Scofield park closed

The issue reported in the Advocate today is PCB's.
The information on PCB's is at best interesting because even in the EPA's own website on the subject there is some question concerning the real problem.
In a nut shell, PCB's are a probable cancer causing item.
Unlike most carcinogens, which are definite, there are enough studies on people that did NOT show the link, that they had to pit it up on the website. That in of itself is significant.
PCB's bioaccumulate in the environment, meaning that small things ingest them and bigger things ingest the smaller things etc. That is why there is a restriction on the nubers of some fish we can eat it CT.
Now all this area has been tested for years, even before I started at the Health Department. I believe the first survey was done in 1968 and there have been others done since then.
The newest one showed PCB's. We do not know the amount in the soil. It took workers who had years of daily exposure to develop any of the things that are talked about in the EPA studies.
Do I think this is an imminent danger? NO!
Do I think city officials are wise to close the park? Maybe, especially if you look at possible legal claims that the city would need to deal with, but not as far as health goes.
Do I think there will be hysteria over this? Absolutely! Anything people have a suspicion about creates hysteria whether it is warranted or not.
Do I think there will be lawsuits? Yes, especially from workers who have been there for any length of time.
Was the Health Director notified? I have no idea. I was not and I happen to be the only Chemist working for the city.

Stamford Well water -metals

Some of the issues with metals are not health related, they simply stain, everything.
Yellow, brown, black, blue.
They add pleasant and unpleasant tastes in the water.
Lead is sweet - you do not want sweet water.
Iron and manganese give a bitter flavor.
Copper is really metallic.
Lead is really bad for children under the age of six.
Copper is an essential nutrient, but too much can cause severe gastrointestinal problems.
Very high levels of manganese can cause mercury-like brain damage, small doses are good for muscle growth.
Iron is not used by the body and does nothing against it either.
Copper and lead are products of corrosion, either by water quality or by electrical problems.

Test	Average value	High			Okay	% Okay
METALS in mg/L
		above 0.3	0.2 to 0.3
iron	0.58	657	173		2234	72.91%
		above 5.0	0.5 to 5	0.05 to 0.499
manganese	0.14	8	186	745	1528	61.94%
		above 5.0
zinc	0.23	1			175	99.43%
		above 1.3	.5 to 1.3
copper	0.38	168	336		2473	83.07%
		above 0.015	0.005 to 0.015
lead	0.01	24	37		115	65.34%

Stamford Well Water - discussion on minerals and Salt

In the mineral post at first glance it might seem hardness is an issue, however if you look at what the US EPA's guidance on hardness is the problem resolves into a slight problem with about 16% of the wells having significant hardness in the water. When you look at the type of hardness, calcium hardness is much more benign than magnesium hardness, the wells with difficult water drops to less than 5%. So what is the issue here. Hard water (or water that is presented as being hard) sells softeners, which a lucrative business. The true issue, acidic water, is not as lucrative and not addressed unless a softener can be sold as well.


This next presentation is of Salts in well water, the major source of which is softener backwash. Most backwash is pumped into septic systems, which will destroy the cement of the septic and is against public health code for a very good reason. The water pumped into the septic system goes back into the water a well draws from.

Test	Average value	High			Okay	% Okay
SALTS in mg/L
		above 250	100 to 250
chlorides	105.69	441	1337		3632	67.13%
chlorides with softener	138.84	147	358		583	53.58%
chlorides without softener	69.04	0	923		2789	75.13%
		above 100	28 to 100
sodium	49.84	547	1481		2417	54.38%
sodium treated	85.74	263	371		217	25.50%
sodium untreated	51.14	577	1423		2209	52.48%
		more than 2500	500 to 2500	Above Average
potassium	25.27	0	2	281	371	56.73%
potassium treated	95.47	0	2	109	23	17.16%
potassium not treated	4.75	0	0	23	71	75.53%

The wells with problem salts that do not have softeners are linked to their neighbors softener backwash except in only 4 cases where the wells have road salt drain over them.

