by Andrea Watkins, originally posted on July 22, 2016

 

SIMONTON, Texas (FOX 26) – It’s been several weeks since historic floods hit the Houston area, but ground water contamination problems continue at an alarming rate in Fort Bend County. The issues are in private well water, but since the problem hasn’t gone away, there’s a public request for help and information.

State Representative Phil Stephenson issued the following bulletin to put Fort Bend County residents on alert:

“It has come to my office’s attention that coliform and e. coli bacteria continue to test positive in Fort Bend’s ground water.

The Fort Bend County Health Department refused to grant an interview about the extent of the problem, so FOX 26 News reached out to city leaders in Simonton, one of the communites hardest hit by the problem.

“It’s really perplexing to find the source of what’s happening,” says Simonton Mayor Lou Boudreaux, speaking to FOX 26 by phone.

Boudreaux says he’s not aware of anyone getting sick from the contaminated water yet, but if you look at the extent of the problem, that may just be good luck.

According to Larry Sieglar, lab director for the Houston Health Department, where Fort Bend County’s private well water is being tested, four weeks ago, 900 water samples were received, and around 70 percent were contaminated with dangerous bacteria. This past week, Sieglar reports that 40 percent of the private well water samples received from Fort Bend County were contaminated.

“A lot of things could be creating this problem,” says Boudreaux. “Where are you testing? Are you pulling from the house where there may be some contaminated water?”

But even more alarming is that some wells are coming back contaminated, that had tested bacteria free the week before. Mayor Boudreaux offers another potential reason.

“The possibility that some of your neighbors have not shocked their wells, or have not tested, and their contaminated wells could be contaminating yours,” explains Mayor Boudreaux. This underscores the importance of testing all private well water, even if you’re a flood victim who has not moved back into your home.

Sieglar told FOX 26 by phone that he wouldn’t rule out that there was aquifer contamination near the private wells, so there’s an effort underway to try to map the locations of private well contamination.

According to the Fort Bend County Health Department, the public water supply is completely safe, but people using private well water need to take precautions. It costs $16.50 to test your well water. Instructions and drop off locations area available throughout the county.

Drinking water warning issued

by Carla St. Louisoriginally posted on July 22, 2016

 

LAKE WORTH, Fla. — A drinking water warning was issued Friday for Lake Worth after a sample from water well 01 tested positive for E. coli bacteria, officials said.

The announcement was made by Brian Shields, water utility director of the Water Utilities Department, in a news release.

According to Shields, one of the 13 raw water wells was sampled on July 21 and tested positive for E. coli bacteria, a type of fecal coliform, the following day.

Raw water well 01 was taken out of rotation July 22 and is not being utilized, the Water Utilities Department of Lake Worth said.

Although officials said the water is safe to drink since the contaminated well has been closed, they are notifying residents of the dangers of E. coli bacteria.

The E. coli bacteria was found only in water well 01 and all other wells were absent of it.

Recheck samples are being collected at the sample point for the well and water treatment plant to validate no contamination of the drinking water supply, Shields said.

Fecal coliform and E. coli are bacterium whose presence indicates that the water may be contaminated with human or animal wastes.

The dangers of E. coli and coliform bacterium

The microbes in fecal waster can make you sick causing diarrhea, cramps, nausea, headaches or other symptoms.

The microbes are particularly disastrous for people with weakened immune systems, such as infants and young children.

Bacterial contamination can occur when increased water run-off, such as heavy rain, enters the drinking water source. A bacterial contamination can also happen because of a break in the distribution pipes or a failure in the water treatment process.

For more information on how to lessen the risk of infection by microbes or bacterium, call 1-800-426-4791.

Stay tuned for more information as the story develops.

If you live in the Westhampton Beach area and have a private well, you need to read this.

-by Lisa Finn (Patch Staff), originally posted on July 22, 2016

 

WESTHAMPTON, NY — The Suffolk County Department of Health Service has issued a water quality advisory for private well owners in some areas of Westhampton.

According to Suffolk County Department of Health, the United States Environmental Protection Agency has identified two chemicals, PFOS, perfluorooctane sulfonate, and PFOA, perfluorooctanoic acid, as emerging contaminants.

