Countywide : Board Seeks Ways to Rid Wells of Nitrates

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted to spend $25,000 for a study of how to purify nitrate-laden well water in El Rio and Nyeland Acres. About 10,000 residents in the area north of Oxnard use the eight wells, which have been found to contain as much as three times the acceptable levels of nitrate.

The study, to be conducted by the county’s Public Works Agency and various water and health offices, will be overseen by Supervisor Susan K. Lacey, whose district includes the affected area.

Excessive consumption of nitrate, which reduces blood oxygen and can cause asphyxiation, can prove fatal to infants 6 months and younger. Some medical researchers believe fetuses and children up to age 2 are at risk from excessive nitrate, which is suspected of being linked to cancer and birth defects.

Health officials suspect three possible culprits for the excessive nitrate: fertilizer used for many years by the area’s farmers, septic tanks and manure from a dairy.

Donald Koepp, county director of environmental health, told the supervisors that the small water companies whose wells are contaminated have been ordered to provide plans to remove the impurities. “In case of non-compliance, we could get an injunction and take them over,” he said.

Lacey said residents of the affected area are being warned of potential dangers in their drinking water. She added that a Neighborhood Watch program has been formed to warn residents against buying purification devices “that are absolutely worthless” against nitrate.

Robert Gallagher, manager of the Environmental Health Department’s resources section, said all water wells that have from five to 200 connections are monitored by the county.