Robson Official Asked To Substantiate Claim or Rescind It
by J.C. Huntington
Dateline: Phoenix Arizona, Thursday, October 19, 2000
Posted to PoisonedWells Thursday, October 19, 2000
       James Polus, General Manager of Utilities for Robson Communities Inc. has claimed that the Page-Trowbridge radioactive/toxic waste landfill has no effect on the water supply for the Robson-owned Lago del Oro Water Company.

       Polus made the claim in an article published in The SaddleBrooke Progress, a newspaper serving the SaddleBrooke community, edited by Linda Robson. 

       The claim was also published to a Robson website.  As of the morning of October 16th, Robson officials had chosen to title the web page containing Polus's claim Huntington believes in space aliens.htm. 

        The page containing Polus' claim has since been moved and the title changed to better reflect the content.  As of this writing, the page is still accessible via links links found on this page: www.Robson.com

      To assure that Robson Communities are not accused of attempting to mislead consumers by making claims that benefit the company but have no basis in fact, Polus was requested to substantiate his claim that the Page-Trowbridge radioactive/toxic waste landfill has no effect on the Lago del Oro water supply or rescind it in a letter was sent via certified October 16th. 

       A textual form of the letter and attachments sent with the letter follow.
Text of Letter To James Polus, General Manager of Utilities for Robson Communities


October 16, 2000

James Polus, General Manager of Utilities, Robson Communities
9532 East Riggs Road
Sun Lakes, Arizona 85248-7411
 

Subject: Robson Communities claim that the Page-Trowbridge radioactive/toxic waste landfill has no effect on water quality.

Dear Mr. Polus;

I have read your article, SaddleBrooke and Catalina Water exceeds Safe Drinking Standards, published in the October edition of The SaddleBrooke Progress, edited by Linda Robson, and posted to a world wide web page currently titled Huntington believes in space aliens.htm. The page containing the article currently resides on a Robson Communities web site at this address: 

http://www.sunlakesresales.com/saddlebrooke/testresults.htm

In this article, you make the claim that the Page-Trowbridge radioactive/toxic waste landfill has no effect on the Lago del Oro water supply. 

Facts required

By this letter, I request that you provide facts to substantiate the claim that Page-Trowbridge has no effect on the quality of the Lago del Oro water supply or rescind that claim.

The motivation for requesting that you provide a factual basis for your claim is to eliminate the possibility that Robson Communities will be accused of misleading consumers by making a claim that benefits Robson Communities yet has no basis in fact. 

Particulars

As you know, the sole water supply for the Lago del Oro Water Company is water from the aquifer that runs beneath the Page-Trowbridge radioactive/toxic waste landfill. 

Since you are on record as claiming that the Page-Trowbridge radioactive/toxic waste landfill has no effect on the Lago del Oro water supply and since the sole water source for the Lago del Oro Water supply is the aquifer beneath the Page-Trowbridge landfill, you are on record as claiming that Page-Trowbridge has no effect on the aquifer that lies beneath it. 

As you also know, several contaminants have been detected in water samples taken from the aquifer beneath the Page-Trowbridge landfill prior to you making your claim. 

These contaminants include, but are not limited to: 

  1. Dichloromethane: detected in water samples taken from that aquifer in 1997.
  2. Ethylbenzene: detected in water samples taken from the aquifer in September of 1998.
  3. Xylenes: detected in water samples taken from the aquifer in September of 1998. 
  4. Toluene: detected in water samples taken from the monitoring wells at Page-Trowbridge in May of 2000.
As you also know, there is no known potential source for these contaminants in the area except for the Page-Trowbridge landfill.

In order to substantiate your claim that Page-Trowbridge has no effect on the aquifer that lies beneath it, you have to produce facts that prove that all contaminants detected before you made your claim did not originate at the Page-Trowbridge landfill. 

Specifically, you must:

  1. List all contaminants detected in all water samples taken from the aquifer beneath Page-Trowbridge prior to the date of the publication of your claim. 
  2. For each contaminant listed, providing facts that prove that the contaminant did not originate at the Page-Trowbridge landfill.
Speculation and conjectures as to the source of the contaminants will not be sufficient to prove that your claim is factually based. An example of such a conjecture is the one published in the referenced article where you speculate that, "possibly, a person handling the sample might have recently filled his vehicle with gas, not washed his hands, and contaminated the test bottle."

Furthermore, you must explain how you can claim a factual basis for your assertion that the Page-Trowbridge radioactive/toxic waste landfill has no effect on the aquifer beneath it, when the wells closest to the landfill are not being monitored for contaminants that exist in the landfill and have been previously detected in water samples taken from the aquifer.

