Document Kz68VrbN9bpx7LNq2Mp57Lb5X

The Salter Report * Environmental Authorities Continue to Study Lake Hartwell BY CHARLES SALTER ' Tbe voviranocsUl nightmare that hit Lake Hartwell like a holt oat of the hoe ttfoctaaately wool go awajr with the dawn of a new day. f -** In this technological age, we bare grown . X accastomed to seeing oar problems and HI* T } nesses solved or cured by computers, brfl- | liaat minds of scientists and many wonder l^f^Jdnss. ' ~A Cntaminated fish in tbe Twelve MUe it*--- T\Credt area of Lake Hartwell and the pee* i lenee of a Uxie dtenucal In tbe mud on tbe : {bottom of tbe W,100-acre reservoir are p. likely to be aroand for a few year&even if ^Hno more of tbe PCB (polychlorinated W- ,,t>'' phenyls) is released into tbe water by an -- "-'industry. oinwtdar Tbe Environmental Protection Agency, the Georgia Game and Fish Divisioa, state Environmental Protection Division and Sooth Carolina wildlife authorities are continuing to check samples of fish taken from a non* b*r of areas o( Lake Hartwefl. Biologists warned fishermen oof to eat fish caught in the Twelve Vile Creek arm of the reservoir. The Army Corps of Engineers said fish caught throughout tbe lake shoiHl not be eaten until further notice. Jack Ravan, regional administrator of the EPA, said the PCBs are believed to have bees used by an industry in that area of Lake Hartwell lor three to five years, al though tbe contamination of fish was not discovered until a little over a week ago. Tbe chemicals could possibly remain at dangerous levels In the mud on the bottom of the lake for three or more years, Ravan said. Fish already contaminated can be expected to survive several more yean in this environment, hot it's a hit de pressing to realize that fish healthy today are likely to con sume smaller fish with toxic levels of the PCS in tbe weeks and months to cone. Ravan said he didn't ace how In ceeld assure people about the fish being safe for human comumptien until checks of fish in the affected area show tbe PCB b no longer present Five parts per imltiwi b the maximum health standard set by the u. S. Food and Drug Admints- uatiwx Tests on fish bun Tsdve 16k Creek revealed me tratioBS of PCB ranging from three to U parts per raiBioa. A Sooth Carolina health department spokesman said this past week that tbe PCB compounds are suspected hi cancer of the liver, cancer of tbe gall bladder and tome related diseases, but conclusive evidence of sack a link hasn't been determined. Leon Kirkland, chief of fisheries of the Georgia Game and Fish Division, said fish checked below the M5 bridge and below the S. C. 25 spaa did not approach the toxic levels, but further sampling will continue. Kirkland suspects the PCB will cause stunting of fish and mortality of tbe little fry. "Those contaminated fish would he alive in the lake two to ten years," Kirkland sahL "Tbe bigger tbe fish, the more the concentration of the PCB. It will settle out in the * bottom of the lake and will be around for many years." Tbe biologist said he would hate to guess whether the PCB would remain at dangerous levels on the take bottom as long as mercury in other lakes and rivers. PD "PCB b relatively insoluble, and that's tbe reason it would be around lor a long time in the bottom mod," Kirkland said "I would suspect nobody knows how much it moves in the food chain." Ia the TWeln Mila Creek arm a< tbe lake, toxic levels . of tbe PCB acre found ia mate lnrgemocth bom and other sireahtc predators, adult gizzard shad, channel catlixb and b number ot paafish. Kirkland aaid la tome samples of crapple, Ike PCB Maul was not as high. . "One walleye bad a bigk eeaceatratioo.' ka said. *Wa would like to look at all species of fish and conUntK to lake samples. This is a limited number of samples so far." Kirkland said examples id PCB concentrations in fish taken below the 149 bridge iocbode a largemooth bass. 17 parts per nuilkm; a channel catfish, 1J; a bream, 1.0 ppm; and a crappie, j ppm. Leonard Ledbetter, chief of the Environmental Protec tion Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Re sources, pointed rat that PCBs are widespread in the envi- roomeattoday, hot for a number of years there was ao knowledge or concern on the port of tbe FDA and other regulatory agencies that the PCBs would be a potential problem. In many cases, tbe PCBs were identified in lab tests as DOT. Six or seven years ago, a South Georgia farmer was told that DDT was found in bis cows' milk, and he insisted be never bad used DDT. Ledbetter said tbe abstain* later was fossd to be PCBs. Tbe PCBs have been ased far a mother of yean in tbe manufacture at electrical transformers and capacitors, but in tbe case of tbe South Georgia farmer tbe PCBs wen in polyethelene sheeting, Ledbetter said. Within the past six to eight months, the FDA contacted suppliers ot PCB and listed the users of the compounds in the various states. Ledbetter said he has conferred with two users of PCBs ia Georgia to make sun that none was being released into the environment `The real key is to keep it out of the environment end out of the pathway to man,'' Ledbetter said, pouting out that when the source of contamination halts its release, the concentration Wwt iWwjbm Ledbetter said it has been established that fish accu mulate the PCBs over a period of time. Theoretically, families at some fishermen could ban aafmw eaten numerous tones near a period of months many fish with 1 cmcestratioal at PCBs jot below the maximum of five ppm allowed by the FDA, with less potential harm to their health than persons who ait fish with 1J-1S ppm or men at tin chemical In only a taw Tbe U. S. Army Corps of Engineers office in Savannah said fishing activity on Lake Hartwell lias slewed down to practically a standstill* sinct the discovery of toxic levels ot PCBs In lisa ia the Twelve Wile Cheek arm ia Pickens Camaty. South Combos. 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