HomeMy WebLinkAboutBoard of Health April 2 20021
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DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee
minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they
are not the final approved minutes.
WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL
Board of Health
April 2, 2002
The meeting was called to order at 10:30 a.m. by Council Member Dan
McShane in the Council Chambers, 311 Grand Avenue, Bellingham, Washington.
Present: Absent:
Sharon Roy L. Ward Nelson
Laurie Caskey- Schreiber Barbara Brenner
Sam Crawford
Seth Fleetwood
(Clerk's Note: Due to audiotape malfunction, there is no audio recording of
the first half of this meeting. The minutes are taken from the clerk's notes.)
1. PUBLIC SESSION
No one spoke.
2. ARSENIC PRIVATE WATER SYSTEMS
Regina Delahunt, Director, stated this is National Public Health Week. The
Public Health Hero ceremony is tomorrow.
There is a new federal arsenic maximum contaminant level (MCL). Staff is
looking for direction related to private water availability requirements. The MCL
regulation applies to public water systems. The water availability requirements use
the MCL to determine whether treatment of a private system will be required of
new construction. There are monetary considerations for the private homeowner.
Paul Chudek, Environmental Health Supervisor, stated the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) published the lower maximum contaminant level for
arsenic. It changed from 50 parts per billion (ppb) to 10 ppb, which is significant.
Public water supplies have to comply by January 2006. There is a significant cost
to meeting the new MCL. Public supplies and utilities have to have time to gather
new resources to meet the MCL. Whatcom County normally uses the MCL's that the
EPA has put into place and that are also adopted by Washington State Department
of Health for water availability. In this case, the State Department of Health has
not yet adopted the new MCL for arsenic. If someone develops a new public supply
now, there is no requirement to meet the new lower standard until 2006. If the
Council adopts the new MCL locally, it would cover two party wells as well. Public
water supplies will have until 2006 to gather resources and develop newer
technology that will make treatment cost less. Three independent agencies agreed
Board of Health, 4/2/2002, Page 1
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DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee
minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they
are not the final approved minutes.
that it is a prudent move to reduce the MCL from 50 ppb to 10 ppb. Arsenic is a
carcinogen.
They have collected private water data through drinking water availability
information and tests. Staff can show where arsenic is around the county. There
are only about five detections at a level above 50 ppb in all of Whatcom County. At
a level of 10 ppb, there are many more detections. He estimates 13 out of every
100 wells have a level above 10 ppb, for a total of about 300 in the County. It is
more difficult to categorize where those wells are. They expect to see lower level of
arsenic in shallow wells, and an elevated level associated with deeper wells.
Crawford asked if Mr. Chudek is talking about public or private water
supplies. Chudek stated he is talking about private supplies only. The implication
of reducing the level to 10 ppb is to no longer say that it would apply only to wells
on Lummi Island. It can occur anywhere in Whatcom County.
Arsenic can be treated even in private supplies. There are residential
treatment systems. Some arsenic levels on Lummi Island are as high as 250 ppb.
The cost of treating for arsenic on a simple residential supply is about $4,000. The
cost would be about $150 per year for maintenance. The treatment systems will
work if installed appropriately and maintained.
Caskey- Schreiber asked if the EPA has money available for people to upgrade
wells. Chudek stated they do for large public water systems. The EPA defines
small as anything with fewer than 10,000 services. They don't have money sitting
there for the private homeowner. His concern as a private owner is that he
wouldn't qualify.
Caskey- Schreiber asked if they would allow until 2006 to get the problem
fixed. Chudek stated public wells are regulated by the State. Private wells
currently would not have the lower 10 ppb standard. The County currently would
only apply the 50 ppb standard, which is what the State has adopted.
Roy asked if staff wants to find out what the Health Board desires. She
asked if there is a recommendation from the Health and Human Services
Department. Chudek stated Ms. Delahunt would present the recommendation.
McShane stated water availability has to be demonstrated as part of granting
a building permit. Someone would need to show water availability for a small
subdivision. Chudek stated that is correct. The owner would have until 2006 to
come into compliance. Staff would talk to the owners about the new MCL when
they come in for a permit. Under the current law, the County can't require them to
meet the new standard.
Crawford stated the EPA was talking specifically about public water supplies.
He asked if they are going to regulate private wells in 2006. Chudek stated no.
They don't have that authority. Private well standards are in the County's
Board of Health, 4/2/2002, Page 2
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DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee
minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they
are not the final approved minutes.
jurisdiction to show that someone has an adequate quantity and quality supply of
water. If someone exceeds 50 ppb, someone would have to put in treatment.
