by Donnie Douglas, originally posted on October 24, 2016

 

LUMBERTON — City officials and staff continue to work overtime with the hope that residents can stop boiling water that is for consumption either Tuesday or Wednesday, but they are not making any guarantees beyond saying an advisory could be lifted as “early as this week.”

City Manager Wayne Horne today said that tests are being conducted, and that “everything is showing clean,” but that there was also a setback today when a feeder line broke and had to be relocated.

The city lost water shortly after Hurricane Matthew hit on Oct. 8 when an intake pump failed, the Lowery Street water plant was flooded and a generator there died. Initial forecasts that residents could be without water for as long as a month were too pessimistic as city officials did work-arounds, bringing in portable systems that are now processing up to 5 million gallons a day, about what the city produces normally at the water plant.

The water is being put through osmosis and twice chlorinated but city officials worry that if consumed it could make people ill.

Some residents, especially in West Lumberton, are tapped into county water that is flowing through city lines, and they are not being asked to boil the water.

Lumberton residents have been told that water is safe to use for cleaning and bathing, but any that is to be consumed should be boiled. The advisory has played havoc with local restaurants, with some staying closed, others opening but with limited menus, and beverage choices being limited to canned drinks or bottled water.

The city is also busy trying to get the water plant back to work. Horne said Monday he believes progress is sufficient to say that it should be functioning a “little sooner than a month.”

For days, city officials couldn’t even get to the plant, but after multiple pumps were brought in to drain it, finally got to access the damage and figure out what equipment was needed and repairs to be made.

Horne credited Rob Armstrong, director of Public Works, with “leading the charge,” and said that the progress has been made with “staff, elected officials, FEMA and private contractors” all working together.

by Michelle Corless, originally posted on October 24, 2016

 

CRESCO (KWWL) –

UPDATE:  The City of Cresco says it has lifted its boil advisory.

The city started having problems with its water a few days ago. A large water main break happened over the weekend. It has now been fixed.

People who live there no longer have to boil their water.

UPDATE: The City of Cresco’s Public Works Director says the department has determined the problem and is working on it now.

The boil advisory remains in effect, and the city is asking people to conserve water until further notice.

The City of Cresco is issuing a boil advisory. The city is experiencing problems with its water.

KWWL spoke with Rod Freidhof, Public Works Director. He says he’s not sure what’s causing the problems at this time. The department is investigating.

The city is recommending people boil all water before drinking or using it in other ways.

The city is also asking people conserve water until the boil advisory is lifted.

originally posted on October 24, 2016

 

Repairs to a 4-inch main line in the intersection of Winn and Third streets has resulted in the need for a boil water advisory in Alexandria.

Also, a boil advisory issued last week for the Parkwood Drive area has been lifted, according to the city of Alexandria.

The advisory is necessary because water pressure was lost during the repair process, possibly compromising the water. The advisory is for all residences and businesses between Winn and St. James streets bordering 5th and Main streets.

Everyone in that area should disinfect their water before consuming it in any fashion — making ice, brushing teeth, using it for food preparation.

To do so, boil water for one full minute in a clean container, starting after water begins to boil.

After the advisory is lifted, consumers should run their cold water faucets or drinking fountains for one minute, flush automatic icemakers through three batches of ice that should be thrown away, run water softeners through a regeneration cycle and run water coolers with direct water connections for five minutes.

originally posted on October 24, 2016

 

VILLE PLATTE, La. (KLFY) – Officials with the Te Mamou Water District in Ville Platte have issued a water boil advisory effective immediately.

The advisory is affecting customers in the “By-The-Way” subdivision only.

Affected customers should bring their water to a rolling boil for one full minute before consuming.

The advisory will be lifted once water samples have been cleared by DHH.

by Bethany Butler, originally posted on October 21, 2016

 

by Kevin Fambrough, originally posted on October 20, 2016

 

WALKER – A water boil advisory for the City of Walker could be lifted on Friday, Oct. 21, pending test results from the state Department of Health & Hospitals (DHH), the city said.

A contractor cut through a water main near City Hall on Wednesday, Oct. 19, affecting the city’s water pressure, the city said in a news release.

