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Drinking Water Order Issued to Symms Fruit Ranch

Release Date: 8/9/2001
Contact Information: Shannon Cooper
[email protected]
(206) 553-2582

August 9, 2001 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 01--024


Owners did little after state notified them of 49 violations

The Symms Fruit Ranch of Caldwell, Idaho, has been ordered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to operate its public water system in accordance with state and federal drinking water requirements for testing and monitoring. Prior to the EPA’s May 24, 2001, action, the state of Idaho notified the Symms Fruit Ranch of 49 violations of drinking water regulations.

The Symms Fruit Ranch operates a system that provides drinking water for approximately 90 people for at least six months every year, and therefore is legally required to provide adequate testing, record-keeping and appropriate health safeguards as specified in the federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). The EPA order follows a request by the Department of Environmental Quality for assistance in helping the Symms Fruit Ranch get on the road to compliance.

Since 1996, the state has notified the ranch’s owners that they have violated the national primary (health-related) drinking water standards 49 times. On May 16, 2000, the state issued a notice indicating that the water system was in “disapproval” status under the Idaho rules for public water systems.

The Safe Drinking Water Act, established to protect the quality of drinking water in the U.S., focuses on all above-ground or underground sources that are or may be used as drinking water supplies. The Act requires the EPA to establish standards of purity and requires all owners or operators of public water systems to comply with primary standards.

According to Mike Cox, manager of the EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Program in Seattle, the first priority in operating a public water system is protecting human health.

“Safe drinking water is something we all take for granted,” Cox said. “By failing to operate a public water system lawfully, water providers can be putting people’s lives at risk. Safe Drinking Water Act requirements have been enacted by Congress for a reason. I hope this action sends a clear message that the EPA and the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality take these cases very seriously.”

The EPA order includes the following requirements:

The system must be monitored for total coliform bacteria at least once every calendar quarter that water is provided to the public;

Within 30 days of the effective date of this order, the system shall be sampled for antimony, barium, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, cyanide, fluoride, mercury, nickel, selenium, thallium and several organic and inorganic chemicals. Such sampling shall be repeated once every three (3) years thereafter, as required by law; and

Within fourteen(14) days of the effective date of the order, the ranch shall issue a public notice describing all the violations described in the order in a daily newspaper, informing users of the system of each violation and provide information enabling them to take precautions to protect their – and their family’s – health.

Failure to comply with any term of the EPA order may subject the Symms Fruit Ranch to an administrative penalty of up to $25,000, or a civil penalty of up to $27,500 per day of violation.