Crawford asked under what authority the County prevents someone from
building. Chudek stated staff are trying to create a County ordinance. That is what
the drinking water regulations are about. There is now an interim set of
regulations.
Crawford asked if arsenic is addressed in the recent ordinance. Chudek
stated it is, as the MCL set by the State Department of Health (DOH), which is
currently 50 ppb. When the State DOH adopts a new MCL, the County will adopt it
automatically.
Crawford stated the EPA has enforcement of public water systems. He asked
if it tells all the existing well owners that they too need to meet 10 ppb, if the
County says it wants that same level on private wells. Chudek stated that is up to
the Board of Health. Currently staff provides information to those people to let
them know the MCL has gone down. It would not apply retroactively to someone.
If someone comes in with new water availability application, and it exceeds the
arsenic MCL, it would apply.
Crawford asked about the arsenic levels in Lake Whatcom and other surface
water bodies. Chudek stated they have not found arsenic in those areas yet.
Dr. Greg Stern, Health Officer, stated the health effects of low levels of
arsenic have not had a lot of research. Most research has been done on the effects
of levels of 100 ppb. The National Research Council published a report in 1999. It
found that certain cancers are caused by arsenic ingestion. The EPA put out a fact
sheet on their website. There are other non - cancerous effects to arsenic ingestion.
Crawford asked if there are regulations for other things at that statistical
level. Stern stated they don't always have the data to quantify it. A lot of the
regulations have to do with more absolute standards. They are not likely to see big
changes in numbers in Whatcom County, but those numbers will show up
nationally.
Delahunt stated they did the cost benefit analysis on the national level. In
terms of disease prevention, the cost benefit is justified. There are those who
believe five ppb from a health standpoint was a more accurate MCL. However,
when doing the cost benefit, the five ppb didn't work out.
Crawford stated he recalled that the ability to test below 10 ppb is
inaccurate. Delahunt stated the detection limits are questionable at that level.
McShane stated few labs can test for levels lower than three ppb. That is
why it's difficult to measure the effects on people. The clean up standard is much
lower in water and groundwater than it is for drinking water. There is an
Board of Health, 4/2/2002, Page 3
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DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee
minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they
are not the final approved minutes.
assumption that gets it down to one in one million cancer effects. It's interesting to
see how the EPA assigned a dollar value to human life, which is what they had to
do.
Fleetwood asked how many people in Whatcom County would have to pay for
a $4,000 treatment system. Chudek stated the estimate is that 20 to 25 new
homeowners each year would go through the process of installing treatment
systems for arsenic.
Fleetwood asked if the statistics from Dr. Stern are State totals. Stern stated
they are national levels.
Fleetwood stated they are talking about saving one person in Whatcom
County, statistically. Delahunt stated it is less than that.
Stern stated that to prevent a case of bladder cancer, it would take 267
years at this MCL to prevent one case. The range for lung cancer is 300 to 500
years. If the statistics are combined, the range is 148 to 390 years. The more
data they have, the fewer years it would take to show an effect. As the county
grows and people put in more wells, the numbers will grow.
Delahunt stated those are just the cancer numbers that can be quantified.
There are other health affects that can't be quantified. The National Academy of
Science said that there are health issues at these low levels.
Roy asked if the health statistics are broken out for children. Stern stated he
did not know if they are age- adjusted death rates.
Delahunt stated the question is whether arsenic has a greater impact on
children. They will look into that question.
McShane stated the ingestion rate is smaller for adults than for children.
Roy asked if arsenic is cumulative in the system. Stern stated he would have
to check on it.
Fleetwood stated that if the government is going to impose a cost of $4,000
on an individual, that individual may be able to take the $4,000 and put it into
some other safety aspect of their life that will provide greater protection.
Caskey- Schreiber stated her well is probably a contaminated well. She
contracted cancer, but will never know if the water was the cause. She is on a
community well. The $4,000 cost split among the people on her community well to
make sure the children don't get sick is well worth the cost.
Delahunt stated the State would at some point be required to adopt the
federal MCL.
Board of Health, 4/2/2002, Page 4
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DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee
minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they
are not the final approved minutes.
McShane stated that at some point, a person applying for a building permit
would have to meet the level. Delahunt stated that is true, unless the County
adopts a lesser standard. The County can determine whether a water source is of
an adequate quality. The definition now of adequate quality is that it meets the
State MCL. The question now is whether or not the County waits, knowing that the
federal MCL changed and that people are applying for building permits. Staff
recommends that they should adopt the new MCL for new construction.
