JAMES
ROBERT DEAL, ATTORNEY
425-771-1110
425-776-8081 (fax)
REQUEST FOR DOCUMENTS UNDER THE
PUBLIC RECORDS ACT
July
31, 2008
Attention: Tom Thetford
Alderwood Water District
Attention: Donna J. Cross, President
Sent by Certified
Mail
Dear Water
Commissions,
This letter constitutes a Request for Documents under the Public Records Act.
The Public Records Act, RCW 42.56.080,
Public
records shall be available for inspection and copying, and agencies shall, upon
request for identifiable public records, make them promptly available to any
person including, if applicable, on a partial or installment basis as records
that are part of a larger set of requested records are assembled or made ready
for inspection or disclosure. Agencies shall not deny a request for
identifiable public records solely on the basis that the request is overbroad.
Agencies shall not distinguish among persons requesting records, and such
persons shall not be required to provide information as to the purpose for the
request except to establish whether inspection and copying
would violate RCW 42.56.070(9)
or other statute which exempts or prohibits disclosure of specific information
or records to certain persons. Agency facilities shall be made available to any
person for the copying of public records except when and to the extent that
this would unreasonably disrupt the operations of the agency. Agencies shall
honor requests received by mail for identifiable public records unless exempted
by provisions of this chapter.
[2005
c 483 § 1; 2005 c 274 § 285; 1987 c 403 § 4; 1975 1st ex.s.
c 294 § 15; 1973 c 1 § 27 (Initiative Measure No. 276, approved November 7,
1972). Formerly RCW 42.17.270.]
Reviser's note: This
section was amended by 2005 c 274 § 285 and by 2005 c 483 § 1, each without
reference to the other. Both amendments are incorporated in the publication of
this section under RCW 1.12.025(2).
For rule of construction, see RCW 1.12.025(1).
Intent -- Severability --
1987 c 403: See notes following RCW 42.56.050.
Intent -- 1987 c 403: "The legislature intends to restore the law
relating to the release of public records largely to that which existed prior
to the Washington Supreme Court decision in "In Re Rosier," 105 Wn.2d 606 (1986). The intent of this
legislation is to make clear that: (1) Absent statutory provisions to the
contrary, agencies possessing records should in responding to requests for
disclosure not make any distinctions in releasing or not releasing records
based upon the identity of the person or agency which requested the records,
and (2) agencies having public records should rely only upon statutory
exemptions or prohibitions for refusal to provide public records. Further, to
avoid unnecessary confusion, "privacy" as used in RCW 42.17.255 is
intended to have the same meaning as the definition given that word by the
Supreme Court in "Hearst v. Hoppe,"
90 Wn.2d 123, 135 (1978)." [1987 c 403 § 1.]
These statutes say that delivery of documents
should be comprehensive and not limited an any way except as provided by
specific statutory exceptions. The underlying philosophy behind this law is
that I and people like me voted for the people who hired you. You therefore
work for me and people like me. “We the people” have the right to take a look
at what you are doing.
I live in the Alderwood
Water District, but Alderwood buys water from Everett
Utilities, and so I am sending this to both of you. I have no objection if the
two Commissions cooperate in answering this Request. In some cases Alderwood will have no records to deliver, because
When I refer
to the “agency” I am referring to Everett Utilities and Alderwood
Water District. When I refer to “documents,” I am referring to documents,
reports, letters, memos, e-mails, or other writings or photographs or diagrams
in the possession of your staff, your experts, or the experts you hire to test
Water District drinking water and fluoridation materials; documents and reports
you receive or are accessible to you from municipalities, agencies, other
jurisdictions, laboratories, and suppliers of fluoridation materials. The term
documents includes any web sites or documents on web sites which you rely on
regarding fluoridation, pipe maintenance, and water treatment in general.
Please
provide the following documents:
1. Provide documents identifying the commercial
source or sources from which your agency purchases or has purchased
fluoridation materials in the last five years, including the names of companies
providing said materials, their addresses, their telephone numbers, their
e-mail addresses, and the names of contact persons who represent said
companies.
