GALION — After taking a day to look over the controversial results of a survey suggesting water in Crawford County is unsafe to drink, the city of Galion said it is doing all it can to comply with the Environmental Protection Agency’s water quality standards.
The Environmental Working Group’s survey said Crawford County had higher percentages of Chromium-6 in it’s public utilities’ drinking water. Chromium-6 or Hexavalent Chromium, a naturally occurring element found in rocks, animals and soil is found to be a carcinogen.
“Our water treatment plant does regular tests taking water samples,” Said Matt Echelberry, communications director for the city of Galion. “We follow the U.S. EPA standards for water quality regardless of what the EWG said. “We want to comply with water quality and standards.”
According to the EGW study reported in 2014 Galion tested at 1.5 parts per billion, and Bucyrus’ results were recorded as .16 ppb. California is the only state to establish a specific level of 10 ppb for Chromium-6 in their water. All systems in Ohio tested below California’s standard of 10 ppb for the chromium.
Part of the concern, Echelberry said, is Ohio is yet to have a standard for maximum chromium-6 levels for the city to know where to expect the chromium levels.
“We have to follow EPA standards that are in place. We will follow any EPA changes.”
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency refuted the findings of the study in an official statement.
“This report was issued by an alarmist advocacy group not affiliated with the federal or state EPA. There is no national standard or health advisory level for Chromium-6; there is a national standard for total chromium, which is 100 ppb.
“California established a state specific level of 10 ppb. All systems in Ohio tested below California’s standard of 10 ppb. Ohio EPA’s data shows that the highest level of chromium 6 in Ohio was a third of that number; most sample results are below 1 ppb, generally indicating that the source may be naturally occurring.”
