Maui plans ‘blind’ study
testing Upcountry water
WAILUKU » State health officials are moving forward with a scientific study to investigate complaints that a corrosion inhibitor in drinking water has been causing allergic reactions in some people living in Upcountry Maui.
Dr. Lorrin Pang, the state health administrator on Maui, said his office plans to conduct a "blind" study in which residents are given water with the corrosion inhibitor phosphoric acid for three weeks and water without the additive for another three weeks.
Pang said the 50 participants who will be bathing with the water will not know which water has the phosphoric acid.
The test is expected to take place sometime in the summer.
Phosphoric acid is added into the Upcountry drinking water from Kanaio to Upper Haiku to coat pipes and reduce lead leaching into the system.
But health officials have received complaints from more than 150 people about skin rashes and throat and eye irritation since phosphoric acid was added in July 2001.
Pang said while there have been a number of complaints from residents living in Upper Kula, health officials have also received complaints from residents in other areas.
He estimates more than 9 percent of the 33,000 people living Upcountry have the symptoms.
Pang said before proceeding with the study, he needs authorization from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to use some $50,000 to $70,000 in EPA money.
The county Department of Water Supply is conducting a separate study to determine if adjusting the acidity of water can reduce its lead content.
County water spokeswoman Jacky Takakura said the study, conducted by professor Marc Edwards, of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, is expected to be completed by the end of July.
She said a report about Edward's study is scheduled to be available by August.
In the county's latest studies of Upcountry water this year, tests indicated the lead levels met federal standards for safe drinking water, Takakura said.
Lead levels have in the past exceeded federal standards in some areas, including Upper Kula, forcing county water officials to put corrosion inhibitors in the water.