Answer
1) PDF files of bundled Purchase Orders, Certificates of Analysis, and shipping paperwork.
2. Provide documents identifying the
specific content of fluoridation materials which your agency adds to our
drinking water, indicating which specific minerals, compounds, and trace
elements are contained in the fluoridation materials.
Answer:
2) Hydrofluosilicic Acid Bid Specification and Analysis of June 2007 delivery.
3. Provide documents identifying the cost of
and annual budget for fluoridation materials and equipment purchased over the
last five years and the initial cost of equipment to fluoridate the system.
Answer:
3) Not WFP Document
4. Provide documents identifying,
quantifying, and/or discussing any increase or decrease in the cost of repair
and maintenance of equipment resulting from fluoridation over the past five
years and in the future.
Answer:
4) There have been no changes in repair costs due to fluoridation.
5. Provide documents identifying the means
by which fluoridation materials have been delivered to the agency over the past
five years, including bills of lading, bills of shipping, billing documents,
and all correspondence, memos, and other documents relating to the
transportation and delivery of fluoridation materials, including documents
relating to spill prevention and cleanup.
5) Emails regarding shortage of HFS. Fluoride facility Operations and Maintenance manual. 1992 letter to Sno-County Health regarding design criteria to assure safe delivery of fluoride. 1990 pre-engineering report by to plant operators who visited a number of fluoridation facilities to determine what works and what doesn’t.
6. Provide documents identifying the
locations where the agency inserts fluoridation materials into water.
Answer:
6) Schematic of plant showing chemical feed points.
7. Give me and my associates a tour the
facilities where fluoridation takes place so that we can take observe the
fluoridation process and take photographs. The law says that “public records shall be available for inspection,” and the fluoridation
facilities themselves are “public records” in the broadest sense of the term.
Answer:
7) No public tours will be conducted until early 2010 due to major construction activity at the plant.
8. Provide documents identifying the
protocol for adding fluoridation materials to drinking water, including but not
limited to mixing and dispensing fluoridation materials into drinking water and
keeping the fluoridation materials uniformly mixed over time and distance.
Provide documents discussing any instances where fluoride content has not been
consistent throughout the water system.
Answer:
8) See #6. HFS, soda ash, and liquid sodium hypochlorite are added into a weir box just prior to entry into the 5 million gallon clearwell. They are mixed as they tumble over the weir and are further dispersed through diffusion and flow patterns in the clearwell. As the rate of flow through the clearwell increases, more mixing energy is generated. Depending on plant production, the treated water takes from 20 minutes to two hours to traverse the clearwell. At the extremely low concentrations at which treatment chemicals are fed, they are completely dissolved.
The only time that I am
aware of that the fluoride residual in the
During
the restart of fluoridation operations following a shut down due to chemical
shortage in August 2006, the EMC group did monitor fluoride as tracer at
numerous locations in
9. Provide documents which show the presence
of all elements and chemicals in fluoridation materials, that is assays made of
drinking water immediately after fluoridation materials have been added to
drinking water.
Answer:
9) Not WFP Document
10. Provide documents which show the presence
of all elements and compounds in raw fluoridation materials, that is assays
made of raw fluoridation materials as they come out of the tanker, before they
are added to drinking water and are diluted.
Note: I am not asking just for results
of tests done on the water after fluoridation materials are added, but also
tests or assays done on the fluoridation materials themselves before they are
added to the water. An assay done on raw fluoridation materials right out of
the tanker truck can do a much more accurate job of identifying and quantifying
the many elements and chemicals in fluoridation materials. Various reasonably
priced tests are sensitive only down to certain concentration levels, so a test
done on raw fluoridation materials will reveal trace minerals and chemicals
with much greater accuracy than one done on fluoridation materials after they
are diluted in drinking water.
Answer:
10) Cascade
11. Provide documents which would indicate
whether there are any trace amounts of aluminum, arsenic, antimony, asbestos,
cadmium, lead, mercury, radium, radon, polonium, barium, beryllium, thallium,
or uranium included in said fluoridation materials and the quantities and
concentrations of them.
