Erin Brockovich and Clean Water Action staff speak out in support of new Public Health Goal for chrome VI; public comment now accepted until November 2, 2009

Better late than never: Fifteen years after the Academy Award-nominated movie Erin Brockovich brought the dangers of hexavelent chromium exposure to the attention of the public, and five years after a legislature-mandated deadline for the state to set a drinking water standard, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) finally began to take action. It's probably not a coincidence that the state finally began the process of setting a standard after Clean Water Action and other allies notified them of our intent to initiate legal action for the state's failure to meet its statutory obligation to set a drinking water standard for hexavalent chromium (chromium VI).

On October 19, 2009, OEHHA held a workshop giving an overview of their draft Public Health Goal (PHG) for chromium VI. The proposed PHG specifies a maximum level of 0.06 parts per billion level (ppb) of chromium VI in drinking water (read the draft here). Clean Water Action believes this is a health protective level and supports the proposed goal. At the workshop and at a press conference that preceded it, speakers Erin Brockovich (Brockovich Research & Consulting), Virginia Madueno (Clean Water Action California, Central Valley Organizer), and Renee Sharp (Environmental Working Group California, Executive Director) urged OEHHA to expedite the finalization of this standard. Scott Davis, a resident of the impacted community of Merced, California, also spoke at the press conference. At the workshop, former State Senator Deborah Ortiz (author of SB 351, which mandates the drinking water standard) underscored the real-world impacts of chromium VI and called for the process to move forward quickly

OEHHA has set a deadline of November 2, 2009, for accepting public comment. You can help urge speedy finalization of this PHG by sending a letter to OEHHA; click here for a sample letter: Sample Letter Cal OEHA Chromium VI PHG.

It's true: We told them to take a hike, and they did. Happily.

The population of California is more than that of Canada, accounting for more than 12% of all U.S. citizens living in the Golden State. With already strained water and energy resources, work to build consensus on appropriate environmentally sustainable alternatives is at the center of Clean Water Fund’s California programs.

Did you know that there are approximately 80,000 chemicals in commercial use but that for most of them, there has been little or no testing for potential health or environmental impacts? As a result household cleaners, garden chemicals and pesticides, personal care products, computers, clothes, food, and even beds may contain chemicals about which there is little readily available safety information.

Did you know that there are approximately 80,000 chemicals in commercial use but that for most of them, we have done little or no testing for their potential health or environmental impacts? As a result our household cleaners, garden chemicals and pesticides, personal care products, computers, clothes, food, and even our beds may contain chemicals about which we have little safety information.