SECOND REGULAR SESSION
House Concurrent Resolution No. 46
97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES ENGLISH (Sponsor), HUBBARD, BURNS, WALTON GRAY, BUTLER, PACE AND PETERS (Co-sponsors).
WHEREAS, each of us expect and deserve safe drinking water. In Missouri, our sources of water supply continue to be pure and plentiful; and
WHEREAS, water absorbs naturally occurring minerals as it travels over the surface of the land or through the ground, and may also pick up substances resulting from animal and human activity; and
WHEREAS, substances and contaminants that could be present in source water include: microbes, organic and inorganic chemicals, pesticides and herbicides, as well as dangerous radioactive materials; and
WHEREAS, exposure to radioactive particles and rays released by uranium and related materials increase cancer and other life-threatening diseases, and may cause genetic mutations and birth defects; and
WHEREAS, in 1973, contractors responsible for cleaning up Latty Avenue illegally dumped large amounts of Latty/Airport residues at West Lake Landfill in Bridgeton, after drying and shipping operations had been abandoned; and
WHEREAS, West Lake is in the Missouri River floodplain, and some of the buried radioactive wastes are already in contact with the groundwater that flows into the Missouri River, upstream from drinking water intakes for North St. Louis County and the City of St. Louis; and
WHEREAS, West Lake Landfill is adjacent to the Earth City levee, and since levees can fail, the radioactive materials at West Lake could be released in an uncontrolled manner into the Missouri River; and
WHEREAS, in order to ensure the safety of tap water, the federal Environmental Protection Agency, along with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, collaboratively regulates the amount of contaminants allowed in public drinking water to ensure the safety of Missouri public drinking water:
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the members of the House of Representatives of the Ninety-seventh General Assembly, Second Regular Session, the Senate concurring therein, hereby request American Water Company to quarterly test the drinking water at the North County Water Treatment Facility in order to assure the presence of dangerous contaminants are never present; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Chief Clerk of the Missouri House of Representatives be instructed to prepare properly inscribed copies of this resolution for American Water Company and Sara Parker Pauley, the Director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.
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