Specifically, the three wells that supply Oracle with drinking water have been in waiver status since 1997. Among the many contaminants that are not monitored at these wells are contaminants that are known to be in the landfill and have been previously detected in samples taken from the water in the aquifer beneath the landfill (e.g. dichloromethane, ethylbenzene, toluene, and xylenes). 

Additionally, two of the Lago del Oro wells closest to the Page-Trowbridge landfill are currently in waiver status. Among the many contaminants that are not monitored at these wells are contaminants that are known to be in the landfill and have been previously detected in samples taken from the water in the aquifer beneath the landfill (e.g. dichloromethane, ethylbenzene, toluene, and xylenes).

In other words, you must explain how not testing the water supply for contaminants known to exist in the Page-Trowbridge landfill demonstrates that the contaminants do not exist in the water that runs beneath the landfill and did not originate at the landfill.

In the event you are unable to substantiate your claim that Page-Trowbridge has no effect on the aquifer that lies beneath it, I request:

  1. That you publicly rescind your claim via an article to be published in any and all publications, including pages on the world wide web, that carried the article containing your claim within ten (10) days of receipt of this letter. 
  2. That the article rescinding your claim be displayed as prominently as the article that contained your claim in all publications that carried the original article.
I will publish this letter on www.PoisonedWells.com along with any response you may have to it.

Warm Regards,
 
 
 

James C. Huntington
6141 N. 16th Drive
Phoenix, Arizona 85015
Phone: 602.249.7712
email:mekazda@mindspring.com
 
 

Attachments: 

SaddleBrooke and Catalina Water exceeds Safe Drinking Standards, by James Polus, General Manager of Utilities, Robson Communities [Textual Form]

Images of web page containing SaddleBrooke and Catalina Water exceeds Safe Drinking Standards, by James Polus, General Manager of Utilities, Robson Communities as viewed through NetScape Browser

 cc:

Janet Napolitano, Attorney General, State of Arizona
1275 W. Washington 
Phoenix, Arizona 85007-2926

Office of the Attorney General
Consumer Information and Complaints 
1275 W. Washington 
Phoenix, Arizona 85007-2926 

Roy Tanney, Director Subdivisions Division
Arizona Department of Real Estate 
2910 N. 44th St., Suite 100
Phoenix, AZ 85018

Gregg Workman, Manager Hazardous Waste Section, Waste Programs Division
Arizona Department of Environmental Quality 
3033 N. Central Ave.
Phoenix, AZ 85012

Moncef Tihami, Manager Drinking Water Monitoring & Assessment Unit, Water 
Quality Division
ADEQ Drinking Water Section
3033 N. Central Ave., MO248A
Phoenix, AZ 85012

Attachment: Text Form of SaddleBrooke and Catalina Water exceeds Safe Drinking Standards, by James Polus, General Manager of Utilities, Robson Communities 
J.C. Huntington
Sunday, October 15, 2000

The following text was taken from http://www.sunlakesresales.com/saddlebrooke/testresults.htm, Sunday October 15, 2000. 

The Robson claim that the Page-Trowbridge radioactive/toxic waste landfill has no effect on the water supply is made in item 9 of Polus' article.
 

SaddleBrooke and Catalina Water exceeds Safe Drinking Standards

This article is the first in a series that will address questions about your drinking water. We are focusing on quality and safety this month. In future months we plan to discuss where your drinking water comes from, its availability for the future, roles and responsibilities of various government agencies and water utilities, and an update on the Page-Trowbridge Landfill post-closure. Look for this and other information in your Lago Del Oro Water Company water bills.

  1. Where does my drinking water come from?
    All drinking water for the community of SaddleBrooke and the unincorporated town of Catalina comes from groundwater in the aquifer of the Upper Santa Cruz. Lago Del Oro Water Company delivers water to approximately 4,500 customers from 16 deep wells. Seven of the wells are located in SaddleBrooke, and nine are located in Catalina. Lago Del Oro Water Company also owns and operates nine water storage tanks, which stores nearly 2,000,000 gallons of water for peak flows and fire protection.
     
  1. How do I know my water is safe to drink?
Lago Del Oro Water Company is in full compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 and other water quality requirements imposed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ). This Act requires EPA to identify contaminants that could be present in drinking water. It also requires all water systems to test for these contaminants in the drinking water. Water is considered by the EPA to be safe to drink if the contaminants measured are below their established limits, or maximum contaminant level (MCL). A person would have to drink two liters of water at the MCL, every day for a lifetime, to have a one-in-a-million chance of having the described health effects.