Answer:
11) See #10
12. Provide documents listing the specific
contaminants, elements, and compounds for which your agency or your
sub-contractors currently test and have tested for over the last five years,
along with your protocols for testing.
Answer:
12) Not WFP Document
13. Provide documents indentifying the levels
of various contaminants, elements, and compounds for which you test and have
tested over the last five years (the levels below which elements or compounds,
even if present are not reported as being present, and which are typically
marked “u” on assays) along with the maximum level which you consider and have
considered acceptable.
Answer:
13) Not WFP Document
13) Information on acceptable levels of
contaminants.
Note:
USEPA website with listings of regulated contaminants and their limits
(MCL & MCLG).
http://www.epa.gov/OGWDW/contaminants/index.html
Washington State Dept of Health, Office of Drinking Water webpage with
link to the state regulations governing drinking water quality (WAC-246-290) in
Class A systems. See “Part 4, Water Quality” for contaminant level standards.
http://www.doh.wa.gov/ehp/dw/Publications/Group_A_Regulations.htm
14. Provide documents prepared over the last
five years showing the results of tests done by your agency for the
contaminants, elements, and compounds referred to in the previous two
paragraphs.
Answer:
14) Not WFP Document
15. Provide documents identifying: the
materials added to control acidity or pH levels of drinking water, the quantity
of such materials added, the pH level sought by adding such materials, the pH
level obtained throughout the water system as a result of adding such
materials, the means by which the pH level is monitored, where the pH level is
monitored, and how frequently the pH level is monitored.
Answer:
15) Soda ash Purchase Orders are included on the disc. We target a pH of 7.4 to 8.0 leaving the plant. We are out of compliance with State requirements if our pH is below 7.4 for more than 5% of the daily averages. This minimum pH target was established during studies conducted by an engineering firm prior to implementation of the Copper-Lead Rule. Distribution pH’s run higher due to contact with transmission and distribution piping.
15) pH
levels throughout the distribution system can be found at 26 sites on the
Distribution System worksheet. This sampling program was started in 3/2005.
16. Regarding materials added to lessen acidity
of drinking water, produce documents identifying the specific materials added
and discussing efforts taken or planned to keep these materials disbursed
evenly throughout the drinking water system.
Answer:
16) See #8, #15
17. Provide documents identifying any
mechanisms known to the agency by which materials added to lessen acidity of
drinking water can be or are precipitated out or rendered less effective at
reducing the acidity of the fluoridated water.
Answer:
17 – 29) Not WFP Document
TO: File.
FROM: Mark
Weeks, Process Analyst.
DATE: September
22, 2008.
SUBJECT: Item
#17 PIA request, Mr. James Deal.
The City of
18. Fluoride dissolves lead. The use of lead
and lead solder in plumbing was not outlawed until 1986. In light of this fact,
provide documents identifying or discussing lead levels in the water system,
including lead levels in the water in buildings built before 1986, including
school buildings built before 1986.
Answer:
17 – 29) Not WFP Document
19. Provide documents identify homes and
buildings in the area served by the Water District known to have lead plumbing
or plumbing containing lead solder.
Answer:
17 – 29) Not WFP Document
20. Provide documents comparing lead levels in
raw untreated water, lead levels in fluoridation materials, and lead levels the
water in buildings built before 1986.
Answer:
17 – 29) Not WFP Document
21. Provide documents giving any explanation
you may have for why lead levels in water in the pipes in buildings built
before 1986 is or would be higher than in raw water and fluoridation materials.
See: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/291566_lead08ww.html.
Answer:
17 – 29) Not WFP Document
22. There are scientific and scholarly reports
which conclude that fluoride is harmful to fish or repels fish. Provide documents
which address this issue.
Answer:
17 – 29) Not WFP Document
23. Provide the written order or prescription in
your possession or available to your agency from a medical or other
professional which authorizes the Water District to add fluoridation materials
to Water District water, and/or which specifies the amount to be added, and/or
which specifies the specific fluoridation chemical to be added.