(Clerk's Note: Beginning of tape two.)
Stern continued to state that if they wait to impose the 10 ppb regulation,
then private wells will be authorized now. There isn't a retroactive requirement.
The wells will not have to comply with the new limit.
McShane stated that the only time the local Health Department has any
authority over private wells is when it goes for the building permit. Once they are
built, and a well is operating, they don't have any authority.
Roy asked if staff is asking for approval of the education portion. Delahunt
stated it isn't something that they normally request permission for from the Board
of Health. They are planning to send information to the well owners who are on
record as appearing to exceed the new federal MCL. They will also do general
education. They only know about the wells constructed since 1990. There are
many private wells for which they have no information.
Crawford asked if most of the counties in Washington State use the MCL as
their local standard. Delahunt stated she thought so. She would find out if anyone
does anything different.
Chudek stated arsenic in wells is more of a Puget Sound phenomenon than it
is statewide. There is a high concentration in Island County.
Stern stated there are a lot of chemicals to which people are exposed. They
are looking at arsenic right now. Without quantifying it, it's difficult to say what the
causes of cancer are from.
McShane moved to drop the County's MCL to 10 ppb for water availability for
both public and private wells. It's the County's only shot at a regulation for private
wells. Things will change in the future for public wells. For private wells, the
County will not have an opportunity to tell people that there are other ways of
getting around it. The cost to a public system will be more than $4,000. People
will be buying into a development, purchasing lots, and building homes. Then they
would be confronted with an additional cost of a system. There is no getting away
from that. The people need to be prepared to pay that cost when they buy into
something. Let them know up front. For private wells, it may be their only
opportunity to let people know.
Board of Health, 4/2/2002, Page 5
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DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee
minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they
are not the final approved minutes.
Roy stated she supported the motion because it is not just about cancer.
This also gives people other options, such as finding an alternate location for the
well. The sooner the people get the information, the better. Also, the $4,000 cost
will be more in 2006. Delahunt stated newly developed technologies might make
the price go down.
Crawford stated that if the motion is to ask staff to draft an ordinance for
which the Council can receive community input, he would support the motion. He
would not support an ordinance change now. Delahunt stated staff would draft an
ordinance. If they are only talking about private supplies, they could modify the
drinking water ordinance that staff is currently preparing. They would have to do
another ordinance for the public supply.
McShane restated the motion to draft an amendment to the drinking water
ordinance before the County Council in private wells to change the MCL to 10 ppb
for private wells. There would be a public hearing on it.
Motion carried unanimously.
McShane moved that staff draft an ordinance to change the MCL for water
availability for public systems from 50 ppb to 10 ppb, and to have a hearing on it.
Chudek questioned whether the creation of a new small group B water supply
would have to meet the standard, or if the ordinance would apply to any application
they received for any water availability from a large utility that has until 2006 to
comply. The County would not be able to approve that water availability unless
they had treatment in, and met the standard of less than 10 ppb.
Crawford asked how often it happens. Chudek stated there are ten or twelve
public water supplies in Whatcom County that have a history of having more than
10 ppb of arsenic in the supply. The odd chance is that someone would come in on
a system wanting to get their water availability approved. Staff doesn't have the
records for most large public water supplies because they are done by the State
Department of Health.
McShane stated that is not his intent.
Chudek stated it would be easier for new ones.
Delahunt stated the existing would have until 2006 to come into compliance.
McShane stated that is what he meant. He restated the motion to draft an
ordinance for any new public water systems, and that they would need to meet the
10 ppb MCL.
Motion carried unanimously.
Board of Health, 4/2/2002, Page 6
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DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee
minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they
are not the final approved minutes.
3. UPDATE SURFACE WATER USER NOTIFICATION SYSTEM
Delahunt stated that this is related to surface water users for Lake Whatcom,
and how the department is planning to rapidly notify these folks in the event of a
spill.
Chris Chesson, Environmental Health Supervisor, stated they developed a
plan to notify surface water users in an emergency event, such as the sewage or
chemical spill. They started with Lake Whatcom as the target area. They
developed a potential surface water user list, using the Public Utility District's
(PUD's) existing service area boundaries and field verification of the addresses that
are not in those defined boundaries. They are coordinating a test notification
through the County Emergency Management Division and the Community Alert
Network (CAN), which is a phone messaging system. Once tested, staff will provide
the Community Alert Network with a final list and an emergency message it can use
24 hours per day by a Health and Human Services representative if there is an
emergency.
It is a rapid messaging system with detailed information provided to each
target individual. It has a low cost of $.25 per call. Most people have phones.