The chemicals, release said, are part of a class of chemicals known as perfluorinated compounds, or PFCs, which are currently unregulated by the federal government.

PFCs have been used in a number of industrial and commercial products such as firefighting foam, as well as coatings that repel water, oil, stains, and grease, the Suffolk County Department of Health said.

Individuals may therefore be exposed to PFOS and PFOA through air, water, or soil from industrial sources and from consumer products.

In 2013, major water supply companies began testing their wells for PFOS and PFOA. Results of that monitoring have recently become available.

‘In the absence of federal regulation, New York State took aggressive action ‎and became the first state in nation to regulate PFOS and PFOA as hazardous substances, which enables the state to use the legal authority and financial resources of the State Superfund Program to clean up contaminated sites,” the release said.

Through monitoring conducted under an EPA program known as the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule, PFOS was detected in public supply wells in the vicinity of the New York State Air National GuardBase at Gabreski Airport located at Old Riverhead Road in Westhampton Beach.

“The results of this sampling have already been reported to residents in the annual water quality report and to the US EPA,” the release said. “Measures have been taken to address the public water supply.”

Currently, the public drinking water supply in the area is below the current EPA lifetime health advisory level of 0.07 ppb, the release said.

EPA’s health advisory levels are established to protect even the most sensitive populations, including fetuses during pregnancy and breastfed babies, against adverse health effects, the release said.

Moving forward, to assess the drinking water quality of properties served with private wells, the Suffolk County Department of Health Service will be conducting a private well survey in the Gabreski area.

by Fatimah Waseem, originally posted on July 22, 2016

 

The county’s health department reinstituted water restrictions at the Lutheran Village at Miller’s Grant, a retirement community that opened in February in Ellicott City that has struggled to rid its water of bacteria linked to Legionnaire’s disease — a severe type of pneumonia —for more than a month.

The health department lifted water restrictions in mid-July that were in place after several rounds of testing and treatment that began in early June. But test results received on Wednesday still show some of the water contains low levels of the bacteria.

Miller’s Grant management staff imposed community-wide water restrictions on Thursday after receiving the results, according to Lisa Albin, a spokeswoman for the retirement community.

Legionnaire’s is caused by breathing in small drops of water that contain the bacteria legionella. Water sources like tubs, water tanks and plumbing systems are common sources of the disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

No additional residents have been diagnosed with the disease since three cases linked to the facility surfaced in late May, Albin said.

Despite testing numerous water sources in the residential community, health officials did not pinpoint the source of the disease, but de Hernandez said residents likely contracted from the retirement community.

Residents, some of whom have limited mobility, have been told to avoid using tap water and taking showers. Management distributed bottled water to residents, Albin said.

Six residents, some of whom have health concerns, are living in hotels as a result of the issue, she said. Others chose to stay with relatives as water treatment continues.

The disease disproportionately impacts people with weak immune systems. Individuals 50 years or older are at special risk, according to the CDC.

Overall, residents were taking the news in stride, said Jan Nelson, a 63-year-old resident who was on the waiting list for the retirement community for seven years.

“It’s easier to put up with some inconveniences knowing that the entire experience is on the plus side,” Nelson said. ” It’s a very flexible community. It’s more of a joke among us than anything else.”

Susan Polniaszek, 70, said Miller’s Grant has been proactive despite sporadic water restrictions and traces of the disease.

“At lunch time [on Thursday], we’re all joking around about the restrictions. Everyone came down [for lunch] and really appreciated that Miller’s Grant has taken a proactive stance,” said Polniaszek, who was also on the waiting list for five years.

The retirement community, a mix of 241 residential units, opened after nearly a decade of planning. Carroll Lutheran Village owns and sponsors the community, which was made possible by a gift from the Miller family.

“It’s just been heartbreaking to have this happen as soon as we opened,” Albin said.

The county health department is awaiting instructions from state health officials on next steps, according to Lisa de Hernandez, a public information officer for the county’s health department.