Stamford Well Water - minerals

Test	Average value	High			Okay	% Okay
MINERALS in mg/L
		above 200	150 to 200
Ca hardness	98.16	200	262		910	66.33%
		above 200	150 to 200	below 80
total hardness	128.77	740	797	1466	1667	67.09%
total hardness no treatment	124.93	264	1795	1582	1582	60.58%
total hardness treated	39.53	28	29	503	56	9.09%
total hardness treatment off	159.91	102	69	110	82	52.89%
	Avg Of Ca	Avg Of Mg	Mg > Ca	Mg > 2Ca
Calcium And Magnesium	37.95	9.62968661	93	175	1935	95.36%
		above 10.0	Corrosion indicated
aggressive index	9.97	56	1151		1184	49.52%
		above 200	150 to 200	below 80
alkalinity, total	66.17	41	112	1644	612	93.65%
		above 10	8.5 to 10	below 6.4
pH	6.79	9	101	1306	2812	66.51%
		above 250	100 to 250
sulfate	23.70	0	4		2241	99.82%

Stamford Well Water - the stats

Compiled from 1977 by the number of tests

BACTERIA in colonies/ 100 mL
		above 30	not potable	1 colony	Okay	% Okay
total coliform	6.38	140	724	113	5671	85.30%
		above 30	E coli present	No E Coli
Escherichia coli	5.85	7	115	477
	tested not present	Present
cp-Crenothrix polyspora, Iron bacteria	0	4
gf-Gallionella ferruginea, Iron bacteria	8	115
sn-Sphaerotilus natans, Iron bacteria	0	23
st-Siderocapsa treubii, Iron bacteria	0	12
tmu-Thiodendron mucosum, Sulfur bacteria	0	1
tto-Thiobacillus thiooxid, Sulfur bacteria	0	3
		158
NUTRIENTS in mg/L
		above 1	0.1 to 1	0.01 to 0.1
nitrite nitrogen	0.02	6	1	276	1995	87.58%
		above 15	10 to 15	5 to 10
nitrate nitrogen	2.32	13	0	251	2776	91.32%

First set is of bacteria and nutrients. Basically over 30 years 15% of the wells have a problem, That really is not bad.
The nutrients show both the influx of fertilizer (almost non-existent) and microbial activity (also not really an issue).

Well Water

I am in the process of compiling asurvey of all well water in Stamford. I have on record about 4,000 of the 5,100 wells that are in North Stamford.
I have a basic fact sheet almost completed and will post. I will also GIS the info to see any patterns.
The basic info so far shows things I have already published, softeners will pollute your own water supply and are the main reason for excess chloride in the water.
There is not much info (14 tests) on Radon, but at this point that looks pretty grim.
Discoloration from Iron and Manganese and acid water are the main issues.
Most wells are very healthy.
That is the summary.

H1N1 Influenza A - update

Earlier post were not complete, partly because I do not have all the background other do to understand everything about this.
First, this was really important because like the 1917 influenza, it effected young, healthy adults.
The reason is because when you get sick with the flu, the immune system kicks into high gear producing certain reactions in the body (aches, malaise, production of mucous, etc,,) which make you feel sick. In this case, the healthier you are, the more likely that you will have a strong reaction. It is our own immune systems which create this problem and in some cases kill us.
Older people and people with depreciated immune systems still have to worry, but not as much as healthy adults. Regular flues generally cause real trouble for this population.
Why Mexico and not here? No answers are coming from my expert, who generally has a really good handle on such things.
And we really do need to watch out for this in the fall. There will probably be a vaccine by that time.
And for the post concerning this topic from the Streets of Stamford, The CDC is recommending AGAINST the use of face masks!

Centers for Disease Control & Prevention
Sent: Thursday, May 07, 2009 9:50 AM
Subject: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Reference to wearing a face mask has been removed. Wearing a face mask is not advised

Updates are happening from the CDC and WHO and a more than daily basis. Go to CDC.gov for current info.

The State Beach meeting

Some items of importance were discussed:
New legislation in the house and senate, desires to develop quick testing methods, geese population and control, employment and service cuts in the state lab.

