Toxin-Free water Demanded in Rialto (Dainly Bulletin June 28, 2007)

BS Ranch Perspective Don't get me wrong, but isn't Toxin-free water what any Home owner wants when they own their home and they pay their taxes, and then they have all that water bill paid, and suddenly they have toxic water, that is terrible for human consumption, You spend your hard earned money, that you had worked really hard for, yet you find that the place that you purchased that you figured was safe for your family is actually poisonous Water that gives everyone Cancer if they drank the water!! All you want is to keep your family SAFE!! It is no wonder that everyone is up in arms about the Contamination in the Water Supply at Rialto!! They need to Concentrate on keeping the Water Clean, rather than Suing the Company Responsible for the problem. Rialto needs to concentrate on the clean up and not on the problems surrounding the clean up. Perchlorate is nothing to play with it is a dangerous substance when left in the water supply!! BS Ranch Toxin-free water demanded in Rialto

By Jason Pesick, Staff Writer Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

Article Launched:06/28/2007 12:00:00 AM PDT

RIALTO - Hundreds of residents and representatives of organizations around the state came to a rowdy forum Wednesday night to demand that an ingredient used to produce rocket fuel, perchlorate, be cleaned out of the local drinking water supply. The event, held by the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice, featured marching, Aztec dancers, a hearing before a panel of guest activists and calls for action. "This particular pollutant is really worrisome," said UC San Francisco medical professor Gina Solomon during a presentation on the health effects of perchlorate. Well-known activist Dolores Huerta was expected to lead a panel of guests to demand change, but she was unable to make it to the event. Perchlorate is used to produce different types of explosives, and although its health effects are not well understood, it can interfere with the thyroid gland. A number of residents took the opportunity to tell the panel - which later voted to have the State Water Resources Control Board order cleanup - about the problem. The center's executive director, Penny Newman, highlighted how much longer it has taken to clean up the perchlorate in Rialto than it took to clean up perchlorate discovered in Redlands the same year. Rialto has accused dozens of parties of being responsible for the pollution, while only one party caused the contamination in Redlands. But Newman said Redlands is a wealthier and predominately white community with more political influence than Rialto. "I don't know too many people who say race does not play a role in our society today," she said before the event. The contamination has been spreading from Rialto's north end through the city and into Colton. Local water companies have spent millions of dollars to clean it out of the water they serve their customers. The entire mess could cost $300 million to clean up. Rialto and Colton have tried a number of strategies to get the dozens of suspected polluters, which include Goodrich, Black and Decker and Pyro Spectaculars, to clean it up. A federal lawsuit is still in the early stages, and the state regulatory bodies charged with monitoring water quality have struggled to move the case forward. State hearings have been delayed numerous times, most recently from July to late August, delays Newman called "unacceptable." Contact writer Jason Pesick at (909) 386-3861 or via e-mail at jason.pesick@sbsun.com.