ARSENIC IN BLAINE'S DRINKING WATER UNSAFE

As reported at Water Planning Matters, the municipal drinking water for Blaine and Birch Bay is unsafe due to naturally-occurring arsenic contamination that frequently reaches the legal limit of 10 parts per billion. Long term ingestion of arsenic contaminated water can cause cancer, cardiovascular disease, and incident stroke.

While 10 parts per billion is the legal limit, as little as 5 parts per billion is now known to cause significant reductions in working memory and perceptional reasoning in schoolchildren. Exposure in early life is linked to permanent decreases in IQ and impaired brain development. 

When the land is disturbed, arsenic is "unlocked" from the soil and flushed into the water table and our drinking water. The City of Blaine stormwater designs for the proposed Creekside manufactured home park over the municipal aquifer do not have the capacity to remove quinone, a highly-toxic tire wear chemical that travels with the arsenic into our city wells.

The Creekside public record acknowledges the difficult geology: dense clay, shallow groundwater, poor drainage, and fast-flowing groundwater heading straight for city wells. It also confirms the project overlaps with Well 9's capture zone. What it does not show is a project-specific analysis of how mass deforestation, grading, stormwater, and nitrate loading could push arsenic into our municipal wells.

The protection of our drinking water is not a suggestion; it is a shared legal mandate. The Department of Health (DOH) holds explicit regulatory oversight responsibility to ensure public water systems are protected from contamination under WAC 246-290-135.

Whatcom County maintains overarching statutory responsibilities to protect critical aquifer recharge areas and groundwaters under the Revised Code of Washington (RCW).