Some Harvard residents will be receiving a letter and water-testing supplies from the U.S. Geological Survey, asking them to participate in a study designed to determine a connection between the types of bedrock in the area and the presence of uranium or arsenic. This information will be used to better site future public water supplies.
Following on the heels of a similar study done in New Hampshire, this investigation relies on the voluntary response of 1,600 residents in Essex, Middlesex, and Worcester counties. Testing supplies will be randomly distributed to homeowners with wells in various types of bedrock to avoid skewing the results. Officials promise that the results of the no-cost water testing will be kept confidential. Those whose water tests positive for monitored substances such as arsenic will get the results and, depending on their nature, may be referred to the state’s Department of Public Health for further advice. Homeowners will also get a list of certified labs that can do retesting if desired, as well as information on water treatment. Homeowners will be able to indicate on a questionnaire their interest in participating in a follow-up study conducted by the Department of Public Health.
Long-term drinking of water laden with arsenic has been associated with neurological problems and developmental issues in children. The less commonly found uranium can increase the risk of kidney damage.
“We have no idea why certain rock formations produce arsenic,” said USGS Water Science Center hydrologist Marcus Waldron in an interview last week. “We want to focus on sites where it’s shown to be high.” In fact, he said, it’s not clear whether uranium and arsenic might occur together, adding that much more is known about the occurrence of arsenic in Massachusetts wells than uranium.
Harvard falls in the “arsenic belt” that snakes from central eastern Maine through eastern New Hampshire and down through parts of northeastern and central Massachusetts, Waldron said. Because north central Massachusetts borders on New Hampshire, where areas with high levels of arsenic in well water were found in bedrock aquifers, it is logical for Harvard residents to look at their own “similar formations,” said Waldron.
“We hope to get at least 50 percent response based on the New Hampshire experience,” Waldron said.
Homeowners shouldn’t hold their breath for the results, which will take about a year; first there is the USGS’s lab analysis in Denver, then peer review and internal verification. The results will then be sent to homeowners, and a summary of the results will be published.
From a local perspective, Nashoba Associated Boards of Health sanitarian Ira Grossman last week said, “There’s arsenic all over the place in Harvard. Twenty percent of the homes are a good approximate average.” He said that the USGS sent notices to local health boards in July 2008 that it would be conducting the study.
What do you do if your water tests positive for a monitored substance?
“I always recommend water testing,” said Grossman. “Go to one of two certified labs in the area: Nashoba Analytical in Littleton or Microbac in Worcester.”
Ted Morine, a Harvard resident, hydrologist, and former member of the Board of Health, offered his own advice for homeowners who might have unwanted substances in their water: “Find out the MCL [maximum contaminant level allowed by law], look at what you have, and address that issue alone, or you’ll be spending a lot of money.” Morine said that arsenic in some Harvard groundwater was once thought to be a byproduct of apple cultivation, but is now known to be naturally occurring in an ore form, arsenopyrite, in bedrock in certain areas of town.
A March 6 Boston Globe article on the USGS study incorrectly flagged a Harvard address on a map under the heading of “too much uranium.” The map pinpointed Jill Realty Trust, which owns 231 Ayer Road, the location of Pizza Bella and Acton Medical Associates. Globe reporter Beth Daley told the Press she had randomly selected the site from Department of Environmental Protection records. Although testing of the area along Ayer Road has shown some arsenic in groundwater, there are no tests indicating uranium.
