L'EPA des USA va commencer la semaine prochaine les tests de puits dans la vallée de la rivière Yakima, dans Washington. Surtout les travailleurs agricoles s'abbreuvent d'eau de puits contaminés aux nitrates, aux antibiotiques et de pathogènes. Les puits sont vieux, mal construits, près de système d'irrigation, de laiteries et de sites d'engraissage de bétail.
Contrairement à Québec, qui dit qu'il est impossible de savoir si un coliforme est de source humaine, ou animale, et de déterminer quel élevage ou épandage est responsable de la pollution, l'EPA semble avoir trouvé des moyens de cibler les coupables. L'EPA possède un laboratoire mobile qui peut détecter les pesticides, les hormones, les antibiotiques, les produits de beauté et les médicaments prescrits. Au Québec, malgré les demandes répétées des militants, il n'y a même pas moyen de faire mettre un marqueur dans la moulée pour faciliter la tâche des labos.
photo from Wikipedia"EPA effort to test Lower Valley wells for contamination starts next week
Federal clean-water regulators will begin next week seeking permission from a number of well owners in Yakima County to test their water for contamination with the aim of identifying the sources of the problem and ultimately fixing it. More than 12 percent of wells in the Lower Yakima Valley have tested above the maximum contaminant level of nitrates. In the Satus sub-basin, the figure is as high as 36 percent.
Excessive nitrates can harm infants and people with compromised immune systems. They can also indicate the presence of pathogens and chemicals like animal antibiotics, which can lead to human resistance to antibiotics.The EPA effort, announced last fall, is the result of “Hidden Wells, Dirty Water,” a series published in October 2008 in the Yakima Herald-Republic showing that as many as 30,000 Lower Valley residents — most of them Latino farm workers — had been drinking well water contaminated by nitrates.
Many rural residents in unincorporated areas depend on private wells for drinking water. The wells may be old, poorly constructed, leaky and close to irrigation drainage systems, dairies or feedlots. Using a geographic information system, EPA is identifying wells for testing that are likely to be high in coliform bacteria and nitrates, contaminants that come from nitrogen-rich fertilizer applied to crops, dairy manure, feedlot runoff and human waste from leaking septic systems.
“Whose coliform is it? We’ll be looking at an amazing array of things,” said Curt Black, an environmental scientist with EPA. A mobile laboratory will be able to detect pesticides, hormones, antibiotics and personal-care products, such as prescription drugs. After the results are published this summer, the agency will consider steps to address the problem, ranging from enforcement actions that would target polluters with legal action to requiring new “best practices” in the application of fertilizer and storage of manure."
Excerpts of article written by Leah Beth Ward published in yakimaherald.com here: http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/2010/01/22/epa-will-launch-effort-to-test-lower-valley-wells-for-contamination
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