Consumer advocate and environmental activist Erin Brockovich and her water expert, Robert Bowcock, having studied a wide array of claims of contamination of groundwater near Patrick Air Force Base, hope to find some solutions in advance of a Satellite Beach event happening at 2 p.m. Saturday at Kingdom Hate Worship Center next to Satellite Beach City Hall.
Bowcock, a California water consultant who helps Brockovich with a constant supply of similar cases nationwide, led a local week-long investigation including a closed-door meeting Sept. 17 at Satellite Beach City Hall with city officials. Bowcock has monitored our local situation for about three years.
“It’s one of those situations where multiple issues have converged over the years, and have overlapped and caused confusion for each other. I hope to be able to pull them apart and try to get them solved as individual problems,” Bowcock said last Saturday. The overall contamination concerns involve groundwater, drinking water, wastewater and the issue of degrading water quality in the Indian River Lagoon.
Bowcock confirmed that aerial photographs show military-related dump sites north of Satellite Beach in unincorporated South Patrick Shores – the suspect area for contaminants. Satellite City officials denied having knowledge of any such images.
He applauded growing efforts to collect data on cancer victims from the area, but warned against placing importance on establishing an official statistical “cancer cluster.”
“It doesn’t really exist and it doesn’t get you anything,’’ he said.
Concerning the Indian River Lagoon, Bowcock said he is less concerned about emergency discharges like during Hurricane Irma, because of their lack of frequency, and more concerned about getting all septic tanks removed that are discharging into the lagoon.
“My biggest fear in relation to the Indian River Lagoon is septic systems. I think they are a bigger problem,’’ he said.
The challenge on the barrier island involves stormwater and drainage issues in the same area where there are tidal and artesian water influences, he said.
“They all need to be evaluated to come to a universal fruition. It’s not going to be expensive and it’s not going to be hard. You just have to separate all the issues,’’ he said.
The Satellite Beach activism and response so far is typical, but Bowcock said the representation at the planning meeting was excellent with county, city, state and Patrick Air Force Base officials.
“It’s almost exactly how it unfolds everywhere: All the in-fighting between community groups happens all the time; you automatically have the governmental officials putting up roadblocks, then they eventually tear them down and come on our side. It always happens,” Bowcock said.
As for the Sept. 29 visit, “Erin and I will introduce the subject its multiple overlapping issues. Here’s what they are and here’s what we can do to address them,’’ he said.