Miller’s Grant management is also working on installing a new water treatment system over the next several weeks, Albin said.

by Kimberly Houghton, originally posted on July 21, 2016

 

MERRIMACK — State officials announced Thursday that small traces of contamination are still being released from the stacks at Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics, the suspected source of water contamination in southern New Hampshire.

The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services said in a statement that “small amounts of perfluorooctanoic acid are being emitted from the facility.”

The stack emissions were tested on May 2 and May 3, and the results were just released on Thursday. According to DES officials, low level concentrations of perfluorochemicals, including PFOA, are still being released.

However, DES stressed that the amount of contamination being emitted is less than two ounces of PFOA per year.

“These emissions do not violate any ambient air quality standard, either state or federal,” states a release. “Potential sources of the PFOA may include chemicals supplied to Saint-Gobain for manufacturing purposes, and residual materials contained within the stack emissions at the plant.”

Saint-Gobain has agreed to clean the residues from the stacks and perform new emissions testing in early August, according to the DES statement, adding state officials will observe the testing process.

In addition, state officials will be seeking additional details from Saint-Gobain’s suppliers to determine whether the chemicals being provided to the company contain PFOA or perfluorooctane sulfonate.

Brandon Kernen of DES said this week that 588 private wells have been sampled within a 1.5 mile radius of the Saint-Gobain plant in Merrimack, and 171 of those wells — or about 30 percent — are above the state standard for PFOA, which is 70 parts per trillion.

In addition, Kernen said the state is now providing bottled water to 480 properties in the region because of the water contamination problem. Free blood testing is now being offered to residents who live near the Saint-Gobain facility who have private wells with PFOA contamination above 70 ppt.

Pennichuck Corp. is preparing a system design for an expansion of its public service territory to include the private wells within the contamination zone, and a preliminary design of the system was recently completed, officials said earlier this week.

Still, residents were told Tuesday at a public meeting in Litchfield that blood test results could take months to complete, and because negotiations are still ongoing with Saint-Gobain, it may take until December for the completion of an alternative public water line extension.

Meanwhile, a legal team for Saint-Gobain is denying nearly every claim brought forward in a class-action lawsuit on behalf of residents with contaminated wells near the company’s Merrimack plant.

In a statement issued earlier this month by Saint-Gobain, the company said it has been and continues to be focused on providing clean drinking water to the residents of Merrimack, Litchfield and other towns near its facility.

Hide caption A common loon in the process of molting into its breeding plumage [Jim McCormac/For The Dispatch] A common loon in the water looks like a surfaced submarine.
A chunky specimen can weigh 10 pounds, stretch nearly 3 feet from bill to tail tip, and have a wingspan of almost 4 feet.
Loons are extreme divers, capable of submerging to 200 feet.
Their quarry are small fish and other aquatic prey, which are seized with the large daggerlike bill.
On breeding lakes, and sometimes in migration, loons issue what might be the most spectacular calls of any North American bird.
While much of the population breeds far enough north that human disturbance isn’t an issue, southern populations are threatened.
While loons nest well to the north of Ohio, large numbers occur here in migration.
The past few days have brought numerous reports from lakes all over the state as the loons push north.
Although loons don’t breed in Ohio, our water management, especially of Lake Erie, is important to their well-being.
He also writes about nature at www.jimmccormac.blogspot.com.

Sources of Water Pollution.
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EPA ties fracking to water pollution.
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by David Kumbroch, originally posted on July 20, 2016

 

TRINITY, Ala. – The West Morgan-East Lawrence Water Authority continues to battle the fallout from declaring their water unsafe in early June. They made the call because of Perfluorinated chemicals (PFC’s) — specifically, PFOA and PFOS. But we found the struggles with these chemicals started years earlier, when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that Decatur Utilities had spread sludge — contaminated with those same chemicals — over potentially thousands of acres of fields in Lawrence, Morgan, and Limestone counties from 1996 until 2008.

WHNT News 19 is Taking Action to bring you answers about this long-running problem.

 

The Sludge

Decatur Utilities contractor trucks used to tote sludge down rural roads in Trinity. The Morgan family saw them dump it on the fields by their house.

