A state agency has lowered the Public Health Goal for perchlorate, a dangerous pollutant found in many underground water basins across the Southland – including the Rialto-Colton area and the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys.
While the PHG, set by the state Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, is not an enforceable number, it is used by the drinking water division of the State Water Resources Control Board to evaluate legally binding drinking water standards.
The goal was lowered Friday from 6 parts per billion to 1 part per billion, officials announced.
That decision was immediately criticized by an industry association that alleged the action was based on “questionable science that is inconsistent with 60 years of research.”
“The decision also creates new impediments to access to reliable water supplies, contrary to the governor’s plans for statewide drought, without valid scientific rationale,” said the Perchlorate Information Bureau in a statement.
The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment updated its Public Health Goal based on “the inhibition iodide uptake into the thyroid gland and the consequent disruption of thyroid hormone production,” the agency said in a statement.