Answer:
17 – 29) Not WFP Document
24. Provide the written order or prescription
in your possession or available to your agency from a medical or other
professional which grants written assurance to the Water District that the
addition of fluoridation materials to the water is safe for the general
population and for special populations such as babies and those with thyroid
and kidney disease.
Answer:
17 – 29) Not WFP Document
25. Provide documents identifying agencies,
laboratories, or other organizations from which you obtain on an ongoing basis or
have obtained in the past or which you now can obtain information pertaining to
the requests and questions posed in this document.
Answer:
17 – 29) Not WFP Document
Items 25
and 26. Information about fluoridation and drinking water.
Snohomish
Health District webpage on water fluoridation:
http://www.snohd.org/snoOralHealth/ohFluoridationWtr.htm
DOH
Office of Drinking Water homepage
http://www.doh.wa.gov/ehp/dw/
USEPA
Office of Groundwater and Drinking Water homepage
http://www.epa.gov/OGWDW/
American
Water Works Association homepage
http://www.awwa.org/index.cfm
American
Water Works Association Research Foundation homepage
http://www.awwarf.org/
Centers
for Disease Control fluoridation webpage (also can be linked from SHD webpage
listed above)
http://www.cdc.gov/OralHealth/
World
Health Organization
http://www.who.int/en/
NSF
http://www.nsf.org/
http://www.nsf.org/Certified/PwsChemicals/ (link to Std 60)
Analytical Laboratories
Note: Except for the EEL for which method detection
limit (MDL) data was provided, contact the contract laboratories directly to
obtain their MDL data.
4027 4th NE
425-257-8230
http://www.everettwa.org/default.aspx?ID=832
Edge Analytical Laboratory
http://www.edgeanalytical.com/pages/services/drinking_water/
(800) 755-9295 toll-free
(360) 757-1400 main
(360) 757-1402 fax
http://www.mwhlabs.com/testList.asp
MWH Laboratories
750 Royal Oaks Drive #100
Monrovia, CA 91016
(800) 566-LABS
Fax: (626) 386-1101
mwhlabs@mwhglobal.com
LabCor, Inc. (Microbiological
analysis for Giardia and Cryptosporidium)
http://www.labcor.net/microbiological/#Crypto
Lab/Cor, Inc.
Phone/Fax:
Phone: 206-781-0155
Fax: 206-789-8424
Email:
General email: mail@labcor.net
Information on Analytical Methods
USEPA Analytical methods
http://www.epa.gov/safewater/methods/
Standard Methods for the Examination of Water
and Wastewater;
American Water Works Association/Water Environment Foundation/American Public
Health Association (AWWA/WEF/APHA)
http://www.standardmethods.org/
26. Provide a copy of NSF/ANSI Standards 60 and
61.
Answer:
17 – 29) Not WFP Document
27. Provide copies of insurance invoices
showing how much the Water District paid for insurance for the last two years
and provide copies of policies covering the Water District, showing policy
limits, endorsements, and exclusions.
Answer:
17 – 29) Not WFP Document
28. Provide any documents relating to how the
decision was made to fluoridate our water, including who campaigned in favor of
and against fluoridation.
Answer:
17 – 29) Not WFP Document
29. Provide any written communications between Alderwood Water District regarding water fluoridation going
back to when the decision was made to fluoridate our water.
Answer:
17 – 29) Not WFP Document
I am willing
to pay fees for this request up to a maximum of $40.00. If you estimate that
the fees will exceed this limit, please inform me first. I request a waiver of
all fees for this request. Disclosure of the requested information to me is in
the public interest.
In order to
reduce copy costs and save paper and time, I request that the documents sought
be provided as much as possible on a CD-ROM, instead of on paper.
You may call
me at 425-771-1110, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., if necessary, to discuss any aspect of
my request.
Sincerely,
James
Robert Deal
Counselor
at Law
Notes:
Follow-up
questions regarding the answers to this information request should be directed
to Mark Weeks, 425-257-8878, mweeks@ci.everett.wa.us.