Star Staff Writer
Calhoun County residents are more worried by far about safe drinking water than about other environmental issues, a recent survey found.
The survey, conducted by a project at the Calhoun County Health Department, found that industrial and residential chemicals ranked as the next most worrisome issues.
People in every area of the county, from Piedmont to Oxford to western Anniston, are worried most about water, the preliminary survey results show. Exceptions were DeArmanville, where respondents chose industrial chemicals and pollutants; and Hobson City, where residents said they were most worried about outdoor air quality.
Allowed to choose their five biggest concerns from a list of more than 20, about 70 percent of the respondents countywide marked drinking water first.
Low levels of a solvent, TCE, used at the Anniston Army Depot and the former Fort McClellan have been found in local groundwater and in Anniston’s water supply.
The survey is part of an effort to identify local environmental concerns that may be overshadowed by high-profile problems such as PCBs or the chemical weapons incinerator.
“These aren’t existing issues, where we’re asking what do you think about the depot, or the contamination,” said Timothy Cherry, coordinator for the Protocol for Assessing Community Excellence in Environmental Health, or PACE-EH. “These concerns are genuinely from the community.”
Neither issue was on the survey. Respondents worried about those PCBs might mark off “Contaminated land/soil,” “Industrial chemicals and pollutants,” or fill in a space under “Other.”
“We really want to see, what are those other areas that are of concern,” Cherry said. “If we would have put PCB or the incinerator, they would have been the first things checked.”
PACE-EH is funded by the federal Centers for Disease Control.
The results are preliminary so far – just raw numbers, broken down by area, Cherry said.
Experts at University of Alabama at Birmingham will analyze the data further, and Cherry said the summary may be available at the start of the new year.
“Right now it’s broad,” said Charity Bentley-Richey, executive director of the West Anniston Foundation and a PACE-EH board member. “We’ll have to look further at the data to see if there’s anything that stands out for a certain community.”
It was not a scientific, random survey, Cherry said. The forms were given out by board members, and were made available at locations around the county, including the health department and some doctors’ offices. But the sample size – about 770 people completed forms – makes it representative, he said.
“Enough people have responded to the surveys to be able to say you reached the population,” he said.
The survey also asked about mental health, lifestyle choices, life skills and chronic health issues. The top responses, respectively, were alcohol and drug abuse, drinking and driving, lack of parenting skills, and cancer.
The PACE-EH board, which includes community leaders, health professionals and environmentalists, will use the survey results to create an action plan. The board also intends to discuss the results further with area residents.
“We discussed going back in and having some focus groups to allow residents to explain what their specific concerns are,” Cherry said.
Details about how PACE-EH would address the concerns are vague. Cherry said the board has identified the various water agencies in the area, and might work on an educational campaign.