I was stunned when I heard that the city of Simi Valley was planning on using the water contaminated by one of America's worst nuclear meltdowns, the Santa Susana Field Lab, for supplemental drinking water. And I wasn’t the only one. Dozens of concerned parents and residents protested at Simi’s City Council last Tuesday to express their outrage over the proposal.
"I think it's criminal, personally," Dawn Kowalski said boldly to the City Council.
“When I was four I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer...and my doctors firmly believed it was a result of the contamination at the Santa Susana field lab,” said Jessica Geselle, a 39 year resident of Simi Valley.
The thing that’s so confounding is that Simi is well aware of the radioactive meltdowns and the irresponsible disposal of chemicals used for the rocket testing done there. They’re also aware that Mark Malinowski, of the state Department of Toxic Substances Control, has publicly stated;
“The [Santa Susana Field Lab contaminated] groundwater cleanup will take... decades, possibly centuries to complete...groundwater is an extremely difficult thing to clean up. This contamination we’re dealing with did not happen overnight.”
The EPA report on Santa Susana proved that the groundwater is contaminated with radioactive material such as Tritium and carcinogenic chemicals such as Trichloroethene (TCE), Vinyl Chloride, and Perchlorate, and toxic N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA). All of these chemicals are associated with rocket fuel or rocket cleaning products – and incredibly dangerous to humans.
“If you aren’t going to think about the children and families, then think about the lawsuits,” my good friend Maggie Compton told the Simi City Council on Tuesday. Her family is well known in Simi. Her husband is a police officer and her son, Ryan, is a two-time leukemia survivor. Not only are Ryan and my daughter Grace both cancer survivors, they are friends too.
Maggie and I both came to the meeting because we understand what’s at risk – we’ve already lived one of the worst possible outcomes of this situation. Giving children toxic drinking water, even in small amounts, is extremely dangerous. We wanted the City of Simi Valley to understand that our kids are worth more than money.
Hopefully, they’ll listen.
Watch the news report on our protest.
References about our groundwater contamination: