Agenda - 06-13-2006-7a - Laserfiche WebLink

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ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: June 13, 2006 Action Agenda Item No. 7 ~A SUBJECT: Final Report Mill Creek Road Area Studies DEPARTMENT: Health PUBLIC HEARING: (YIN) No ATTACHMENT(S): Final Report Cancer Prevalence INFORMATION CONTACT: Assessment and Water Quality Rosemary Summers, 245-2411 Assessment far Mill Creek Road Area Tom Konsler, 245-2360 (under separate cover) Candice Watkins-Robinson, 245-2388 PURPOSE: To provide information to the Board on the results of the cancer prevalence assessment and water quality assessment in the Mill Creek Road area BACKGROUND: In the summer of 2005, environmental health staff was approached by two residents of the Mill Creek Road area with concerns about their water and the water in their neighborhood and the perception of a high incidence of cancer in their neighborhood. The Board of Commissioners authorized the Health Department to undertake a special water study and to gather data on frequency and type of cancer experienced in the neighborhood. The study design included 133 households and consisted of two separate and distinct parts: 1) total suite of water samples for each household that completed an application and; 2) a telephone survey to discover the incidence and type of cancers. The final report was completed earlier this month and presented to the community at their regular meeting on May 15. The results of the water studies show that the majority of the wells in the community have safe drinking water. There are some wells that have one or more problems with iron or coliform bacteria, however for most of the parameters measured, this community experienced the same or lower levels than Orange County as a whole experiences. The results of the cancer survey and cancer cluster assessment by the NC Cancer Registry indicates that the area is experiencing about the same incidence of cancer as the remainder of the Orange County population. There remain a few households that environmental health staff members are working with to further diagnose their particular well problem and determine what remedy might be available to the homeowner. FINANCIAL IMPACT: The Commissioners authorized $21,500 for the completion of these studies., Direct operational costs for the studies to date total $9,078. There may be some additional follow-up testing of individual wells that may require a small amount of funds. Approximately $12,000 will be returned to the social safety net/critical reserve find. The Department also kept track of the cost of staff time that was devoted to conducting this study;