Rialto well #2 was closed due to high perchlorate count. (The Press-Enterprise/Rodrigo Pena)

A new report from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has some federal lawmakers again calling on federal environmental officials to create a national drinking water standard for perchlorate, an ingredient of rocket fuel and fireworks that has contaminated Inland supplies.

The FDA study looked at 285 common foods and beverages, and found that 75 percent of them contain some amount of perchlorate. That, says Penny Newman, an Inland activist, underscores the pressing need to rid perchlorate from Inland groundwater supplies.

"For it to be that pervasive is really scary," said Newman, executive director of the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice in Glen Avon. "It's kind of bolstering the idea that you don’t just have to have contaminated water to get perchlorate contamination. But for communities who are already drinking some level of perchlorate, this just adds to it."

The findings of the FDA study underscore the need for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to set a national drinking standard, said Rep. Hilda L. Solis, D-El Monte, who has authored legislation to do just that.

Other lawmakers voiced their frustration, too.

"For almost a decade, the Environmental Protection Agency has refused to set a drinking water standard for perchlorate, opting instead for further study," added U.S. Rep. Albert Wynn, D-MD. Wynn is the chairman of the Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials.

Another report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that 35 states have communities in which perchlorate contaminates drinking water supplies at levels of 4 parts per billion or higher.

In the Inland region, Rialto, Colton, Fontana, Redlands, Riverside, Corona and others have some level of perchlorate contamination in their groundwater supplies. The water is either treated or blended to bring the concentration down to what is considered a safe level by the state.

But even the state standard, at 6 parts per billion, is too high given the pervasiveness of perchlorate in other food items, Newman suggested.

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