Lawsuit Claims 300 People Affected By Arsenic Levels
About 300 residents have joined a lawsuit claiming their water company endangered their health by not alerting them soon enough about arsenic in their water.The lawsuit, filed against Mercedes-based Military Highway Water Supply Corp. Monday, claims the utility tried to conceal and then downplay the problem from the mostly low-income rural residents. The suit seeks unspecified damages for health care, bottled water, temporary housing and other costs.
The utility sent residents a letter this month saying that Texas Commission on Environmental Quality tests found arsenic exceeding the state’s maximum allowable levels, but company attorney Barry Jones said it wasn’t enough to cause health problems.
“The levels in the ground water are so small that it doesn’t impose any immediate threat,” he said in response to the accusations in the suit.
But the lawsuit says many residents are sick because of the water.
“Many children have suffered from rashes and stomach ailments that are unexplained except by the poor quality of the water,” the suit said. “People throughout the district have been suffering illnesses they believe are related to the water.”
The Environmental Protection Agency recently required states to test for compliance of a lowered acceptable arsenic level. Texas began testing in 2006 and this year began citing water suppliers that didn’t meet the standard.
The EPA’s rule lowered acceptable levels from 50 parts per billion to 10 parts per billion, or about .0010 milligrams per liter. The letter Military Highway Water Supply sent to residents said the 2006 average for arsenic in their water was .0012 milligrams per liter.
TCEQ water specialist Debra Cerda said the average was skewed slightly by a high reading in December. She said that the other three times the water was sampled in 2006, arsenic levels were at or slightly above the standard.
But she said the levels were only slightly above the compliance level and residents’ illnesses could have other causes.