State Seeks Source Of Arsenic

By MIKE SALINERO The Tampa Tribune

Published: Aug 24, 2007

TAMPA - Unsafe arsenic levels are showing up in a growing number of wells in the Lithia area, and state environmental officials say they are at a loss to find the cause.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection is sampling wells in a broad area near Carey and County Line roads, east of Pritcher Road. At the same time, the Hillsborough County Health Department continues to take well samples around Stepping Stone Farm, a home for girls no longer in their parents' care.

Contamination has been found in 16 wells, four more than the state reported in June.

Last year, the health department found high arsenic levels in a drinking water well at the girls home, spurring a combined state and county investigation.

Fourteen of the property owners with contaminated wells are being supplied with bottled water or have had filters installed that remove the arsenic, DEP spokeswoman Pam Vazquez said. The owners of two other properties with contaminated wells have not returned forms requesting assistance from the state.

Marie and Bud Mallard live a little more than a mile from Stepping Stone. They decided to test their well in 1999 when they started experiencing vertigo.

"My husband would fall down," Marie Mallard said. "The room would just spin."

Tests by a private contractor showed high arsenic levels in the Mallards' well. The tests were reported to DEP and the health department. The state installed a filter in the couple's house, but they quit drinking the water.

"I don't even use the ice maker," Marie Mallard said. "I'm scared to put this terrible water in it."

The Mallards no longer suffer from vertigo.

Arsenic is a semimetallic element that can enter drinking water from natural deposits in earth or from agricultural and industrial practices. It has been identified as cancer-causing if ingested over a long period. Other possible effects of long-term exposure are discoloration of the skin, vomiting, diarrhea, numbness in the hands and feet, partial paralysis and blindness.

Vazquez said that in the past two years the Environmental Protection Agency has lowered the acceptable standard for arsenic in drinking water from 50 parts per billion to 10 parts per billion. One part per billion is equivalent to a single penny out of $10 million.

"We want to identify the sources as quickly as we can," Vazquez said. "When it's above acceptable levels, someone should not be drinking the water."

The agencies have tested 116 wells in the area east of Pritcher Road. DEP's Site Investigation Section started looking for a source in May. Investigators looked at current and past aerial maps and talked to longtime residents to see whether an industrial or agricultural operation in the area could have used arsenic. They have no promising leads.

The agency is contracting with Thomas Pichler, a professor of environmental geochemistry at the University of South Florida, to help with the investigation. Pichler is an expert on arsenic and related heavy metals.

"We've asked for him to work alongside us and look at geology and water flows," Vazquez said.

Pichler was out of the country Thursday and could not be reached for comment.

Reporter Mike Salinero can be reached at (813) 259-8303 or msalinero@tampatrib.com.