NORMAN — A report released Tuesday on the city of Norman’s website shows that Cleveland County’s rate of stomach cancer is lower than the state average and that of other key areas in Oklahoma.
According to the report, which was prepared by the Oklahoma State Department of Health in mid-January, there were 5.5 cases of stomach cancer per 100,000 residents from 1997 to 2007 in Cleveland County.
A five-county area — including Cleveland, Lincoln, Logan, Oklahoma and Pottawatomie counties — showed a rate of 5.9 cases per 100,000 residents. The counties in the five-county area draw significant water from the Garber-Wellington Aquifer, which experts have said has naturally occurring levels of chromium-6.
Statewide, that ratio is 5.8 cases per 100,000 residents, while in Tulsa the rate is slightly higher at 6.1 cases per 100,000 residents.
The findings, culled from the Oklahoma Central Cancer Registry, were reported because of a study released in December 2010 by the Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Working Group, which found that Norman’s drinking water had the highest levels of chromium-6 in a 35-city study.
The city also tested its own water from a variety of sources following the EWG report and found that wells pumping water from the Garber-Wellington Aquifer had total chromium levels of less than 100 parts per billion, the limit set by the Environmental Protection Agency.
“These tests confirmed what we already knew and had reported to the public in the past,” City Manager Steve Lewis said in a statement. “Norman water is safe for everyone to drink, as it always has been. Nothing has changed.”
Andrew Knittle 366-3540 aknittle@normantranscript.com