“We sat on the porch and watched them do it,” said Rhonda Morgan.

Of course, they didn’t know it could be toxic. They didn’t know much about it at all beyond the smell.

“They would just drive around and the liquid would come out,” said Greg Morgan.

The Morgans said the smell was sickening, and you couldn’t mistake it. They couldn’t open their windows it was so bad.

“There’s a liquid sludge, and there’s a regular thick sludge,” said Rhonda.

“They would bring a front-end loader out, and then they would dump it into the spreader trucks,” Greg added.

But the sludge trucks hardly demanded their attention. It was actually the mail truck that changed everything for them. The Morgans received a letter in 2010 that said the sludge is toxic and they needed to be tested.

 

The Tests

The Center for Disease Control’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, or ATSDR, would conduct a study. They called a meeting and tested just over 150 people. The people were selected for testing because they lived near areas where sludge had been applied and were regarded as having a higher risk to chemical exposure.

“I didn’t worry about it too much until the tests came back,” Rhonda Morgan told WHNT News 19.

The entire Morgan family showed PFOA levels above the national average — some double, some triple the normal range. Their results fit right in with the rest of the people studied.

They noticed changes at home, too.

 

The Health Effects

“There was things happening to us that was weird because it was happening to everybody in the house,” said Rhonda.

Of course, the Morgans also get their water from the West Morgan-East Lawrence Water Authority. However, at the time the WMEL water was still within EPA advisory limits, which weren’t lowered until this year.

Meanwhile, the family dealt with various health problems that had popped up.

“Most of us is on thyroid medication. All the guys are on cholesterol medication,” said Rhonda.

The C-8 Science Panel, the largest scientific study of the health effects of PFC’s — linked both thyroid problems and diagnosed high cholesterol to exposure.

 

The Impact

Greg Morgan describes how his health problems changed everything.

“Things started happening to me. I’d be driving to work, and everything would start going numb,” said Greg. “Even trying to drive to work, your hands would just fall off the steering wheel, and you have to be ready to catch it with the next one.”

Greg worked at NASA, making good money as a pipe fitter — $75,000 to $80,000 a year.

Now he’s confined to his home.

“I had to go on disability. I had to leave my job.” He said he didn’t have a choice. The couple lives on $2,500 a month now.

Now the white picket fences, the rolling fields around their home — they don’t just provide seclusion, they enforce it.

“We used to always take our grandkids to town and spend a lot of time with them, and we can’t do that anymore,” said Rhonda. “I mean, it’s a good thing they love us enough to hang out in the bedroom with us, because we wouldn’t see them very much if they didn’t.”

 

The Quest

Rhonda does go out sometimes, but usually it’s for community meetings — like the one where the West Morgan-East Lawrence Water Authority tried to fire general manager Don Sims, who sounded the alarm about the drinking water. She wanted to stand up for him.

“Anything that I can do that stops this from happening to somebody else, then I want to do it,” said Rhonda.

She spoke to warn people, with blood and paperwork to prove her point.

“This stuff is more toxic than they ever realized,” Rhonda said.

The ATSDR summed up their findings in a report issued in 2013.

 

The Water

All the way back then — the CDC identified the West Morgan-East Lawrence Water Authority as a potential problem.

They found that participants who regularly used the West Morgan-East Lawrence public water system as their primary drinking water source had higher blood levels of PFCs.

Their recommendations include:

“Continue efforts to reduce the level of PFCs present in the Tennessee River which is used as source water for the WM/EL public water supply system.”
“Continue monitoring for PFCs in the WM/EL public water supply.”
“Continue providing the community with any new science about health effects of PFC exposure as new information is documented.”
Three years later, the EPA issues a stricter advisory level.

Two weeks after that, Sims, general manager of the West Morgan-East Lawrence Water Authority, tells the public their water isn’t safe to drink.

The Morgans already knew their blood tests showed higher levels of the contaminants from the biosludge. But they also get their water from West Morgan-East Lawrence. They rarely use it now.

