ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

January 3, 1975

IN THE MATTER OF

R73-13

PUBLIC WATER SUPPLIES

DISSENTING OPINION (by Mr~,

Dumelle):

I cannot vote for this regu1ation~ The nitrate standard

with the compromise “Note (bY” may be a hazard to public health~

The table of limits for nitrate~nitrogenpurports to set

the limit

at

10 mg/l but “Note (b)” allows levels up to 20 mg/l

for 15 days at a time,

There is not one scintilla of evidence that 15

days

of

ingestion

of 20 mg/l nitrate-nitrogen water is safe; either for babies,

for

pregnant

women

or for adults with glucose—6 enzyme deficiency. Mr.

Marder himself has stated that he set the 15~dayperiod as a

compromise

between a flat prohibition

of any

levels above 10 mg/l and the

Agency~sdesire for unlimited periods up to 20 mg/i. Perhaps even

tw,o days of ingestion at 20 mg/l is too much let alone fifteen days.

We~,just

do not know.

The notice provisions of “Note (b)” will

be

imperfectly administered,

All of us have had the experience of missing events announced in the

newspapers or over the radio

or

television. The same lack of communica-

tion

will

happpen with this regulation~ Many people, and especially

those ghetto residents without pediatricians, will not know when

high-nitrate water runs in their taps. They may mistakenly boil

water and thus concentrate the

nitrates even

more.

And a

young baby

or an enzyme—deficient adult will suffer, perhaps fatally, because

bf this regulation.

Methemoglobinemia can be fatal, It is commonly detected as

cyanosis and that from the blue lips of a child. Will a black baby

in

the ghetto show these symptoms before damage occurs? Will the

mothers know enough to go to a doctor when their child~sfingertips

and lips become blue? To ask the question is

to

answer it, Some

will not and the damage will occur.

15

—

155

---

In ~urimar~’, ba nitrat~ ~ g~1atz~n~tr “t~ot~~b ~ a

woadly h:s~c~ Ard

i~ WI~J ~

‘erf~”~y

A1fl:~~~

31

I would hope that ~he so n ~-o-be~promu1gatcd Fodo~a1Drink~rg

‘~Jat~rStandards wo~Jdhold ~o tIe ~~62 nitrato~nitr~gen~tandard £

10 mg/I. Far better to put cafe wa er irto peop e~shnc~ a alJ

times than to try to reach their via electronic and print m~drato

prevent them from drinking water wnicb was safe the day bef~

~,

I, Christan L, Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control

Board, I~erebycertify the above Dissenting Opinion was submitted on

tne ~~~day

of

~

1975,

Christan L, o fet

Illinois Pollution

rol Board