EPA has delegated the compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act in Arizona to ADEQ.

3. Has Lago Del Oro Water Company tested the drinking water for all of the contaminants that the EPA requires to be tested?

Yes.

4. Have they found any contaminants in the drinking water that exceed the limits established by the EPA?

No.

5. Are there any results below the MCL that would trigger additional monitoring?

Yes. EPA uses "trigger" levels that may require the water provider to monitor more frequently. For example, in 1998 one of the Lago Del Oro Water Company wells showed 0.7 parts per billion (ppb) of ethylbenzene, which is 1000 times less than the MCL. Even though the MCL is 700 ppb, ADEQ required Lago Del Oro Water Company to increase monitoring for ethylbenzene. Lago Del Oro has conducted three subsequent tests for ethylbenzene, all of which were below the detection limit.

  1. Why might a constituent be present one time and not the next?


    2. It's hard to know. In this case, ethylbenzene is a major component of gasoline, yet there are no underground tanks or petroleum refineries in the area. The water delivery system is sealed and comes straight from the groundwater. Since the chemical was not found in later tests, one explanation could be that the laboratory made an error. Or possibly, a person handling the sample might have recently filled his vehicle with gas, not washed his hands, and contaminated the test bottle. It is impossible to know for sure, which is why ADEQ requires additional testing.
     
  2. How often is the water tested?
Lago Del Oro conducts a significant number of tests for water quality each year, as required by the Safe Drinking Water Act. Overall, Lago Del Oro Water Company regularly tests for more than 100 substances from each of their 16 wells. ADEQ dictates how frequently to run the tests, and each constituent is tested for compliance with the MCL. All results below the MCL are considered to be in compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act.

8. What are the results for the Lago Del Oro wells?

The results show that your drinking water is safe to drink. All customers of Lago Del Oro Water Company received our Consumer Confidence Report, which is a requirement of the 1996 Amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act. The report provides information as to the quality of your water. It lists any constituents that are detected in drinking water. In the report for 1999, seven constituents were detected. All were well below the MCL, and no additional monitoring was required.

  1. What effect does the Page-Trowbridge Landfill have on the Lago Del Oro Water Company water supply?


    2. None. Page-Trowbridge Landfill is located more than three miles north of the nearest Lago Del Oro well. This landfill was operated by the University of Arizona and other state agencies for disposal of hazardous and/or low-level radioactive waste associated with medical and other research. The university discontinued use of this landfill in 1986, and closed it in 1997 through a process approved by EPA and ADEQ.

    Aware of the history of the landfill, the developer of SaddleBrooke and the proposed SaddleBrooke Ranch communities hired Dames & Moore, a leading environmental consulting firm, to study the landfill and any impact it might have on the two communities. After reviewing records of ongoing groundwater tests in the area, Dames & Moore concluded that there is no evidence that contaminants from the landfill have reached groundwater. Dames & Moore further concluded that the landfill was properly closed, that there is little to no possibility that contaminants from the landfill will ever reach groundwater, and that the development of SaddleBrooke Ranch will not cause any migration of contaminants. In the highly unlikely event that contaminants did reach groundwater, the developer has completed studies showing that any contamination would be captured by irrigation wells at its proposed SaddleBrooke Ranch development, thus protecting drinking water wells serving residents in the area.
     

  2. Should I be concerned about the quality of my drinking water?
No. Lago Del Oro Water Company consistently receives superior ratings and is in full compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act and other water quality requirements imposed by EPA and ADEQ.

Jim Poulos, General Manager of Utilities
 


Attachment: Images of web page containing SaddleBrooke and Catalina Water exceeds Safe Drinking Standards, by James Polus, General Manager of Utilities, Robson Communities, as viewed through a NetScape Browser
J.C. Huntington
Sunday, October 15, 2000

Click on images for larger view.
 

Figure 1: Top of web page at www.sunlakeresales.com/sadddlebrooke/testresults.htm

Figure 2: Beginning of Article By James Polus, General Manager, Robson Utilities on web page at www.sunlakeresales.com/sadddlebrooke/testresults.htm

Figure 3: Claim By James Polus, General Manager, Robson Utilities That Page-Trowbridge Landfill Has No Effect on Lago Del Oro Water Supply, Presented on web page at www.sunlakeresales.com/sadddlebrooke/testresults.htm
 

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