will get $100,000 for a pilot project in the Yakima Valley, Tom Eaton, director of the Washington operations office, said Thursday in an e-mail announcement.
Called an environmental justice project, its primary focus will be to reduce exposure to contaminated water and determine the extent and sources of contamination through a well screening program, Eaton said.
Environmental justice is described as the fair treatment and "meaningful involvement" of all people, regardless of race, color, national origin or income in environmental issues.
"Hidden Wells, Dirty Water," a series published last year in the Yakima Herald-Republic, showed that as many as 30,000 Lower Valley residents -- most of them Latino farm workers -- had been drinking well water contaminated by nitrates.
Earlier this fall, the EPA announced plans to begin sampling well water early next year in an effort to identify the sources of nitrate and bacterial contamination. Many well owners suspect the contamination is chiefly caused by the application of dairy manure and commercial fertilizer to crops. Manure and fertilizer are rich in nitrates.
Earlier this week, EPA administrator Lisa Jackson announced the Yakima Valley was among the 10 "environmental justice showcase communities."
She said the purpose of the projects is to "highlight the disproportionate environmental burdens placed on low-income and minority communities all across the nation. By expanding the conversation on environmentalism, we can give a voice to vulnerable groups that haven't always had a voice on these issues."
Of the Yakima project, Jackson said the mission is to assess homes with contaminated wells to reduce pollution "through available regulatory tools and best management practices."
The EPA didn't say when the projects would get under way but said they would take place over the next two years.
The other communities are Bridgeport, Conn.; Staten Island; Washington, D.C.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Milwaukee, Wis.; Port Arthur, Texas; Kansas City, Mo. and Kansas City, Kan.; Salt Lake City; and Los Angeles.
* Leah Beth Ward can be reached at 509-577-7626 or lward@yakimaherald.com.
If you go ...
What: Call-in radio talk show on the environmental health of the Latino community
When: Saturday
Time: 4-6 p.m.
Dial: Radio KDNA
Who: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state departments of Health and Ecology
Purpose: To discuss water and other environmental health problems affecting the health of the Latino community in the Yakima Valley
Hope that determining the source of contamination will be assigned a priority in the Yakima Valley. Otherwise the problem is only going to spread throughout our domestic water supplies. It is not only the poor or minority communities who are being impacted by water quality.
Report ViolationThis is another environmental witch hunt brought to you by people who simply want to cause problems.
Report ViolationThis is another way the government is going to bring down the source of capitalism, under the guise of helping us, so they can implement their version of government (socialism),when in reality in the long run it will condemn our valley. Think San Joaquin, CA. There's ways to filter your water, but once the jobs and businesses are gone, they are gone.
Report Violation$100,000 spent to determine that most of these people are drinking from there own septic tanks. When will the EPA wake up and realize that the problem is that the wells are so poorly constructed in these areas. This valley could do a lot more good with $100,000.
Report ViolationEA Don't worry this $100,000 is just the beginning of the cash and national attention coming to this valley. Your dirty dairy friends and employers have put over 80 diaries and feedlots over a an aquifer that is the sole source of drinking water for the vast majority of poor people living and working in the lower valley.
Oh, did I say sole source?
What I meant to say was SOLE SOURCE!!!!!
I wonder why that phrase scares the crap out of so many polluters and their mercenary fake agriculture experts?
Guess we'll just have to wait to find out.
I just can't imagine why having 280,000 cows and 80 unregulated dairies and feedlots crowded into the eastern half of Yakima county might be a problem.
Can you???
I can't imagine how you can live with yourself being an apologist for a group of greedy mercenaries living off of government subsidies and systematically poisoning tens of thousands of people.
Sweet dreams Sparky! The whole world is watching.
Hawkeye you must be a soil scientist or water quality expert to be so sure. I would like to tell you how I really feel but the moderator wont allow for that. I'll just say "that idea is idiotic". Lets run a little scenerio of what are town would be like without agriculture. Can you help me out here?
I have a hard time understanding the rational behind people who protest modern agriculutre. 25,000 people a day starve to death. Its not helping the cause to protest a major staple of our food source.
You are right we will have to wait and find out these results. Only time will tell.
Love, Sparky
No.....I'm not a soils scientist but I have thought of hanging up my MBA, taking a few remedial night school classes, getting a lobotomy and being certified as an agronomist. Then I could sell my opinions to the highest bidder. They might even pay me to blog here. I could be the first Native American agronomist. Say, does Gordon pay by the word or by the post?
Report ViolationMust be a pretty comfortable world being so sure of things without any proof to back it up. In these tough times I would take a check from just about anyone. I’m not sure who Gordon is but if he’s reading this please reach out to me a pay me!!
While I’m waiting for my check lets just blame all this confusion on my Ag degree because you can never truly rely on a 4 year college to tell you the truth. That must be the SOURCE of our problem!! Too much education!
But really what is your ultimate goal just for conversation sake??? I’m guessing it’s to rid the world of dairies and feedlots. Have you given much thought to this outside of your own little bias perception?? Are you a Vegan? I won’t overload you with too much “Psuedo Science” because I know that can be a little overwhelming. Good luck with that MBA but you might want to consider a GED first.
Since Sparky is so sure of himself, he and his clients should not object to DNA or other high tech testing being done to determine the true source of the pollution of our surface and ground waters in the Yakima Valley. If fact, I would think that they should be willing to subsidize the use of all available testing options to prove once and for all where the point source(s) of the pollutants are originating from.
Report ViolationLet's take some simple air tests. Then the daires can't blame the air polltion on: leaky septic systems, ducks, beavers,other farmers, and golf courses.
We have a feedlot out by Harrah with 14,000 cows. Each cow poops over 100 pounds of poop a day. This does not include urine. This equals 1,400,000 pounds of raw poop a day. Times 365 days in a year equals a whole lot of poop with no where to go, from one single facility. They can tell you this poop is applied in agranomic rates. What a joke! No one monitors. Where is this poop going? Watch the Yakima Herald Republic for when dairies are applying for franchises and pipes. Wonder what is going into these pipes and where are the pipes delivering their contents? Yakima County officials do not care.They blindy give out the permits with total lack of concern or responsibility. The fecal contaminated air can not be blamed on leaky septic systems, ducks or beavers.
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