Arizona State and Local Government Documents Collection

In September 2005, some concerned Walker residents contacted the Arizona Department of Health Services in regards to the quality of groundwater in the area. The residents petitioned ADHS to perform well water tests to determine the character of the water, and whether there is any potential health risk associated with consuming or using the water. In response to the concerned community members and in agreement with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, ADHS collected water samples from the site and completed a health consultation. This health consultation evaluates if the levels of lead and other metals in the private wells in Walker area pose any adverse health effects.

This report evaluates the potential exposure pathways associated with vermiculite concentrate processing activities at the Ari-Zonolite facility. The site is located in the near downtown area of Glendale, approximately ½ mile from the city hall, downtown shops, and other buildings. The former Ari-Zonolite facility received vermiculite from the Libby, Montana, mine. From 1951 to 1964, the site was leased the site to the Ari-Zonolite Company. Following the removal of the vermiculite concentrate processing equipment in 1964, several businesses have occupied the site. None of these businesses were involved in vermiculite processing activities. The last occupant of the former vermiculite processing building was an automotive restoration business, which vacated the site in 2002.

The objective of this assessment is to evaluate whether a public health hazard exists as a result of environmental exposures in Hayden and Winkelman, Arizona, located near a smelter operated by ASARCO, Inc. Some of the residents of these towns have expressed concerns that metals from smelter emissions over the years have been causing health problems. This report uses environmental data collected from water, soil, and air in the Hayden and Winkelman area to estimate environmental exposures. The study also evaluates available health outcome data from previous epidemiological and biological-monitoring studies conducted in the area. The report concludes that exposure to sulfur dioxide occasionally poses a short-term public health hazard to sensitive asthmatics. These episodes of higher levels of sulfur dioxide occur infrequently. They do not appear to pose a health hazard to persons without sensitive airways or asthma. Other environmental exposures do not appear to pose a public health hazard.

In March 2004, a resident of Cornville contacted the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality to request information on arsenic in drinking water. The resident collected six well water samples from their own well and neighbors’ wells and submitted them to a private laboratory for arsenic analysis. The analyses detected arsenic ranging from 15 to 952 μg/L. ADEQ and the community members asked the Arizona Department of Health Services to provide health information about using the water. Initial conversations with the well owner and other community members revealed that many people had concerns about potential health effects from arsenic exposure.

The W.R. Grace facility in Phoenix, Arizona, received vermiculite concentrate from the Libby, Montana, vermiculite mine. W.R. Grace Company has owned and operated the Arizona site since 1964. In 1964 W.R. Grace purchased the company that had previously occupied the site and, following the relocation of its vermiculite exfoliation furnace from Glendale, Arizona, began processing vermiculite concentrate and marketing it under the Zonolite® brand. The objective of this health consultation is to evaluate exposure pathways and potential health effects in those persons who, between 1964 and 2002, may have been exposed to Libby asbestos as a result of vermiculite concentrate processing activities and waste materials from the W.R. Grace exfoliation facility in Phoenix.

The Arizona Department of Health Services reviewed existing data and performed a health consultation to evaluate the potentially adverse health effects due to VOCs created by air emissions from the Miller Road Treatment Facility. Prior to the existence of our current environmental regulations, local industries improperly disposed of organic solvents directly onto the ground or into dry wells. This subsequently contaminated all three levels of the aquifer.

Local residents expressed their concerns regarding the tailings from the Iron King Mine and Humboldt Smelter at Dewey-Humboldt, AZ. The purpose of this health consultation is to evaluate the available water and soil sampling results to determine if the detected metal levels pose adverse health effects when residents come into contact with the water or soil. In 2008, EPA initiated the field investigation portion of the Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study for the Site. The primary objectives of the RI/FS are to determine the nature and extent of contamination and to gather sufficient information so that EPA can select a long-term remedy that eliminates, reduces, or controls risks to human health. The investigation included the collection of airborne particulates, groundwater, surface water, surface soil, subsurface soil, and sediment data across the entire Site. Data from the RI/FS was not available at the time the health consultation was prepared and thus it was not incorporated into this health consultation.

The Arizona Department of Health Services received a request for a Health Consultation from the City of Litchfield Park, dated March 5, 2007. The nature of the request was for ADHS to determine if there was a risk to public health from eating fish taken from Tierra Verde Lake. The City sponsors an annual fishing derby and believed that some citizens were eating the fish they caught. The City tested their lake water and for the very first time, measurable amounts of perchlorates were detected. The probable source for the perchlorates was thought to be from a groundwater, contaminant plume originating from the Phoenix Goodyear Airport Superfund Site.

In September 1999, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency contacted the Arizona Department of Health Services, Office of Environmental Health, concerning potential contamination of private drinking water wells along Lynx Creek in the Walker, Arizona, mining district. Historical mining activities in the area might have resulted in contamination of groundwater by acid mine runoff as well as metals from extraction processes. EPA and ADHS determined the historical mining activity had caused environmental damage and the potential for adverse human health impacts. ADHS initiated a private well sampling program to determine if the mining activity has had an adverse impact on the quality of water from these wells. Several area residents have expressed concerns about their water quality. The objective of this public health consultation is to evaluate the potential for health effects from exposure to contaminants in private drinking water wells in the Walker, Arizona area.

The purpose of this health consultation is to determine whether contaminants in groundwater from the Motorola 56th Street facility represent a threat to public health. The facility was first occupied in the spring of 1950 as the Western Military Electronics Center. From 1950 to 1958, it was primarily used for bench type electronics, electronic assembly, and semiconductor production. The chemicals used in these processes included solvent degreasers such as trichloroethylene, acetone, and freon, and metals such as cadmium, chromium, and arsenic. From 1959 through 1961, the facility was used primarily for document storage. Beginning in 1962, manufacturing of electronics resumed to include assembly of circuit boards, plating, and degreasing. Chemicals used between 1962 and 1974 included trichloroethylene, tetrachloroethylene, and a number of acids and metals including arsenic. In 1975, the facility began manufacturing liquid crystal products. These activities continued until 1982, when it was converted to office use. The investigations that have been conducted to date have shown that there are residual levels of arsenic and fluoride in down-gradient private wells west of the facility. Solvent contaminants that were found in the 1980s are no longer present at detectable levels in down-gradient private wells.