City crews repaired the water main about 9 p.m. that night and water pressure was restored.

But a water boil advisory was immediately issued on social media because the water pressure dropped below a certain level.

“The boil advisory will remain in effect through Thursday, Oct. 20, pending results from DHH,” the news release said.

“The results should be in by Friday, Oct. 21, at which time the boil advisory should be lifted,” the release said.

The city will issue a notice when the boil order is lifted, the release said.

“Brown water will be a problem for a few days until the system is completely flushed,” according to the City of Walker announcement.

“It is a result of residual manganese built up in the waterlines that is re-cirulated due to the fluctuation in water pressure. While not harmful, it is very unpleasant to experience.”

According to DHH, a boil water advisory is issued by a water system advising customers to boil tap water before consuming it when an event has occurred allowing the possibility for the water distribution system to become contaminated.

An advisory does not mean that the water is contaminated, but rather that it could be contaminated because the water quality is unknown.

An advisory must be issued, according to DHH, if there is a loss of pressure in a part of or throughout the water distribution system.

by Leonard Sparks, originally posted on October 21, 2016

 

NEW WINDSOR — A dozen private water wells near Stewart Air National Guard Base have tested positive for a class of toxic chemicals that includes the one behind the closure of the City of Newburgh’s primary water supply.

The state Department of Health has so far tested 32 wells in the Town of New Windsor in response to the discovery of perfluorooctane sulfonate in Newburgh’s Washington Lake, and the designation of the air base as the source.

Results show 20 testing negative for the chemicals. But some wells showed between 2 and 44 parts per trillion for perfluorooctane sulfonate, also known as PFOS. Others showed between 2 and 15 ppt for perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA.

Both PFOS and PFOA are among six perfluorinated chemicals for which wells are being tested by the state Department of Environmental Conservation and Department of Health.

While the highest levels are below the federal health advisory guideline of 70 ppt, DOH will offer residents with contaminated wells point-of-entry treatment systems and connections to municipal water.

“We’ve been encouraged by some of the results we’ve seen on the private wells – everything below 70 parts per trillion,” DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos said during an interview at the Times Herald-Record in Middletown on Friday.

One-story ranch houses and two-story split-levels sit quietly along both tree-lined sides of Weather Oak Hill Road in New Windsor. But Weather Oak Hill is among the neighborhoods south of Stewart Air Base where the state is testing for PFCs, which have been linked with kidney and testicular cancers, high cholesterol, low infant birth weight and other health problems.

The targeted area encompasses properties on: Little Britain, Liner, Macnary, Riley, Silver Stream, Brown’s Drive, and a section of Union Avenue near where Route 207 and Route 300 intersect.

All are near Stewart Air Base, where the use of firefighting foams containing PFOS is blamed for Newburgh’s contamination. High concentrations of the chemical were found at a retention pond on the base that discharges into Silver Stream.

In August the state designated the base a Superfund site and ordered the Department of Defense to begin a clean-up.

George Kent, who settled into his house on Weather Oak Hill Road 51 years ago, grew concerned as news broke about the contamination at Washington Lake. The lake’s watershed includes streams snaking through New Windsor and the Town of Newburgh.

Inspectors took 14 samples of his well water, Kent said. Within two weeks, he got the results: No PFOS.

“After what I was reading in the paper, I said this is a little scary,” Kent said of the chemical. “Who knows if that’s going to get in the reservoir underneath the earth.”

Karen Byrd was unaware of the PFOS problem until she saw an array of large tanks on Route 300, just north of Route 207.

Those tanks form part of a special system the state set up to drain and filter water from the unused Washington Lake, whose rising waters had raised fears of a dam breach.

Last month sample takers knocked on the door of Byrd’s Silver Stream Road home. They left with containers of well water, which turned out to be PFOS-free.

She never worried, Byrd said. But Edward Nugent did.

For 37 years he and his wife have shared a Cape Cod on Riley Road, less than a mile from Stewart Air Base. Silver Stream, considered a transmission route for the PFOS, runs just north of their house.

His well water tested clean, but Nugent feared contamination.

