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ECUA Still Disputes Claim That Pensacola Has Nation’s Worst Water
December 21, 2009
Emerald Coast Utilities Authority (ECUA) officials are still disputing the Environmental Working Group (EWG) claims that Pensacola’s water is the worst in the nation among cities over 250,000 poplulation.
Stephen Sorrell, ECUA executive director said “Bottom line: the ECUA’s water is safe to drink and meets every federal and state regulatory guideline.”
EWG, a watchdog nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., released the report on recently. It placed the ECUA number one on a list of cities with the worst water in the nation. (Read that story here.)
“We conducted 74,897 test samples and EWG found 45 impurities in these tests. The national average for impurities is 8, out of 420 tests. Our 45 impurities are for approximately 75,000 tests. The facts indicate the ECUA’s water is cleaner than virtually every other agency’s and we did not have one single health standard violation in five years as clearly indicated in the EWG report,” Sorrell said.
Sorrell encouraged interested persons to read ECUA’s 2008 Water Quality Report, which was mailed to each customer in June 2009, and is available online at www.ecua.org. The 2009 ECUA Water Quality Report will be prepared in early 2010, and will include all of 2009’s testing data.
The full text of Sorrell’s statement is below.
“We have looked at the report from the Environmental Working Group (EWG) very closely. Any allegations about our water quality we take very, very seriously. In looking deeply into the report we frankly found inconsistencies and errors. We are certain we can legitimately dispute the overstated claims of the EWG concerning our water quality.
“I’m learning more and more every day, and I know our water is outstanding, meeting or exceeding every standards demanded by federal and state regulatory agencies. In fact, EWG ‘s report clearly states the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued no violations to the ECUA during the five-year period in question.
“The more I dissect the report the more I believe EWG interpreted the data and published their report to support a preconceived agenda, It is clear they want to force the EPA to adopt stricter standards for drinking water. Our city, Pensacola, and the ECUA’s water system are unintended casualties of the effort.
“The EWG report is quite interesting in that, if read closely their arguments is actually negated. They simply did a very shoddy and unscientific comparison to further their agenda. Data, as always can be made to say anything. In order to find the truth I urge all our citizens to take a look at the report’s summary, which I will briefly describe.
“The EWG report’s summary indicates ECUA did 74,897 test samples over a five year period and in those tests 45 different impurities were found. (EWG calls them contaminants, even though they are not regulated.) At the same time, they noted in the summary and only in the summary that during the five years they surveyed EPA did not issue a single violation to ECUA. I believe this fact is telling and I believe EWG intentionally underplayed it.
“To further our concern, EWG’s report states that 420 was the national average for water quality tests conducted by the 100 water companies in the five year period surveyed. During that same period ECUA water was tested almost 75,000 times, exceeding the national average by 178 times. This is a clear illustration of how vigilant ECUA is regarding the monitoring of our water quality. EWG also indicates the national average for impurities are eight in that average of 420 tests. Again, the 45 impurities they listed in our water, usually found in trace amounts, came from almost 75,000 tests of water samples. With ECUA’s water being tested vastly more frequently and meeting or exceeding all federal and state water quality standards on every single occasion, I believe it is clear ECUA’s water is far cleaner than virtually every other system surveyed.
“It also appears that in making their determinations the EWG has apparently adopted their own health guidelines, even though they have no authority to do so, and have no regulatory powers. ECUA’s water satisfies every single EPA and Florida Department of Environmental Protection regulation. Actually in Florida, our regulations are much stricter than those established by the EPA. We meet or exceed all of them.
“The EWG’s suspect methodology was to take data from large water systems in the U.S. and then list the number of impurities (according to them) without regard for the actual quantities in the water. If an impurity showed up once or twice in almost 75,000 testing and then in trace amounts, EWG still counted it as a contaminant in the water. This is a fatal flaw in their work.
“If you take a scrupulous, scientifically based comparative look at the data from the water systems in Texas and Rhode Island EWG listed as the best in the country, our water system compares very favorably.
“It also is of concern that on EWG’s website they recommend the purchasing of household water filters and directs consumers to their online `buyer’s guide’ to help them determine which filtration system to buy. At the same time, EWG’s website encourages the purchasing of systems from an online retailer who then gives EWG a portion of the profits. I could not help but see this as a conflict of interest from a supposedly objective scientific organization.”
Comments
10 Responses to “ECUA Still Disputes Claim That Pensacola Has Nation’s Worst Water”
The fact remains – if you test something 75,000 times and compare it to something tested 420 times – and only mark when a contaminant not required to be tested for (non-regulated) appears – then it’s a no brainer that you will see it show up more often.
EWG didn’t test ‘levels’ – they marked ‘occurrences’.
Think of it this way. Two people work in Mobile, Alabama and commute from Pensacola, Florida. We’ll test the speed of one car against the limit 420 times in a 5 year period (or once every 4.34 days) and the other we’ll test 75,000 times in the same 5 year period or 50 times PER DAY.
This example only calculates the number of times they violate the LAW. Something they KNOW about. But let’s instead record the number of times they are mid-lane change. Or the number of times they’re adjusting the radio. Or any other thing that isn’t against the law, but could be potentially ‘hazardous’ by ANYONE without any scientific evidence saying that it actually is.
