Proposal for Southern Utah Puts Residents at Risk
A plan for a community in Ivins, Utah, could expose 47 acres of lakebed dust to a surrounding community, as the city council contemplates a $22 million plan for treated wastewater.
Critics of the plan, previously focused on the reservoir’s design flaws and flood risks, are now amplifying their voices against potential health hazards posed by wind-borne chemicals from the exposed lakebed.
The voices speaking out are not only concerned residents, but well versed on the topics of environmental and health concerns. Dr. Ellen Arch, a pediatrician and geneticist spoke out at a city council meeting and organized a report with certified professional geologist Daniel Krupicka addressing their concerns.
The report highlighted the dangers of exposing residents to wind-borne toxins from the reservoir’s treated wastewater. Experts fear that toxins such as pesticides, pharmaceuticals, heavy metals, and PFAS (Forever Chemicals) could lead to widespread health crises including respiratory diseases, cancers, birth defects, and neurological disorders.
The EPA recently tightened standards on PFAS in drinking water, recognizing their serious threat to human health.
“In preparing the report, Arch and Krupicka collaborated with Brian Moench, president of Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, who is leading a study of the toxic effects of dust from the exposed lakebed of the Great Salt Lake. Moench has offered to meet with Ivins leaders via Zoom to discuss Dry Wash. He estimates it would take a few months to assess the health risks of the reuse reservoir,” a Salt Lake Tribune article writes.
The article goes on to quote Dr. Moench, “I would say the PFAS chemical group is the single greatest potential health hazard in this whole battle that Ivins residents are engaged in the Dry Wash reuse reservoir proposal, because we know that PFAS compounds are in municipal wastewater … PFAS compounds and heavy metals, which we also know are in municipal wastewater, are probably the two most potentially toxic group of hazards that those residents are concerned about.
“And their concerns are valid,” Moench continued. “If I was living down in [Ivins], I’d be right there with them and engaged in all those meetings, trying to convince public officials that [Dry Wash Reservoir] is not worth the risk.”
Find the Salt Lake Tribune coverage here.
Please pass this information along to your friends and family in Ivins so they can amplify the concerns.
Ivins Mayor, Chris Hart chart@ivinsutah.gov
Ivins City Council Members:
Dennis Mehr, dmehr@ivinsutah.gov
Jenny Johnson, jjohnson@ivinsutah.gov
Adel Murphy, amurphy@ivinsutah.gov
Lance Anderson, landerson@ivinsutah.gov
Mike Scott, mscott@ivinsutah.gov