Hudson Valley's Drinking Water Includes Toxin Made Famous By Erin Brockovich: Study

Thirty-eight out of 40 drinking water samples in the Hudson Valley were found to be contaminated with chromium-6, the cancer-causing chemical made famous in the movie "Erin Brockovich," according to a report published Tuesday by the Environmental Working Group.

Although the water provided by local agencies does not exceed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's maximum of 100 parts per billion of total chromium, it does exceed 0.02 parts per billion, a level that California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment set as a public health goal in 2011, the study explains. That level "would pose negligible risk over a lifetime of consumption," according to the study.

Chromium-6 can cause cancer, reproductive problems and liver damage even from little exposure, the report says.

Chromium-6 is dangerous, but here's a little perspective: At a level of 0.02 parts per billion, experts say chromium-6 will likely cause cancer in 1 out of 1 million people who drink the water for 70 years. At 10 parts per billion (and no Hudson Valley water sample tested even came close to that), the number expected to get cancer rises to 500 out of 1 million people.

Less than 2 percent of water systems across the nation have chromium-6 levels of higher than 10 parts per billion, the EPA says.

In the lower and mid-Hudson Valley, Putnam County had the lowest average chromium-6 level at 0.0125 parts per billion, based on tested water samples. The county with the highest average was Rockland with 0.292 ppb.

For Dutchess County, the average was 0.141 ppb; for Ulster, 0.0464; Orange, 0.0601; Westchester, 0.0548.

The Meadowbrook Farm water system in Putnam County and the City of Middletown in Orange County were the only two systems in the region to have an average level of zero.

California's public health goal of 0.02 parts per billion (the actual legal cap in California is 10 parts per billion) was set after Brockovich was nearly successful in building a case against the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) of California in 1993 that blamed the company for contaminating local water.

The Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that says it's dedicated to protecting human health and the environment, analyzed federal data from nationwide drinking water tests showing that the compound contaminates water supplies for more than 200 million Americans in all 50 states.

"Yet federal regulations are stalled by a chemical industry challenge that could mean no national regulation of a chemical state scientists in California and elsewhere say causes cancer when ingested at even extraordinarily low levels," according to the report.

The EPA says it is actively working on the development of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) assessment of chromium-6, which will include a comprehensive evaluation of potential health effects associated with it, and the EPA expects that the draft IRIS assessment will be released for public comment in 2017.

Here is the list of Hudson Valley water systems that were tested for chromium-6, and the findings:

Dutchess County

• City of Beacon
• Beekman Country Club
• City of Poughkeepsie
• Poughkeepsie Townwide Water District
• United Wappinger Water Improvement Dist.

Ulster County

• City of Kingston Water District

Putnam County

• Meadowbrook Farm
• Saint Basil's Academy

Orange County

• Blue Lake
• Chester Village
• Greenwood Lake Village
• Village of Kiryas Joel
• City of Middletown
• Monroe WD #7 (Oreco Terrace)
• New Windsor Consolidated Water District
• City of Newburgh
• Newburgh Consolidated Water District
• Wallkill Consolidated Water District
• Woodbury Consolidated Water District

Rockland County

• Village of Nyack Water Supply
• Village of Suffern
• United Water New York

Westchester County

• Cortlandt Consolidated Water District
• Elmsford Village
• Greenburgh Consolidated Water District #1
• Kensico Water District
• Mount Kisco Water Department
• Mount Vernon Water Department
• New Castle/Stanwood Water District
• Ossining Water Department
• City of Peekskill
• Pleasantville Water District
• Scarsdale Water Department
• Tarrytown Water Supply
• United Water New Rochelle
• United Water Westchester
• Westchester Joint Waterworks
• City of White Plains
• City of Yonkers
• Yorktown Consolidated Water District #1

Read the full report (and see an interactive map) at the Environmental Working Group website here.

Tom Davis contributed to this report. Patch file photo.