Arsenic plagues water wells in southeastern Hernando County

Unsafe levels of the toxic metal are found in 45 wells after testing 138 wells since March.

By CHANDRA BROADWATER, Times Staff Writer
Published September 24, 2007

Amanda Adonizio washes dishes in her mother's kitchen. After moving to her parents' home near Brooksville, they discovered their well was contaminated with arsenic.
	[RON THOMPSON | Times]

BROOKSVILLE - Marie Whitney just set up a 5-gallon water dispenser in her Batten Road home. She had to; she just found out that the water she and her family have been drinking for years is laced with arsenic.

The toxic metal in the water is likely a vestige of days gone by when farmers and ranchers would use it indiscriminately to ward off insects. Today, it means the 47-year-old's household of five adults and two children can't drink or cook with what comes out of the tap.

A free program run through the state Department of Environmental Protection has supplied her family with bottled water, and now the dispenser. Soon, someone will come to outfit her kitchen sink with an $800 filter to make the water potable.

But the thought of cancer and other health problems from long-term exposure to the arsenic still leaves her feeling uneasy.

"At first, it really freaked me out," Whitney said. "I wasn't feeling well at the time, and the thought of cancer from the water was scary. But I am still concerned, especially with my grandsons here. They're young, 8 and 15 months. You have to think that their systems aren't as strong."

As the Hernando County Health Department continues to take water samples in the county for the DEP, 45 wells mostly in the southeastern part of Hernando have been identified as having unsafe levels of arsenic.

According to the DEP, 138 wells have been tested since March when one of Whitney's neighbors asked for testing of their well. Once contamination is detected at a well, the agency orders more testing in the immediate area.

Results at the Whitney family's well revealed arsenic levels at more than 13 times the 10-parts-per-billion limit deemed safe by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

Other results in the area ranged from just above the federal limit to the highest level recorded, 165 parts per billion, at a well that serves workers at Pleasant Valley Dairy on Powell Road.

Though arsenic can occur naturally in soil, health officials suspect that the root cause is ranchers and farmers who used arsenic many years ago. Farmers once sprayed arsenic-laden pesticides in orange groves, while ranchers routinely would walk cattle through "dipping vats" dug into the earth, then filled with an arsenic solution to kill ticks.

"You can imagine that sloshing all over the place," Al Gray, environmental manager with the Hernando Health Department, said of the hundreds and thousands of such vats around the state.

Testing has not revealed any sort of usable pattern for researchers, Gray said. Concentrations in Hernando vary from well to well, with most occurring near Batten and Powell Roads, the site of a former citrus grove.

"We do want people to know that they're not looking at any acute or immediate risk to their health," Gray said. "We're looking more at the long-term exposure, over about 70 years."

Despite the prevalence of arsenic, homeowners are not required to test their wells. And though most wells are checked for bacteria after they are dug, arsenic testing is not standard.

Hernando is not alone in having arsenic show up in well water. The DEP reports similar test results in the rural Lithia area of Hillsborough County, where 15 of 133 tested wells were found to be above the limit, said Cindy Morris, environmental administrator of the Hillsborough Health Department. One there was more than 30 times over the limit.

A little more than a year ago, the Steppin' Stone Farm in Lithia had one of three wells on its property tested, as the nonprofit organization is required to do by law. For the past 30 years, it has been a home for troubled teenage girls. Executive Director Cynthia Churchill said two wells were found to have high arsenic levels.

As in the Whitney case, the DEP stepped in to help at Steppin' Stone. Cleanups are paid for through a special trust fund that also pays for the filters. Once an application is filled out, one filter is available per household and is maintained by DEP. Connections to public water supplies are made if that is a viable option.

Because the levels at Steppin' Stone were considered too high for a filter to handle, new plumbing rerouted water from the contaminated wells to the deeper, uncontaminated one. The farm was too far away to reach a public connection.

Built on "virgin land," Churchill explained that the home is a farm mostly in name. The teens care for a few pigs and chickens, and grow some plants without pesticides, she said.

What she questions is the basis for the 10 parts per billion limit, which was recently lowered from 50 parts per billion because of mounting evidence that long-term exposure to arsenic increases the risk of cancer. Wells that were thought to be safe before now are not, she said.

"I've lived and worked here for 30 years and I don't have a third eye," Churchill said. "Having the water tested is a good thing. But it's hard to get excited about this emergency when the standards have changed. Then people get freaked out and are in a panic. We're talking parts per billion. That's really small."

Churchill said she's also wondered if this is a way to get people tied into public water supplies, which would mean paying for something they now get for free.

When Whitney called to have her well tested, she said she wondered the same thing. But she doesn't expect public water lines to be available at her rural property anytime soon.

"We'll just keep using the water tank," she said.

Times news researcher Carolyn Edds contributed to this story. Chandra Broadwater can be reached at cbroadwater@sptimes.com or 352 848-1432.

FAST FACTS

What is arsenic?

Arsenic is a toxic metal that can occur naturally, is odorless and tasteless. It has been linked to cancer of the vital organs, skin and nasal passages. Symptoms of arsenic poisoning include thickening and discoloration of the skin, stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, numbness in the hands and feet, partial paralysis and blindness.

For more information about water sampling, contact the Hernando County Health Department at (352) 540-6800, or visit www.hernandohealth.org.

[Last modified September 23, 2007, 20:37:58]