[env-trinity] Trinity County:Trespass marijuana grows taint streams

[Tom Stokely]

http://www.trinityjournal.com/news/local/article_ed537630-dfae-11e7-aa8d-f3a930da1541.html



County: Trespass marijuana grows taint streams

Officials urge water treatment
By AMY GITTELSOHN The Trinity Journal - 3 hrs ago
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Toxicant pile containing Carbofuran, zinc and aluminum phosphide as well as several hundred pounds of soluble fertilizer less than 10 feet from a Salt Creek tributary.ContributedTrinity County’s Environmental Health director and Public Health officer are warning residents to ensure measures are taken to remove pesticides from their drinking water if their source is downstream from an illegal marijuana cultivation site.The announcement made late Friday afternoon by Kristy Anderson and Dr. David Herfindahl includes a long list of streams in the county known to have been impacted by illegal grows (see sidebar list).Of particular concern is the U.S. banned pesticide Carbofuran which has been found in the water or soil near some grow sites, including a site in Trinity, in a regional study.“If you drink water downstream from an illegal grow site you need to treat your drinking water out of an abundance of caution,” Anderson and Herfindahl stated in the announcement.The warning was prompted by the recent completion of a study that evaluated multiple sites in Trinity and nearby counties, Anderson said.The study, “Science with Solutions: Documentation, Reclamation and Monitoring of the Ecological Impacts of Marijuana Cultivation in Endangered Species,” by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Integral Ecology Research Center and state Department of Fish & Wildlife looked at illegal, trespass grows on public and private lands in a seven-county area including Trinity. Nine trespass sites were intensively assessed and there were one-time assessments of many more sites. Reclamation work was done on 29 sites.The work was done with the assistance of the Trinity County Sheriff’s Office and other law enforcement agencies.In the nine areas intensively assessed, at one grow site in the area of Hobo Gulch near Helena, water testing was positive for the pesticide Diazinon in 2014, and trace insecticides in 2016. Soils testing in 2014 at the Hobo site also revealed an anticoagulant rodenticide.In 2015, soils testing found Carbofuran at the Telephone 2 grow site in the watershed that drains into Salt Creek.Pesticides were also found in waters and soils near illegal grows in other counties, some detected well after the marijuana plants had been removed.Anderson said the decision was made to release the long list of Trinity County waterways where trespass grows were found even though testing has not been done on many of the waterways.The growers are “using the same methods,” she said. “We had to kind of draw from that to at least warn the public because nobody is doing testing on every one of those sites.”It has taken time to get together the list of waterways with illegal grows based on information provided by law enforcement, Anderson said, but her goal is to release the information more quickly.“Some of them are still pending criminal investigations,” she noted.Anderson said although there certainly could be pesticide use going on at marijuana grows on private property that are not trespass grows, she isn’t commenting other than to say that its uncommon for her to see them on private property and “I haven’t found any of those banned ones myself on private land operations.”Large operations such as timber companies use licensed pest control appliers and are required to test the water downstream from where they apply, she noted.The Journal has followed up with the two largest water suppliers in the county about their treatment systems and response to the county announcement.Regarding waterways affected by trespass grows, the list is already so long it might be easier to say what’s not on it.One notable exception is East and West Weaver Creek. East Weaver Creek is the primary water source for the Weaverville Community Services District, although the district uses the Trinity River (on the list) for its Douglas City customers and, at certain times of the summer, for parts of Weaverville.The large flow of the Trinity River means contaminants are diluted much more than smaller waterways, and the district pulls its water from six feet below the river bed at Douglas City, said WCSD General Manager Wes Scribner.Scribner said the district’s treatment process for all its plants does in fact use the carbon process that Public Health recommends.“All of our filters have carbon in them and it should pull any contaminants out,” Scribner said.While the district does test its water for other contaminants, it doesn’t test for pesticides. The district will be getting in touch with the laboratory it uses to see about the best way to test for the pesticides of concern, he said. He’s hoping the county health agencies follow up with guidance as well.In Hayfork, Trinity County Waterworks District #1 General Manager Craig Hair said he’s sent the county’s information to the state health department.The district tested for numerous pesticides about 10 years ago and didn’t find detectable amounts, but those results are out of date, Hair said, and “that doesn’t mean there wasn’t any in there. You could get a slug that went through five minutes before.”“It literally is like trying to chase a ghost,” Hair said.The district does use activated carbon in its filtering system for taste and odor control in a different method than WCSD’s, he said, but he added that he doesn’t know if it would be effective on Carbofuran. The Big Creek watershed is fairly rugged, Hair said, and he hasn’t heard of huge grows there.There are many more water systems in Trinity County, from systems serving smaller communities to those used by individual residences.Additional resourcesHere are some additional resources/information links:For testing of your water source at any given point in time (may not give an accurate representation throughout the year due to activity and environment) — North Coast Labs in Arcata, CA: EPA 531.1 -  N-methyl-carbamoyl oximes and carbamates includes testing for Carbofuran and EPA 507 - Nitrogen-Phosphorous Containing Pesticides includes Thiobencarb).Many of the pesticides of concern can be treated with a Granular Activated Carbon filter and non-ionic polymeric resin filters. Individuals can Google NSF 42, 53, and 401 point-of-use or point-of-entry filters, or call Trinity County Environmental Health at 623-1459 for more information.
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