Chemicals in drinking water worry residents in Marana

Samples taken since December 2016 have shown that these wells contained levels of two kinds of chemical pollutants that are higher than those recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency.
It’s now being cleaned up from long-contaminated groundwater on Tucson’s south side.
The same Continental Reserve-area groundwater will also serve the future Lazy K Bar Ranch development, an upscale project of 178 homes near the boundary of Saguaro National Park West, whose rezoning was approved by the Marana Town Council last year.
As for cleanup, Marana Water released a detailed study last December recommending the use of several treatment methods for the Continental Reserve and Saguaro Bloom wells.
It’s also going through a lengthy, detailed analysis to determine whether it should set formal drinking water limits for the two PFAS compounds that have been found in Marana’s drinking water.
Marana doesn’t have that choice, because it’s not able to make use of its own CAP water supply.
Last year, Marana Water mailed notices to residents of the affected areas, informing them of the well pollution and detailing health effects.
Surface water: For PFAS compounds, it found concentrations of 14.4 to 47 parts per trillion in 11 samples taken from the Aqua Nueva sewage treatment plant at Roger Road on the south to the Marana Road bridge on the north.
None of those levels exceeds EPA’s current health advisory, but all are higher than the levels that would be suggested if the recommendations in a new federal health study from the Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry are followed.
The levels ranged from 4.7 to 215.5 parts per trillion, with concentrations exceeding the EPA advisory level found in seven samples.

Learn More