Water firm still dogged by high sulfate, TDS levels

GREEN VALLEY--High sulfate and Total Dissolved Solid (TDS) levels continue to nag Community Water Co., the result of seepage from the Phelps Dodge Sierrita Mine tailings.

In some Community Water wells, sulfate and TDS levels are more than twice that recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency.

However, those recommendations are unenforceable, and are meant merely as aesthetic guidelines.

High concentrations of sulfates and TDS in water have been known to cause diarrhea --which can, in extreme cases, lead to dehydration --in infants, the elderly, and those not acclimated to the local water supply, but the risks are not considered serious enough for federal regulation.

Instead, the EPA has listed sulfates and TDS among its Secondary Drinking Water Standards--those governing taste, odor, corrosivity, foaming, and staining properties of water.

According to Community Water Co.'s water quality reports, in 2003 two of its wells contained sulfate levels higher than 500 mg/l, and TDS levels at or above 900 mg/l.

The EPA's guidelines suggest sulfate levels at 250 mg/l or lower, and TDS levels at 500 mg/l or lower.

In October 2003, spurred by Community Water Co. customer and local activist Nancy Freeman, the Green Valley Community Coordinating Council's Environmental Committee released a report confirming the problem.

"Clearly, the water received by at least some people in the Community Water service area has had noticeably poor aesthetic properties since 1995, and these aesthetic properties have continued to degrade," the report said.

At the time, both Community Water and Phelps Dodge pledged to reduce the sulfates and TDS in the water, but, seemingly, there hasn't been much movement on the issue since then--which irks Freeman.

"I really feel this is an emergency situation," Freeman said, adding that the Green Valley area has both a large elderly and a large transient population (snowbirds, tourists, visitors)--the very people most at risk from the adverse health effects of high levels of sulfates and TDS.

"I am really surprised that we are sitting here in this meeting pretending that this isn't going on," Freeman said during Community Water Co.'s annual meeting last week.

This is a charge that the company's General Manager Art Gabaldon denies.

"The numbers for TDS and sulfates are too high," Gabaldon said during the meeting. "It is not being ignored. We are trying to get through several hurdles right now, but we are getting there--these are very complicated issues."

For its part, Phelps Dodge says that although it has identified a short-term solution to the problem, it can't say when it will be implemented.

"In the short-term we want to pump water from one of our existing well fields (and take the offending Community Water wells out of commission); that would greatly reduce the level of sulfates," said Bruce Richardson, a Phelps Dodge Corp. spokesman.

"We are hoping that we can get that done as soon as possible, and it is a priority to us, but it is not a completely simple situation."

Richardson said that state and county water regulations contribute greatly to the uncertainty surrounding a possible solution to the issue.

As for a long-term solution, Richardson said that Phelps Dodge and Community Water are working on it but have yet to come up with one.

thull@gvnews.com | 625-5511 x 22