Sonoma water meets new regulations on hexavalent chromium

Nancy Cline refuses to drink the tap water from the City of Sonoma after she said it caused her acid reflux and affected her breathing, which she believes was caused by chemicals in the water like arsenic and the newly regulated hexavalent chromium.

The new standards on hexavalent chromium, a carcinogen made famous in the Oscar-winning 2001 movie “Erin Brokovich,” will force the Valley of the Moon Water District and the city of Sonoma to monitor the chemical to keep levels below 10 parts per billion.

Hexavalent chromium is most commonly used in welding, textile dyes, wood preservation, anti-corrosion products and other niche uses, OSHA guidelines state. Exposure to hexavalent chromium can lead to adverse health effects like asthma, eyes, nose and respiratory irritation and perforated eardrums.

But in serious cases of prolonged exposure, hexavalent chromium can cause kidney and liver damage, edema or the swelling of the body’s tissues, skin ulcers and respiratory cancer, according to OSHA.

According to the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit focused on advocacy in consumer health related to chemicals, the level of hexavalent chromium in the Valley of the Moon Water District from January to March 2021 was 0.523 parts per billion -- well below the new statewide mandate.

Matt Fullner, water system manager at Valley of the Moon Water District, said Sonoma is lucky that we don’t have “chrome” and that there will be “zero changes” for Valley of the Moon Water District consumers as a result of the new regulations.

But Cline is still concerned about the level of other known chemicals in our water, adding that what is legal isn’t always safe.

“The the city is figuring out how to get people to ration their water use,” Cline said. “And my suggestion to the city of Sonoma is: Why don't you publish every day what the water quality is and then you will absolutely have people stop using your your ugly water?”

Cline points to the health guidelines by the Environmental Working Group, which reports substantially lower acceptable levels than state or federal guidelines. EWG says it is filling in the gap for “outdated government” regulations at the EPA, which the group says has “not set a new tap water standard in almost 20 years.”

“EWG’s national Tap Water Database applies no-compromise standards for water contaminants that have no federal legal limit or that have legal limits too weak to ensure safe water quality,” EWG’s website states. “Federal drinking water standards have not been updated in decades, and the regulatory process does not take into consideration the heightened vulnerability to toxic chemicals of children, infants and the developing fetus.”

Based on these “no compromise” standards, the Valley of the Moon Water District and the city of Sonoma are 26 times and 18 times EWG’s health guideline limit for hexavalent chromium, respectfully.

Fullner said the threshold for healthy water by EWG is one in a million. For example, if the chemicals in water could affect one in a million people, that water is deemed unhealthy. The Valley of the Moon Water District does not have a problem with unsafe drinking water according to Fullner, unlike other parts of California, like Los Angeles, Merced and Riverside counties, which do have elevated levels of hexavalent chromium.

“The guidelines that we use are science based and they've been approved by multiple public processes and all kinds of studies,” Fullner said. “So I'm sure that you can get lots of different opinions on what's safe and what's not safe and drinking water.”

Federally, hexvalent chromium has no limit, despite despite the widely disseminated information about its dangers, the federal government has not regulated this toxic chemical in drinking water.

Cline said since she stopped drinking tap water and began drinking water filtered through reverse osmosis, her health issues have gone away. But the people who will be impacted by chemicals in water are the same people who already have pre-existing health conditions.

“I'm ashamed at how naive I was about the water quality,” Cline said, “But if I'm that naive, I'm sure others are, right?”

Contact Chase Hunter at chase.hunter@sonomanews.com and follow @Chase_HunterB on Twitter.