Last updated: July 10, 2012

Drinking water in the vicinity of the Raytheon facility at 1501 72nd Street North is supplied by the City of St. Petersburg from an entirely different source; therefore, drinking water is not impacted. Because the Florida Department of Environmental Protection uses a stringent and conservative drinking water standard as its default clean-up criteria, that standard has been used to provide test results from irrigation wells, however, these private irrigation wells do not supply drinking water. Additionally, they do not pose a threat to public health if used for irrigation purposes based on assessment of the currently available data by independent environmental consultants.

Q1. How is drinking water affected? What are the threats to public health including people and pets if they are using the water for irrigation purposes?
A1. All of these issues relate to groundwater drawn from private irrigation wells – not drinking water which the City of St. Petersburg provides from an entirely different source. These private irrigation wells are not a threat to public health if used for irrigation purposes, based on assessment of the currently available data by Raytheon’s independent environmental consultants.



 

Q2. Why is the company using a drinking water standard for water that is only intended to be used for irrigation purposes?
A2. Because the FDEP uses a stringent and conservative drinking water standard as its default clean-up criteria, that standard has been applied to test results, even though the affected water is only intended to be used for irrigation purposes.