ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    July 31, 1986
    VILLAGE OF WILLOWBROOK,
    )
    )
    Petitioner,
    V.
    )
    PCB 86—65
    )
    ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
    )
    PROTECTION AGENCY,
    )
    Respondent.
    CONCURRING OPINION (by J.D. Dumelle):
    In concurring in this variance, I am not changing my views
    on the risks involved in drinking water with these radium
    levels. Rather, the blending program here ordered, if accepted,
    will quickly protect all of the 6,250 people who now live in the
    Village of Willowbrook (Willowbrook). I would have preferred a
    six—month variance. Blending is probably to be done by turning
    various valves so that the elevated tank, if one exists, is
    filled from various well sources. It seems to me that this could
    (and should) be done immediately and that a year is excessive to
    do this.
    The Federal Register of August 14, 1975, gives the risk as
    “between 0.7 and 3 fatal cancers annually per million exposed
    persons” at 5 pCi/i of combined radium. Willowbrook’s level of
    combined radium is 5.6 pCi/I. However, Well No. 3 has been
    analyzed at 6.85
    +
    0.61 pCi/i. If it supplies nearby homes
    without effective dilution from other sources then some residents
    may be ingesting 7.46 pCi/l in their drinking water.
    The risk at 5 pCi/l averages to 1.85 fatal cancers per year
    per million persons exposed. At 7.46 pCi/i, the risk increases
    to 2.76 fatal cancers, etc. Put another way, this means that
    some residents of Willowbrook have a l—in—363,000 chance of
    contracting a fatal cancer in the year’s time until the variance
    ends.
    Since this is an annual risk, I would urge the Village to
    immediately begin blending. The cost is low and lives may be
    saved by prompt action.
    J,acob D. Dumelle, P.E.
    /
    ,Chairman of the Board
    71-430

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