Seminole commissioners urge EPA action on 1,4-dioxane, ‘long, hard look’ at pollution’s source
Seminole County will urge the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to implement and enforce regulations regarding 1,4-dioxane, a toxic chemical that has contaminated drinking water wells in the northwest side of the county.
The decision by commissioners was made after they listened to an hour-long presentation from county staff and a consultant who said that Seminole will increase the monitoring and sampling of its drinking water at its 25 wells and treatment plants.
The county also will add a water quality dashboard to its website within the coming weeks that will provide visitors with data and levels of various contaminants, including 1,4-dioxane.
“I think we made some real progress here today,” Commissioner Lee Constantine said. “I think we made people feel safer about their water.”
According to the approved letter being sent to EPA Secretary Michael Regan by Commission Chair Amy Lockhart, the lack of “standardized regulations for this element in drinking water” makes people unsure about 1,4-dioxane’s harmful effects.
“While the EPA has suggested a Health Advisory Level of 0.35 parts per billion, one of the lowest Health Advisory Levels nationwide, which the State of Florida has adopted, this guidance is non-binding,” according to Lockhart’s letter. “It lacks the enforceability necessary to protect our residents effectively.”
The letter also urges the EPA to collaborate with state and local agencies “to develop effective monitoring, compliance, and remediation strategies.” It also requests that the federal agency “allocate additional resources” toward research regarding the potential health impacts of 1,4-dioxane.
However, commissioners held off on making any costly infrastructure improvements, such as upgrading or building a high-tech water treatment facility.
Commissioner Jay Zembower said the county “should take a long, hard look” at learning the source of the contamination and whether the polluters should pay for any improvements to the county’s drinking water system.
“Because if we don’t, then our utility customers are going to end up paying the costs,” he said. “It’s very important to our residents that we get all the answers.”
Tuesday’s commission presentation was scheduled after the Orlando Sentinel published several stories titled “Toxic Secret” regarding the 1,4-dioxane contamination over the past two weeks. And county staff and commissioners said they received dozens of calls from concerned residents.
The EPA has labeled 1,4-dioxane as likely to cause cancer. In 2014 and 2015, Lake Mary, Sanford and Seminole County discovered high concentrations of the chemical in drinking water wells, particularly west of Interstate 4.
In fact, Lake Mary’s concentration of 1,4-dioxane was discovered at nearly four times that of the federal and state advisory level of 0.35 parts per billion.
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To address the contamination, Lake Mary built a high-tech water treatment plant that started operating in 2021 and removes nearly all of 1,4-dioxane from its drinking water.
Meanwhile, Sanford recently hired two consulting firms that concluded the chemical migrated through the Floridan Aquifer — the underground source for almost all drinking water in the area — from its likely main point of contamination, a telephone systems factory that operated from 1968 to 2003 under several owners off Rinehart Road in Lake Mary.
Seminole County and Sanford were able to reduce concentrations of the chemical by shutting off or reducing the output of some drinking water wells.
In 2015, Seminole added a brief and obscure note in its water report sent to water customers about the contamination. But 1,4-dioxane contamination was not publicly mentioned again by the county.
Many top-level managers at the county said they only became aware of the chemical earlier this year after receiving questions from the Orlando Sentinel. They said they lost track of the information regarding the contamination because of high employee turnover.
That didn’t sit well with Lake Mary resident Emily Turner, who spoke out at Tuesday’s meeting.
“I would like to understand why the county never notified the public,” she said. “I think the county had an obligation to notify us, especially those on well water.”
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Commissioner Andria Herr noted that since Seminole County discovered 1,4-dioxane in its drinking water wells nearly a decade ago, the levels have been far below the federal and state advisory levels.
The chemical was first documented at the Rinehart Road factory site in 2001. The former owners of the plant and property later agreed to pay for Lake Mary’s new treatment plant, estimated to have cost $40 million. But the owners did not admit liability for the contamination.
Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection has not specifically pinpointed the source of the 1,4-dioxane contamination in the public utilities’ drinking water.
In all, the EPA regulates the presence of 90 chemicals in drinking water, but not 1,4-dioxane. And there is currently no state or federal requirement for notifying customers of 1,4-dioxane in drinking water whether it’s above or below the advisory level.
Mary Thomas, of Corolla Engineers, an Orlando-based water consulting firm, hired by Seminole County, said many water utilities around the country are still learning how to deal with 1,4-dioxane contamination, and that the problem is not unique to Seminole County.
“1,4-dioxane is extraordinarily difficult to treat,” she said.
Seminole announces water sampling amid Sentinel series about toxic chemical in wells
But she also noted, after being pressed by Lockhart, that there are “countless other contaminants” in drinking water.
“These numbers are so low,” Thomas said about Seminole’s 1,4-dioxane contamination.
But attorney Mark NeJame of Windermere said he was concerned about the “lack of disclosure” by the county and that there needs to be more research on what are appropriate levels of the chemical in drinking water.
“We don’t know what the long-term effects are going to be,” he said. “All we are talking about is parts per billion, and it’s theoretical.”
Lockhart on July 14 sent an email to fellow commissioners urging them not to speak to the media on 1,4-dioxane and the contamination until after Tuesday’s meeting.
“I am confident that the propensity to publicly speak out individually stems from a desire to help, but moving forward, cameo interviews will be viewed (at least by me) as obstruction and/or interference,” Lockhart said in her email.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Lockhart and other commissioners attacked the Sentinel’s reporting, saying it created unnecessary alarm among residents.
“The headlines (‘Toxic Secret’) that have been chosen have been irresponsible,” she said in noting that 1,4-dioxane levels have remained low.
