Pediatrician and geneticist Ellen Arch is correct. The proposed Dry Wash “reuse” sewer water reservoir in Ivins City is extremely hazardous to human health.
It’s no wonder so many concerned Ivins’ residents, physicians from across the state and health care professionals, such as myself, oppose it.
Toxins such as arsenic, lead, prescription drugs, PCB from plastics, nitrates from human waste and forever chemicals will be left over from the Dry Wash’s partially treated sewage water, aerosolized by southwestern Utah’s native winds and transported to adjacent neighborhoods.
The result? Downwind victims. A whole heck of a lot of them, all with the increased lifetime incidences of cancer, neurological disorders, fertility problems, developmental defects, heart damage, lung disease, diabetes and autism. Pregnant mothers, small children, seniors and people with disabilities will be most at risk.
As if the prior information isn’t bad enough, there’s more. And it’s worse.
Washington County Water Conservancy District’s General Manager Zach Renstrom recently admitted at a public meeting that the WCWCD dumped partially treated sewer water into the popular and crowded kiddie swimming lagoon at Fire Lake in Ivins, not once but several times. That means little children building sandcastles by the shoreline and swimming and splashing in the water have been exposed to and no doubt have swallowed the toxic soup chemicals mentioned above. None of the EPA required signage stating “Warning: Treated Wastewater — Do Not Drink” was posted, so parents had no idea to keep their children out of the “water.”
Since Ivins’ Mayor Hart is a member of the WCWCD Board, one wonders what Mayor Hart knew about the filling of Fire Lake children’s swimming area with sewer water and when he knew it. The Dry Wash is too dangerous. So is trusting the WCWCD and Mayor Hart to keep Ivins’ residents safe.
Eileen Geller, RN, BSN, Ivins