“It comes right down the hill, right down the stream,” Nugent said of contamination from the air base. “And I live right here.”

by Tess Bargebuhr, originally posted on October 22, 2016

 

WHITEVILLE, NC (WECT) – The boil water advisory that was issued for customers in the City of Whiteville was canceled Saturday morning, according to Hal Lowder, the city’s safety and risk management officer.

Whiteville City Schools released students early Friday due to a damaged water main in the town. The damage occurred when a contractor bored through the 12-inch water main.

by Alexander Downing, originally posted on October 21, 2016

 

High levels of lead have been discovered in the water at Benton Elementary School, according to the Kennebec Water District.

The Water District said three samples from the school showed lead levels at 670 parts per billion, 57 parts per billion and 78 parts per billion.

Officials said the minimum level to take action is 15 parts per billion.

Superintendent Dean Baker said the kitchen staff is not cooking with tap water.

“Today’s priorities, of course, are to identify the source of the contamination and isolate it, and eliminate it. After that, we’ll have a follow-up program to monitor the levels so we ensure that it is entirely safe,” Baker said.

Baker said the pipes leading to the school are copper, and not lead, leading officials to believe the lead might be coming from old fixtures.

“We have no way of knowing how long the contamination has been here. We’re rather interested, now that we’ve found it, what are we going to do about it. We’re going to start the process immediately; some of the fixtures have already been replaced, some are on order,” Baker said.

Poland Spring has donated bottled water to the school.

“We want parents to know that we’re taking steps to replace any indicated source of contamination and we’ll keep testing until we’re sure that it’s all gone and all corrected. In the meantime, students will not be using any water that could be contaminated,” Baker said.

The Water District will conduct a second round to tests on Friday.

Tests are also being done on the water at the middle and high school.

by Glynis Board, originally posted on October 21, 2016

 

For more than half a century along the Ohio River, the chemical company DuPont provided jobs for thousands of people. One chemical they produced is PFOA, commonly known as C8. It was a remarkably useful compound, used in “Teflon” non-stick cookware, stain-resistant fabrics, and even in some food wrappers.

Over time, researchers have found that C8 is also toxic. DuPont and other companies phased out U.S. production a few years ago. Now it’s made in China.

But because the chemical can persist in water, communities along the Ohio River — and around the U.S. — are still grappling with the environmental fallout of contamination from C8 and similar chemicals. The ReSource generated a map using water testing data available from the U.S. EPA. It shows 12 water systems in 10 counties in Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia where these chemicals were detected in the water.

The Environmental Protection Agency issued a health advisory this year for C8 levels in drinking water, and many of the water systems that detected C8 and related chemicals found them at levels lower than the EPA advisory. However, a growing body of science indicates that the EPA advisory level is not sufficiently protective of human health, and many researchers recommend far more restrictive thresholds for exposure.

Communities across the country are dealing with levels of contamination well above the EPA’s new advisory level. One community especially affected by this toxic legacy is Vienna, West Virginia.

Vienna, West Virginia

This summer cars lined up in Vienna, a town of about 10,000 situated along the Ohio River. People were picking up jugs and cases of bottled water. Their tap water had been deemed unsafe – laced with a chemical known as C8. There wasn’t some sudden chemical spill. The chemical company DuPont polluted water here over the course of decades. But the federal government says C8 levels it once overlooked in the water are now considered unsafe.

“Up until the EPA lowered the standard, it really wasn’t an issue for us,” said Vienna mayor, Randy Rapp. “Once they lowered the standard, then it became a problem.”

Rapp was talking about a new health advisory issued by the Environmental Protection Agency this year. It says C8 levels in his and other community’s drinking water are too high.

This problem isn’t new to the people we spoke with in line. They’ve heard about C8 contamination by Dupont for years. But for generations the chemical company has been the biggest employer around Vienna. Many people, like resident Charles Swisher, are quick to defend them.

“It’s not fair to isolate DuPont,” Swisher said, “because a lot of people did things back a few years ago that were unethical, unhealthy. The thing that we need to do now is to be more solution-oriented.”

DuPont isn’t in charge of those solutions. It created a spin-off company, Chemours, which inherited this environmental legacy.

