A Special Newsletter to Burbank Residents & Businesses

DATE: October 24, 2000

Chromium 6 -- Your Water and What You Need to Know
Burbank water meets or exceeds all state and federal drinking water standards. However, there has been a lot of concern recently about Chromium 6 in Burbank’s groundwater. We hope you’ll find these facts to be helpful.

What is Chromium 6?
Chromium 6 is just one part of total Chromium. If you take vitamins, you’ll probably see Chromium included as one of the minerals. That’s trivalent Chromium, or Chromium 3, a naturally occurring and necessary nutritional element. Hexavalent Chromium, or Chromium 6, does not occur naturally in significant amounts and has no nutritional value.

Chromium 6 is primarily a by-product of certain industrial processes and as you know, Burbank had long been home to a great deal of industrial production. The result has been the presence of small amounts of Chromium 6 in our groundwater.

How is Chromium 6 a Health Hazard?
Scientists have established that breathing in Chromium 6 is toxic. This is what happened to some of the citizens of Hinkley, California, as portrayed in the movie Erin Brokovich.

There currently is little if any scientific data or research that shows that drinking water with Chromium 6 is hazardous to one’s health. At this point, it is most fair to say that the health risk needs to be determined through further study and review.

What are Current Government Standards?
Both the California Department of Health Services and the World Health Organization have set contaminant levels of 50 parts per billion for total Chromium. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has set a maximum contamination level that is twice that, at 100 parts per billion for total Chromium. There is no separate standard for Chromium 6. One organization, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) is recommending that standards for total Chromium be set at a level of no more than 2.5 parts per billion and 0.2 parts per billion for Chromium 6.

Burbank’s Water Meets Current Chromium Standards
Burbank’s water falls well below the maximum allowable for total Chromium. Here in Burbank, the average total Chromium incidence since October 1999 through August 2000 was 11 parts per billion for our largest water treatment facility and 8 parts per billions for our smaller treatment facility. Total Chromium incidence is well within current standards.

Because Chromium 6 is only a part of total Chromium, we know that Chromium 6 would be less than the 11 and 8 parts per billion. The City measured the amount of Chromium 6 directly, finding 6 parts per billion for our largest water treatment facility and 4 parts per billion for our smaller treatment facility.

But Is Water From Our Treatment Facilities Currently Safe to Drink?
We are very confident that it is. Otherwise, we would not be delivering water from these facilities to you. The California Department of Health Services sets standards at a level that it believes is protective of human health.

Burbank Water and Power has been monitoring and reporting the incidence of total Chromium and Chromium 6 for each of our wells since 1998. And, for the past ten years, every Burbank household and business has received an annual water quality report from us, detailing the safety of our water. Here are some of the things we do to ensure Burbank receives quality drinking water:

• Each of our ten wells are sampled and tested monthly.
• All local water goes through treatment at one of Burbank’s two water treatment facilities.
• Water from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is treated at its facilities.
• Final samples are taken from the fully treated and blended water and sent monthly for testing.
• An independent state certified laboratory conducts the tests and reports the results simultaneously to the California Department of Health Services and to us.

Where Do We Go From Here?
Governor Gray Davis signed Senate Bill 2127 requiring an accelerated review of San Fernando water and Chromium levels in September. The City of Burbank supported this bill and will continue to work with the various regulatory agencies in establishing reasonable standards for Chromium in the drinking water. Additionally, California Senator Adam Schiff hosted a hearing on Chromium 6 on October 24. This was broadcast live from City Hall on Burbank TV channel 6.

How Can I Learn More?
You can visit us at www.Burbank-utilities.com and read the entire report on Chromium presented to the City Council on September 26, 2000. You can also visit the California Department of Health Services at www.DHS.ca.gov to learn more about Chromium.

What Can Concerned Citizens Do?
Currently known ways to remove Chromium 6 in water is through Ion Exchange Treatment Systems and Reverse Osmosis. A filtration unit by itself will not remove Chromium 6.

A list of home water treatment devices certified by the California Department of Health Services can be found on their web site at www.dhs.ca.gov/ps/ddwem/technical/certification/device/sec6-6.pdf This information is also on our website. We do not specifically recommend any of these devices. The costs for these devices varies significantly, starting at $250. Some units will require further installation expenses and all units will have on-going operation costs.

What About Bottled Drinking Water?
The bottled water industry often makes the claim that it is far better regulated than tap water suppliers are. However, according to the National Resources Defense Council, FDA rules for bottled water are generally less strict than tap water rules. As regards Chromium, bottled water standards are 100 parts per billion, as set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Burbank’s water falls under California’s Department of Health Services more stringent requirement of no more than 50 parts per billion.