Clean water tops list of county health issues:
Board of Health survey shows residents concerned with number of septic systems
By DANA GREEN Staff Reporter
Ravalli County residents are surrounded by water - and they want to make sure that water stays clean, according to a recent environmental health survey.
Water concerns ranked highest in the survey, conducted by the Ravalli County Board of Health. Dubbed the Protocol for Assessing Community Excellence in Environmental Health, the survey was funded by a Centers for Disease Control grant, with the goal of finding out which public health issues most concerned local residents.
A dozen Montana counties and two tribes, Ft. Peck and Crow, received $12,000 grants to participate in the pilot project.
Health assessment team members took the survey to farmer's markets, churches, businesses, and homes throughout the county.
The top concern listed by county residents was degradation of groundwater from pollution sources, according to a final report on the survey's results.
Valley residents are concerned about the potential impact of an ever-growing number of individual septic systems on the valley's groundwater, according to the report.
Other high-ranking issues included proximity of wells to septic systems, pesticide use, lack of affordable health care and burning of man-made materials - the top air quality concern among Bitterrooters.
Overall, water quality ranked higher than any other environmental health problem - and that does not surprise County Environmental Health Director Theresa Blazicevich.
"We get a fair number of phone calls," Blazicevich said. "We tell people who are concerned to test their wells, but if they do have a problem, it's often too late to prevent it."
Special testing for pesticide pollution is also more expensive than standard groundwater tests, Blazicevich said. The Department of Agriculture, which controls proper pesticide use, has plans to conduct pesticide monitoring in the Bitterroot Valley, according to Blazicevich.
The assessment team intends to take action on two of the top concerns: water quality and illegal burning. Team members plan to lobby county commissioners to make illegal burning a fineable offense.
They will also encourage a ban on phosphates in detergents sold in Ravalli County, according to the report.
Reporter Dana Green can be reached at 363-3300 or at dgreen@ravallirepublic.com
|
|
|
Reader's Comments >>