However, they might not be able to reach all those people on the list if there is a
phone outage. The surface water users list may not capture 100 percent of the
users in a watershed. There are some people who withdraw water and are not in
close proximity to the surface water body. There are 411 individuals who will
receive the test notification within the next two to three weeks. Staff will issue a
press release first. They will establish a voice mailbox at the County for people to
call.
Crawford asked if there is any cost to set this up. Chesson stated the County
staff can enter the information into the network.
Delahunt stated the County already has the system.
Crawford asked if the $.25 per phone call cost is when the incident occurs.
Chesson stated that is correct.
Crawford asked if the County could bill the agency responsible for the spill for
the cost of the notification. Chesson stated they haven't considered that. It will
cost about $100 per event.
Crawford stated the County may spend more than $100 in staff time and
effort trying to bill for it, but it is a matter of principle. Delahunt stated the County
could go back and bill the person responsible. The system is listed by address, not
phone number. The CAN network calls whatever phone number is associated with
the address. It cannot get unlisted numbers, which is a problem with the system.
Board of Health, 4/2/2002, Page 7
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DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee
minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they
are not the final approved minutes.
Roy asked if the system could be activated at any time. Delahunt stated
staff will notify the CAN, who will press a button and the phone calls will be made
based on the list. When it happened at Lummi Island, hundreds of calls were
completed in just a few minutes.
McShane stated it sounds great.
4. TUBERCULOSIS EXPOSURE IN THE WHATCOM COUNTY JAIL
Janet Davis, Community Health and Wellness Services Manager, stated there
was one incidence of tuberculosis exposure last year. This time they were lucky.
On July 9, a non - English speaking person was booked into the jail. He had no
symptoms of any diseases. The procedure is for an inmate to be tested for
tuberculosis after being in the jail for 14 days. This person was identified on July
25. He was removed from the jail within an hour after the diagnosis was made,
and taken to an isolated room at the hospital. Further tests revealed a positive for
the bacteria. The person was released after four days, put up at a hotel where, for
two weeks, he received treatment, room, and board.
During the inmate's stay at the jail, he exposed 524 people. This person was
not symptomatic and coughing. That's why transmission did not occur. She
explained the testing procedure. There is a fair amount of labor and activity to test
all the people who were exposed. Someone with a healthy immune system is not
likely to develop the disease. However, the idea is to treat the people before they
develop it. There are many stages of the disease, and the last stage is when a
person becomes communicable. The total cost to the department was $35,000.
The jail cost was $11,500. It took six months to complete testing for everyone
exposed. They didn't identify anyone who tested positive from this exposure.
Neither the inmate's roommate nor the Corrections Division staff tested
positive. They made a number of attempts to contact the inmates at that time,
who were later released. Those who were not contacted have been flagged and will
be tested if they are ever booked into the jail again.
Crawford asked where the guy got the tuberculosis. Davis stated he recently
arrived in the United States, and brought the infection with him from his native
country.
Delahunt stated this is the type of work the department does every day.
They need to be prepared to do this, and have staff to notify and contact people if
there is an exposure. If it were another type of communicable disease that was
contracted more easily, then the contacts of those who were exposed would also
have to be tested.
Fleetwood asked if there is a fund of money available for these types of
emergencies. Davis stated there is not. In extraordinary circumstances, they come
to the County administration and County Council for supplemental funds.
Board of Health, 4/2/2002, Page 8
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DISCLAIMER: This document contains the Whatcom County Council or Committee
minutes, as approved. However, unless an attested signature page is attached, they
are not the final approved minutes.
Delahunt stated existing staff and funds took care of the costs, but other
activities were not done. The federal government approved federal money for bio-
terrorism and communicable disease response. The County should get some local
dollars for that soon.
OTHER BUSINESS
McShane asked about the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
(HIPAA) requirements. Delahunt stated they are aware of them. Staff has
attended training.
McShane stated he and Councilmember Nelson attended a class on it. It is a
classic unfunded mandate. Delahunt stated it is about confidentiality and computer
transmission of client information. The staff will work to make sure the County is in
compliance with those requirements.
McShane stated that if the County doesn't comply, the County Executive
could go to jail.
ADJOURN
The meeting adjourned at noon.
Jill Nixon, Minutes Transcription
These minutes were approved by Council on , 2002.
ATTEST: WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL
WHATCOM COUNTY, WASHINGTON
Dana Brown - Davis, Council Clerk Dan McShane, Councilmember
Board of Health, 4/2/2002, Page 9