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NC ranks high in toxic drinking water sites
Story Date: 4/23/2018
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Source: NC PUBLIC NEWS WIRE, 4/20/18
North Carolina stands out among its neighboring states on a map that lists locations where toxic chemicals have been found in drinking water. Chemical compounds often used to make textiles and teflon are spreading into the country's water supply, according to the updated map released this week by the Environmental Working Group.
The interactive map is online at ewg.org
The Tar Heel State has at least twenty sites where PFAS have been found in drinking water. Additionally there are designated contamination sites in Durham, Greensboro, Fayetteville, Wilmington and Wrightsville Beach. Bill Walker, editor-in-chief with the working group says the state illustrates a national trend.
"North Carolina is a really good example of how the problem keeps expanding. Not only do we keep finding more sites, but we keep finding more chemicals in this family that are contaminating drinking water," says Walker.
The research was done by the Environmental Working Group and the Social Science Environmental Health Research Institute. Sites have been found in 21 other states, with a high concentration in the Northeast. PFAS have been linked to cancer, thyroid disease and immune-system problems.
Sites on the interactive map include industrial plants, dumps, military air bases, civilian airports and fire training sites. The report says the pollution affects tap water for 16 million people, but Walker says that could just be the beginning.
"This is a very painful and dangerous lesson in the mistake that we make with toxic chemicals of all kinds, where we let them out into commerce. They're becoming ubiquitous in our consumer products,” says Walker. “And yet, there was no testing before they went on the market to see what the human health effects were."
Last year, an American Red Cross study found that the blood of the average American has traces of PFOA, one of the chemicals in the group that has been widely used as a nonstick coating for cookware. The Environmental Protection Agency has no legal limits for the PFAS chemicals in drinking water, only a non-enforceable health advisory.
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