The new legislation is to extend/revive the Bract act of 2003 (?) and contains additional funds and expansions and maybe some punitive actions.
The additional funds may be a joke since of the $30 Million called for in the current act, only $10 million is appropriated.
The expansions are talking about developing new quick test methods and may be giving money to find out why and where high levels of bacteria come from.
The punitive actions are to cut funding if states do not meet the goal.
Quick testing methods are desired to be 2 hour turn around time, but are really very expensive (and there is no help with the cost of use).
A presentation from the fish and wildlife management division of CT was on Geese, everything you ever thought you wanted to know and more.
Population, areas of high concentrations, human attitudes toward them and possible control.
There was a clear statement that NO research has shown a link between human illness and geese feces.
It was also clear that Urban areas have had their fill of geese in the parks.
Stamford was one of 7 towns that DID NOT fill out a survey concerning attitudes and population from this Department in 2003.
It was also clear that the only real way to get rid of the resident population of geese (not migratory), was to kill them.
Stamford may get more work, the state can not hire the couriers as of this date for sample pick up. We are one of the few labs outside of the state, equipped to do the testing. Darien uses us. Fairfield has used us. Driving to Stamford is easier than driving to Hartford for any one west of Fairfield.
The state water quality lab lost one person to budget cuts and may have furlough days also.
Stamford still stands out in the state as far as data collection and knowledge of what goes on at its shores.

Beach Meeting

Every year about this time the State of Connecticut hosts its annual beach conference.
This is basically a meeting of all the coastal towns and a few inland where there are public lakes to discuss what is new, how the state testing will proceed and it can be somewhat boring.
The issue has been that since the US EPA gives states money for testing, the state will pick up samples from localities who want them tested for free, but there is a catch.
We in the lower Fairfield county would have to get the samples some significant distance to get picked up and if we wanted to have a re-sample we would have to get the samples to Hartford.
So much for free, this is one of the reasons that we have our own lab in Stamford. the other, well now there is NO private lab in the immediate area for any water testing. The closest is in Norwalk. try getting a sample there within 145 minutes of collection!
On to the subject tho. the meeting also describes methods, actions and directions for the beach testing program. We in Stamford have been at it longer than most, 35 plus years. I have been involved 30 years, since I started working with Stamford.
The US EPA will be there listening and sharing wisdom of how they want NO beach closings.
Having figured out long ago that this was impossible if you wanted to protest public health, I have been relieved as of late that the US GS and the Great Lakes beach watch program has fairly much figured out the same thing.
They have gone to great lengths to prove that the bacteria we look for is very naturally present in the environment and it my not have anything to do with sewage.
The portions that is interesting is that it is still the organism that can get us sick.
They have found that people bring it with them into the water, that the bacteria survives well in wet beach sand, that geese, gulls any any other shore bird can bring it into the water, it gets increased with rain and strong winds will raise the levels also.
None of this is surprising to me and does prove some of my own testing, but we are talking about natural water that is a shared resource with animals and fish. this is not a pool, clean and hopefully disinfected properly. This is what we should expect.

Predictive closures

Back to items I really know.
After work 20 years perfecting Stamford's policy of closing the beaches when conditions say that there is a good chance that there will be bacteria type problems in the recreational water, I became a bit defensive when I challenged the State's person in regards his take on this.
There is legislation in the US House to increase funding for testing (it will go to state agencies only) and require the development of rapid (2 hour) testing.
The portion I find laughable is that more or faster testing does not mean a great deal to me.
The example is when we were trying to understand problems that occurred at Cummings' beach and did time/tide/location studies.
We took a lot of samples.
They varied tremendously over all of the parameters. the sample sites were only about 10 feet apart.
This taught me a great lesson, bacteria are very different than chemicals and this was in 1988.
They clump together, they grow, they separate, they get eaten, they die.
The best I could do for my little 100 mL samples was get a hint of the activity beneath the waves.
So we began keeping very good records.
We tracked tides, rainfall, wind, temperature, bather load and other issues and slowly over thousands of samples we began to see things.
We established our bathing prohibitions based mostly on what was known from testing shellfish water, that rain will wash bacteria into the water, where it will live for a recordable time.
We knew this was not sewage, just normal bacteria that lives in everyday soil from every animal population that exists.
We figured that it lived in wet sand, but not dry. It seemed to exist in the water for at most 24 hours, then it was gone.
When you go to the beaches in Stamford after a heavy rain, there will be no bathing permitted. Enjoy the sand, the sun, but not the water until the next day.
We spent a lot of time trying to make sure you do not get sick from something that should be enjoyable.