Chemicals in Corexit dispersant turn up in Homosassa, Florida swimming pool.
Over a month after BP claimed to have stopped using Corexit in the Gulf of Mexico in response to the BP oil spill (Unified Command claims to have stopped using the dispersant July 19), the chemical has once again turned up in an unlikely place: a backyard swimming pool in Homosassa, Fla., owned by the Barbara Schebler family.
Since May the family had been experiencing rashes and severe diarrhea. Unable to determine the cause of these problems and concerned that there may be environmental factors adding to the equation, the Scheblers sent water samples from their backyard pool to be tested by Analytical Chemical Testing Laboratory, Inc. in Mobile, Ala., which also tested and detected Corexit in water samples collected from the home of Cotton Bayou, Ala., resident Margaret Long. The test results from the Schebler family's pool, which can be viewed here, revealed the samples to contain 50.3 ppm of Corexit's 2-butoxyethanol.
From FloridaOilSpillLaw.com:
The question remains, how did this chemical find its way into the Schebler's pool in such a high concentration?
"At night we would hear very low aircraft, including helicopters. We figured they were just heading to help out in the Gulf," and Mrs. Schebler added that she was told, "The prevailing winds from the Gulf are easterly - and when they spray, it is airborne - and that we are right in the path of those winds." It was also noted that, "We had alot of rain here before my husband got sick, and wondered what was going onWe had been having daily downpours in July."
There is no way to be sure at this point. Though she stated, "Friends a few miles away are having [a] similar situation. They are now thinking of getting their water tested."
As for the family's current physical well being, "We both still have rashes that will not go away if we stop the cream we were given by our doctor. Warren still gets diarrhea on and off this never happened with this frequency before."
The full article at FloridaOilSpillLaw.com can be read here.