In response to the EPA’s C8 advisory, Chemours is paying for installation, maintenance and monitoring of giant carbon filters. (Think of your home water filter, but on a huge scale.) Vienna Mayor Rapp says he has “no idea” how much cleanup is costing. Chemours also wouldn’t say. But according to the company’s public documents cleanup has already cost millions. And still, the water aquifer is expected to be contaminated with C8 for hundreds of years.

Contamination Continues

Not everyone is defending the company. Larry Dale grew up around this part of the Ohio River, which is commonly referred to as “Chemical Valley.” His father and uncles all worked in chemical plants.

“My dad told me – and I’ll never forget this,” Dale said, “Find something else to do, but don’t work in a chemical plant.”

Dale listened. He’s a school bus driver and a retired preacher.  But he and his family still live in the shadow of the chemical industry.

In his rural back yard outside of Washington, West Virginia, Dale stands on top of a hill next to his greenhouse, and points to the next ridge over, at DuPont’s landfill.

This is where DuPont dumped over 7,000 tons of C8 sludge. It leached out, polluted streams, and killed nearby livestock in the late 1990s. It’s not the only source of contamination. If you ask anyone where the C8 comes from today that has infiltrated the water aquifer the answer is always the same: “Everywhere.”

Where Science Meets Policy

The contamination in this region eventually lead to a broad medical study of affected residents in the early 2000s. Over 30,000 community members were involved. The study linked C8 to multiple health problems from cancer to reduced immune function. A series of additional health studies followed, and further proved that chemical compounds like C8 – which used to be blown out of smokestacks and scattered across the Ohio Valley – are dangerous, even in small doses.

“They stay in the body for a long time,” said Dr. Philippe Grandjean of Harvard’s School of Public Health. He’s an expert on health effects of perfluorinated chemicals like C8. One of his latest studies looks at long term effects of these chemicals on the immune systems of exposed children.

“While they harm the immune system today,” Grandjean said, “they probably also will down the road. And that’s exactly what we found.”

Specifically, Grandjean found vaccines don’t work as well in children exposed to C8 at levels similar to those found throughout the U.S.

EPA officials say the C8 advisory levels were calculated to protect fetuses during pregnancy and breastfed infants, and was based on “the best available peer-reviewed studies.”

But Grandjean says the EPA’s advisory doesn’t go far enough. He worries it could even create a false sense of security.

“The new water limits will essentially maintain status quo or if worse comes to worse, actually increase levels that are typical for Americans,” he said. “If you drink that a lot of that water that is permissible, many Americans are likely to increase their body burden.”

Last year a coalition of scientists from around the world called for limits on C8 production altogether. Health officials in New Jersey are suggesting that C8 levels should be five times lower than what EPA advises (at about 14 parts per trillion). Grandjean’s work and other scientific studies have recommended an acceptable level of 1 part per trillion, which is what the European Union recommends for surface water.

Different Communities, Different Responses

When the EPA issued its advisory level it triggered a range of responses from affected communities. For water systems like Vienna’s, where the levels were above the EPA threshold, action was required.

The city of Martinsburg, in West Virginia’s eastern panhandle, shut down one water-filtration plant in May after detecting high levels of PFOS. PFOS is a chemical related to C8 that was used in flame-retardant foams often used at military bases and airports. Martinsburg is home to an Air Force base which is investigating possible sources of pollution.

Many other water systems, however, detected PFAS chemicals at levels that fall somewhere in a range below EPA’s health advisory but well above what scientists such as Grandjean have recommended. These communities include: Louisville and part of Pendleton County, in Kentucky; Gallia County, Ohio; and Parkersburg, West Virginia.

“Whatever the Rules Are”

In Vienna, West Virginia, Mayor Randy Rapp just wants to get city’s water to the EPA’s acceptable level.

“I just try to live by whatever the rules are,” Rapp said. “When they tell us what our water quality has to be, that is what we attain.”

Meanwhile, DuPont’s spin-off company isn’t producing C8 anymore. However, the substitute for C8 includes variations of the chemical known to have the potential for many of the same ecological and health effects.