Perchlorate for Various Public Briefings December, 2004,Sacramento

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PERCHLORATE

Kevin Mayer U.S. EPA, Region 9
Background and History
Occurrence
Toxicity
Regulatory Status
2
Perchlorate PROBLEM STATEMENTS
Is this Chemical in the Environment ? (Is
there an EXPOSURE ?)
If so, should we worry about this ? (Define the
TOXICITY)
With this information, we can start to Make
REGULATORY DECISIONS
3
Perchlorate
CHEMISTRY
Dissolves and Moves Like Salt in Water
Highly Soluble, Mobile, Stable
Hard to Treat by Usual Methods
Hard to Detect Below 400 ppb, until March 1997
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(No Transcript)
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Perchlorate HISTORY
1908 - First Manufactured at Niagara Falls,
Eventually at 9 Locations, now only in Cedar
City, UT
1950s Used as Human Drug
1980s - Aware of Perchlorate Use at CA and NV
Superfund Sites
1990s - Aerojet in Rancho Cordova Discovered at
1000 ppb in Groundwater
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Perchlorate HISTORY
1992 and 1995 - EPA Provisional Reference Dose
at 4 - 18 ppb
1997 - Analytical Breakthrough to 4 ppb
1998 - Region 9 Requests Manufacturers
Information
1997 and 1998 - Region 9 Alerts EPA HQ, Regions,
and States
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Perchlorate USES
90 Manufactured for Solid Rocket Fuel
Explosives
Fireworks, Flares and Smoke Markers
Reported in Nitrate Fertilizer from Chile
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(No Transcript)
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Perchlorate
SHIPMENTS
Manufacturer's Information from Region 9 Requests
About 240 Facilities
40 States
Information Not Available Before 1970s
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PERCHLORATE MANUFACTURERS and USERS
APRIL, 2003
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Perchlorate
OCCURRENCE
Detections Reported in 35 States
AL, AZ, AR, CO, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, LA, MD,
MA, MI, MN, MS, MO, NE, NV, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OH,
OK, OR, PA, SC, SD, TX, UT, VA, WA, WV and PR
CALIFORNIA
Over 6700 Water Supply Wells Tested
Detected in 350 sources, 5
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US EPA September 2004 www.epa.gov/fedfac/docum
ents/perchlorate.htm
 
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Lower Colorado River 2002 and 2004 Average
Perchlorate Concentrations
In 1997, 900 pounds per day entered Lake Mead By
2001, about 500 pounds per day Measurable entire
300 miles to Mexico Used by Las Vegas Los
Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix and
agriculture Water supply for over 15 million
people
500 ppb 150 ppb
10 ppb 7 ppb
6 ppb 4 ppb
5 ppb 5 ppb 14
PERCHLORATE RELEASES
State Lead Sites
N E V A D A
Lincoln
Reno
Superfund Sites
Lake
Tahoe
Carson
City
Site Assessment Areas
Sacramento
Aerojet
Rancho Cordova
Sonoma
Colorado River Contamination
LLNL Site 300
San
Francisco
UTC
San Jose
Santa Clara
San Martin
Hollister (2)
Las Vegas
Tulare County
PEPCON
BMI Kerr-McGee
C A L I F O R N I A
A R I Z O N A
Casmalia
Santa Clarita
Vandenberg AFB
Edwards AFB
San Fernando (2)
Santa
Rialto
Susanna
NASA JPL
Redlands
San Gabriel ( 3)
Phoenix
Chino Basin(2)
White Tanks
San Nicholas
Wyle
Island
Stringfellow
Goodyear
Corona
Los Angeles
Gila River Brownfields
El Toro MCAS
U.S. EPA Region 9
Tucson
Benson Apache
June 2004 CA-32 AZ-7 NV-3
Davis Monthan
M E X I C O