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For Release Thursday, 26th
March, 2001
PAHOKEE,
Through a cooperative effort of private, governmental and not for profit agencies carbon filtered water free of contaminants called trihalomethanes (TTHMs) is now being made available in Pahokee.
Beginning Friday March 23, 2001 the first two locations, St. Mary’s Catholic Church and Pahokee City Hall will have filtered water available as a courtesy to those wishing to fill their personal containers with drinking water. The water is being made available to the citizens of Pahokee while corrective measures are being put into place at the respective water plants to reduce TTHMs. Melissa L. Meeker, Director of the District Management for Florida Department of Environmental Protection commented, DEP is pleased to see the improvements the Cities of Pahokee and South Bay have made in reducing TTHMs at the water plants and applaud their continuing efforts. We are confident that these interim measures are only temporary.
In October of 2000 citizens of the two municipalities were made aware that drinking water from the water plants in Pahokee and South Bay contained TTHMs higher than the acceptable State level of 100 parts per billion. TTHMs result when chlorine used as a disinfectant at the water plant comes in contact with organic materials found in surface water like Lake Okeechobee. Their consumption has been linked to cancer. Although these water plants do not have to comply with the lower Federal level of 80 parts per billion for TTHMs until 2004 an effort is now underway to meet the standard in 2002.
The Palm Beach County Health Department has secured consent orders from both
municipalities that outline each city’s intent to make the necessary improvements to meet the
more stringent standards for water purification. Frank Gargiulo, Environmental Health Director
for the Palm Beach County Health Department said, We are pleased that these cities have made a great deal of progress in meeting the requests of its citizens to make the drinking water even better. Gargiulo went on to say his department will continue to monitor the situation and is working to assure installation and good maintenance of the courtesy water stations.
Two other organizations outside of government have been involved in identifying the problem; educating the citizens and assuring that the desired outcomes are met. These groups, The Legal Environmental Assistance Foundation (LEAF) and Active Citizens Together Improving Our Neighborhoods (ACTION) have conducted community meetings, helped secure a commitment for the interim drinking water supply and have made information available through the ACTION office in Belle Glade and LEAF’s office in Tallahassee. Cynthia Laramore, ACTION Director, said, Our office is pleased that the City of Pahokee is providing this interim measure to its citizens. ACTION looks forward to assisting any citizen of the Glades Area Communities in learning more about drinking water and water quality. ACTION can be reached at 561/993-9100, LEAF can be reached at 850/681-2591.
Funding for the drinking water has come from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and Environmental Protection Agency. The Health Department is ready to answer any questions on the water stations and also reminds the citizens of Pahokee and South Bay that by boiling water for five minutes and letting it cool will also eliminate
TTHMs.
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