In the end, the one with the higher sample rate will have a higher level of occurrence than the one with a lower sample rate.
Oh, but wait! There’s more! It’s almost humorous that they also failed to mention that in 2005 and 2006 ECUA was the regional WINNER in a drinking water test competition.
http://www.ecua.org/images/dload/apr2006.pdf
Despite the report, I drink, and have drunk ECUA water for much of my life WITHOUT a water filter. I will continue to do so in the future. There is no reason for a self serving report without scientific evidence should cause people to change how they respond.
Oh, and before you jump to bottled water, the same group tested for contaminants in bottled water and gave only 18 labels a grade of ‘C’ or better. They are also quick to point out the lack of regulation for bottled water, and of course, explain how you can buy filters from their source which pays them a kickback.
Nice… maybe I should get into the testing for stuff no one regulates business and then recommend a product I get a kick back on….
And people think our local politicians are ’shady’ or ‘underhanded’…
This is like the last straw for this town. People have left here like rats off a sinking ship due to the economy and high cost of insurance/ innavailability of affordable insurance. Crime is climbing, businesses are closing daily, and there are more homeless wondering around the city than I have ever seen here.
Jobs were difficult to come by before, and now all but impossible.
Pensacola has become an economic ghost town, and now soon to be deserted by even more people because of the bad water. Even after Katrina MS and LA have better water than Pensacola?
Outside of the beach and the arts in this area there really is no reason to stay.
It’s time to move on. Bye bye
I can believe our drinking water has junk in it that is not good for us. I had a man come out to test my tap water last year and I was disgusted and appalled at the crud that showed up on his equipment- as compared to the filtered water from my refrigerator (that’s filtered, not bottled, water).
And, as the EWG report points out–the list of contaminants required to be tested for in our water supply has not changed in over 20 years, despite our current knowledge of the harmful effects of even minute quantities of certain things.
Would you drink a ‘not enough to hurt you’ quantity of poison every day for the rest of your life? No thanks!
Anyone know what health effect the current ECUA level of contaminants have on the human body over a measured amount of time? I have been drinking the water out of the tap in Bellview for 20 years and love the taste. I am leaving my body to science and would like to use it for contaminate analysis to better the lives of future generations. Any one know who I could call to choose a specific recipient for the study?
I say elect all new board members for the ECUA. Get a fresh start!!! The old boy network needs new blood!! We need ECUA Board members who do more than follow trash pick-up (trucks) during the day, or vist the local mens church breakfast meetings to promote his good ole boy network. I say to the ECUA Board Member get to work for the people who have elected you. I say get to WORK NOW!!
Does the EWG have any connection with the River Keepers or Greenpeace? One has to wonder. Sounds like some of the fact bending that us goin on with the climate change data these days. Some where down the line it is all about the money.
This is really a non story. Big surprise, there is contamination in the water. Welcome to the Industrial Age, folks. The surprise is that this report is being given any credibility. Of course your NOT going to find contaminants in the water where you DON’T test for those contaminants. The smaller water suppliers weren’t included in the study and the suppliers who were included DIDN’T all test for the same contaminants the same number of times. In order to rank results, you MUST compare apples and apples. I’d be willing to bet that if every water supplier on the list were required to perform the same tests ECUA performed they’d find the same things in their water. I bet there’s a whole bunch of agricultural run off in the water in n escambia, but since we don’t HAVE to test for it, we don’t know about it. Ignorance is bliss. The cost to ‘clean’ up the water and make it ‘pure’ water would be so much that we’d all be paying a bizillion dollars to flush our toilets and nobody is gonna agree to the rate hikes that would be necessary. We have to decide how much risk we are comfortable with vs how much money we are willing to shell out. I’ll flush with my affordable ECUA water, wash my laundry w my affordable ECUA water and even drink my affordable ECUA water. Heck, if nothing else we should be protected in the event of a terrorist attack on the water supply. If we’ve been ingesting trace amounts of radium and cyanide all along, we’ll be the ones who survive while all those ‘pure’ water cities drop like flies!
Of course ECUA is going to deny the results. Instead of hearing why the reports were supposedly flawed, I want to hear what they are going to do to improve the water quality.
If it’s not the worst water in the country then maybe ECUA can explain:
1) Why the permit process was fast tracked by the EPA . Permitting for a project of this scope should have taken literally 20-30 years with the environmental concerns that would have been voiced. This projected was rubber stamped taking about 30 days for EPA to give the go ahead.
2) Why was this project awarded the highest grant in FEMA history eliminating the need to issue bonds or establish new taxing districts which had the effect to allow immediate funding and immediate construction.
When you put these two FACTS together, it just seems like somebody somewhere has known about the poor quality of the water in Pensacola for some time.
I think ECUA has been so focused on the need to move the sewer plant that it took its eye off our water quality. I’m glad they are fixing the sewers, although I hate all the construction around here. Water ought to be an issue in the next election for ECUA board.
Criticizing the environmentalists for raising the issue just doesn’t work. Stephen Sorrell should stop blaming the messenger and make a plan to clean up our water.