‘What did we do?’ Families anxious about chemicals found in tap water

Photo: Emergency response teams hand out bottled water to residents at Parchment High School.

(CNN)It’s been about three weeks since Tammy Cooper last drank water from her tap. That’s when she saw a warning on Facebook for residents of her small Western Michigan town to stop drinking the water.

In Michigan, water main breaks aren’t unusual, although they’re more common in winter. It didn’t immediately strike Cooper as out of the ordinary to not be able to drink the water.

But the Facebook message made no mention of the run-of-the-mill breaks or chloroform warnings; rather, the city’s July 26 post said,

“We have just been informed this afternoon by the [Michigan Department of Environmental Quality] that the PFAS level in a City well is 1400 ppt. The limit being 70 ppt.”

It advised using bottled water for cooking, drinking and making baby formula.

“I immediately felt really sick,” Cooper said.

PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a family of more than 4,000 synthetic chemicals that degrade very slowly, if at all, in the environment. Some of the best-known chemicals are PFOS, PFOA and GenX. It’s not the first time Michigan has dealt with toxic tap water; the legacy of Flint is not far behind. But unlike in the Flint lead crisis, it’s unknown how long the water in […]

Full article: ‘What did we do?’ Families anxious about chemicals found in tap water

More about: forever chemicals (PFAS, etc.), pollution, and public health