Blueberry herbicide traces found in Machias drinking water

MACHIAS – The town manager said Monday that she was not aware that a blueberry herbicide had been detected in a sample from the town’s drinking water.

“This is the first I’ve heard of it,” Town Manager Christine Therrien said. Edward Pellon, the chairman of the Board of Selectmen, also said he was unaware of the finding.

A staff member from the Maine Board of Pesticides Control took a water sample from the Machias Water Co. on May 28 after a former member of the pesticide board reported that he and his students at the University of Maine at Machias had detected hexazinone in town tap water.

The May 28 sample indicated 1.1 parts per billion of hexazinone – the active ingredient in a weed killer that is sold under the trade name Velpar.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency does not consider hexazinone a health risk unless concentrations exceed 400 parts per billion and a person consumes that amount on a daily basis over the period of a lifetime.

Hexazinone is a highly soluble chemical that persists in ground water. It has been detected in test wells near blueberry fields in Washington and Hancock County for more than a decade. Those concentrations have been well below risk advisory levels and tests on wells most likely to contain hexazinone indicate the levels are holding steady or dropping.

The Machias Water Co. is a private company that supplies water to 1,383 people. Manager Gary Griffin said Monday that the company saw no need to notify customers of the test results because the amount detected was so far below the risk level.

“This is just a trace amount and we discussed it with the pesticide board and the drinking water program,” Griffin said. “We will be monitoring for it, but it is well below the threshold.”

Detection of the hexazinone in a water sample from the Machias Water Co. became an issue Friday during the Board of Pesticides Control monthly meeting in Bangor.

Several people called for the test results to be publicized, particularly to customers of the water company.

“I don’t see why this shouldn’t go out to the public so they know that their drinking water has chemicals in it,” said Bob Jones of the Toddy Pond Environmental Association. “That just makes common sense.”

Nancy Beardsley, the director of the Drinking Water Program at the Maine Department of Human Services, said Monday that hexazinone is not one of the chemicals that are regulated under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. As a result, the department does not require that water companies test for the herbicide, she said.

Beardsley said Jeff Folger, the staff person in charge of pesticide issues, did speak with staff at the Machias Water Co. about the test, but Folger was at training Monday and not available for an interview.

Andy Tolman, the manager of source protection for the drinking water program, said the water supply for the Machias Water Co. is a well that draws from a sand and gravel aquifer. There are blueberry fields in some of the re-charge areas for the well, he said.

Tolman said blueberry fields are not a significant concern in a recharge area as long as they are managed well. There are other land uses – such as poorly operated gravel pits with lots of petroleum – that are more than a risk, he said.