Kunia pollutants by the numbers
| • | Water at Kunia still polluted after 21 years |
By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Science Writer
The Kunia pollutants are a Scrabble board of chemical names: EDB, DBCP, TCP and DCP.
Each was used on the Del Monte pineapple plantation in Central O'ahu primarily to kill nematodes, the little worms that live in pineapple roots and damage the plants. All are considered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to be hazardous in very small doses. Information on the pesticides is contained in state and federal documents on the Kunia Superfund site:
• DBCP, or 1,2-dibromo-3-chloropropane, is a soil fumigant used for pineapple nematodes that has been banned since 1985. Its effects on humans include kidney damage, cancer and reproductive problems. The maximum permissible contaminant level for drinking water is .04 parts per billion. It was found in the perched Kunia water at 78,000 parts per billion. The deep Kunia well had levels from .66 to 1.4 parts per billion.
• EDB, or ethylene dibromide, banned since 1984, was used in agriculture for insect control. In Hawai'i, it was used on papaya crops for controlling fruit fly larvae and as a fumigant to kill nematodes in pineapple. Exposure to EDB has been associated with cancer and liver, stomach, heart, kidney, testes, lung and reproductive problems. The maximum permissible contaminant level is .04 parts per billion. It was found in the Kunia perched water at up to 6,800 parts per billion. In the deep Kunia well, amounts ranged from undetectable up to .22 parts per billion.
• DCP, or 1,2-dichloropropane, is used to kill insects in stored grain and as a component in unleaded gasoline. At Kunia it was used to kill nematodes. It is associated with cancer and damage to the liver, kidneys, bladder and other organs. The maximum allowable contaminant level for drinking water is 5 parts per billion, but it was found in the perched water at Kunia at levels as high as 7,200 parts per billion.
• TCP, or 1,2,3-trichloropropane, has been used as a gasoline additive and a soil fumigant. It has been associated with cancer and reproductive problems in laboratory animals. There is no federal maximum permissible contaminant level, but the allowable state level is .80 parts per billion. It was found in perched Kunia water at 55 parts per billion, and in the deep well from undetectable to 1 part per billion.
The chemicals benzene and Lindane also were found in the perched well, but not the deep well.
