Planning a trip to Mexico or KVSP? Don't drink the water!

Arsenic levels too high in Kern Valley State Prison's drinking water

By Michael Rothfeld, LA Times

Reporting from Delano...the state opened its newest prison in 2005 with a modern design, cutting-edge security features and a serious environmental problem...drinking water pumped from two wells at Kern Valley State Prison contained arsenic, a known cause of cancer, in amounts far higher than a federal safety standard soon to take effect.

Yet today, nearly three years after missing the government's deadline to reduce the arsenic levels, the state has no concrete plans or funding to do so. Officials spent $629,000 to design a filtration system and then decided not to build it, while neglecting to inform staff and inmates that they were consuming contaminated water.

After the prison finally posted notices last April on orders from the state Department of Public Health, the inmates continued drinking the water, under protest.

"We have no choice," said Larry Tillman, 38, who was serving time for burglary. "We should at the very least receive bottled water, or truck in water from another city."

Most correctional officers at Kern Valley State Prison take bottled water to work -- some say they prefer it anyway -- but administrators created a form letter to reject requests for alternative water from some of the 4,800 inmates...(Full text at LA Times)

Bear in mind, the high levels of arsenic in question are the same levels the locals were consuming before the prisons came along. So, although the NEW standard declares those levels excessive, and no arsenic is an obvious ideal, the TRUTH is CDCR is right...

The administrators say the health hazard from arsenic, a chemical used in industry and farming, is insignificant, and they promise to filter the water some time in the next few years.

"It's not that major of an issue," said Kelly Harrington, the prison's new warden. (LA Times)

Given the opportunity, the majority of the stakeholders would inject, ingest or inhale toxics in the wink of an eye. Apparently, arsenic-tainted water is to addicts as kryptonite is to Superman--we simply cannot expose otherwise healthy addicts to it.

In that context, it's just a matter of brief time before Mr. Kelso decides water purity is within the purview of HIS Office.