EPA: Permit will regulate polluted stormwater in Los Alamos County The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will require a federal pollution permit be used to regulate Los Alamos County’s contaminated stormwater, which for years has flowed into streams and the Rio Grande, a primary source of drinking water. Attorneys representing the Taos-based advocacy group Amigos Bravos said their client’s September lawsuit against the EPA pushed the agency to require the permitting under the Clean Water Act. The EPA issued preliminary findings in 2015 that showed pollutants in some parts of Los Alamos National Laboratory property and other areas of Los Alamos County far exceeded state health and water quality standards, yet the agency failed to take action, according to the Oregon-based Western Environmental Law Center. Photo credit from estormwater.com The agency recently issued a final determination that runoff from the lab and other parts of the county contained toxins such as mercury, copper, nickel, cyanide, radiation and polychlorinated biphenyls, commonly known as PCBs. New Mexico Environment Department data shows levels of PCBs, which are carcinogenic, are 14,000 times the level deemed safe for human health in Sandia Canyon and 11,000 times that limit in Los Alamos Canyon, the law center said. “The EPA finally took a hard look at where these pollutants are coming from,” said Andrew Hawley, a law center attorney, in an interview. “The pollutants of concern were showing up in the tributaries going into the Rio Grande.” SOURCE AND FULL ARTICLE ON SANTA FE NEW MEXICAN
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- Stormwater Management
- Stormwater
- Storm Water Management