Still, Rhonda says, “In this county, you’ve got women that are pregnant and drinking it. You’ve got women that are breastfeeding and bottlefeeding babies. You’ve got elderly, sick people. I know there’s four babies in this county that are tube-fed. It takes a lot of water for that.”

 

The Reason

If the Morgan family dares to ask why, they can’t help but look around them first.

“What’s really frustrating is, this don’t happen in expensive neighborhoods. This don’t happen in the high up neighborhoods,” Rhonda says, “They put it on the people that is in a lower bracket, a lot of Lawrence county, even poverty level.”

She feels like the myriad of politicians who voiced displeasure with Don Sims for going ahead with the announcement abandoned them, “That they were willing to sit back and let them be poisoned every day more and more and more until they could come up with a solution without having to jump in. It really is irritating to me.”

 

The Way Forward

Rhonda has five years of blood tests to look back on, but she’s only looking forward.

“Our damage is done,” Rhonda concludes.

“Even if it all left us in the next few years, our damage is done. Nerve damage and other things. But our grandkids, you know, there’s still hope that our grandkids won’t have to suffer and go through this the way we have. And that’s all we want.”

“We want our grandkids to be safe.”

River water will be difficult to treat in the coming weeks and months

-by Wallis Snowdon, originally posted on May 19, 2016

 

Preventing tons of ash and cinders left by a huge wildfire from contaminating the city’s drinking water, will be a challenge says a University of Alberta scientist.

The blaze has torched more than 420,000 hectares of northern Alberta forest, leaving behind soil now thick with ash, that can feed into the water supply.

“What has us concerned is, all of the run-off after this fire,” said Uldis Silins, professor of forest hydrology and watershed management with the University of Alberta.

• Fort McMurray evacuees could return home starting June 1
• Fort McMurray prepares temporary housing for residents who lost homes

“All the ash and some of the contaminants that are coming off the landscape when we start to get those rains, is going to be washing those materials into the river, right above the city of Fort McMurray.”

Silins, who is among several water scientists working with the Alberta government on a recovery plan for Fort McMurray, says the contaminated water will be difficult to treat.

Though rain would provide long-awaited relief to firefighters on the front line, it would be a double-edged sword for water treatment officials.

Spring showers can wash wildfire contaminants into the Athabasca River, which feeds Fort McMurray’s water treatment plant. And each rainfall would wash a new wave of contaminants down the riverbanks.

Silins says roughly 30 km of the Athabasca River bank, and more than 100 km of the Clearwater River have been heavily contaminated so far.

“We have very limited experience with these kinds of large, severe wildfires, right on top of a community where you have a water treatment plant.”

As of Wednesday evening there is a 70 per cent chance of showers in Fort McMurray for Thursday.

Fort McMurray well-equipped

After a wildfire, water quality can change quickly — and keeping a close watch on water quality and prevailing weather conditions will be critical in the weeks and months to come.

Fort McMurray’s water treatment plant wasn’t damaged by the fire, which continues to rage north and well east of the city. The entire Wood Buffalo area remains under a boil-water advisory.

Silins says the Fort McMurray treatment plant is well-equipped to handle the disaster. It relies on the same technology Calgary uses, which served that city well following the floods of 2013.

“That technology is pretty well-aligned to deal with rapidly changing water quality, which is one of the things we’re concerned about.

“When the rains come, we’ll see these contaminants coming off, but at higher levels than they’re used to seeing. And as the rains come, we’re going to see the quality change very rapidly, and that’s the biggest challenge.”

Watershed will be slow to recover

Though research is limited, Silins says the Lost Creek wildfire of 2003 provided scientists some clues about wildfire contamination in rivers.

According to his study on the southern Alberta fire, it could be years before the watershed fully recovers.

Nitrogen levels, for instance, will return to baseline after five to six years.  However, other contaminants such as sediment, organic carbon, and a deluge of harmful nutrients will likely remain present in the headwaters of Fort McMurray more than a decade from now.

“As a consequence, we haven’t seen some of the aquatic ecology recover at all after that Lost Creek fire,” said Silins.

“The plants that are growing in the streams, the algae, the invertebrates, the insects that live in the stream … and even fish that are making use of it. The entire eco-system responds.”