This ongoing tragedy will make a good case study of public management of a community water source that hasn’t seemed to work at any level.
Pike poison plan includes carcinogens
Portola resident says putting chemicals in reservoir is 'insane.'
By Jane Braxton Little - Bee Correspondent
Published 12:00 am PDT Friday, April 27, 2007
A plan to poison northern pike in Lake Davis will use chemicals that include several known carcinogens but at levels so minute they will not threaten human health, state officials said this week.
Naphthalene and three different benzene compounds, all hydrocarbons identified as causing cancer, are among the components of the liquid rotenone formulation the California Department of Fish and Game plans to pump into the Plumas County reservoir to eradicate pike.
A Wednesday night workshop to discuss the environmental effects of the chemical treatment, scheduled for September, drew strong criticism from local residents who objected to putting carcinogenic chemicals into the reservoir, a backup source of drinking water for Portola and a neighboring community.
"I don't want to see any hydrocarbons in drinking water," said Dr. Chris Stanton, a Portola general practitioner.
Fish and Game officials are not happy about putting chemicals in drinking water, said Ed Pert, Fish and Game pike project manager.
