Report finds toxins in dozens of public water systems across the USA

Photo: US Environmental Protection Agency’s Peter Grevatt and Cosmo Servidio listen to members of the public comment during a PFAS Community Stakeholder Meeting in Horsham, Pennsylvania on July 25, 2018. AP

• Toxins are turning up in dozens of public water systems across the United States, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Michigan, and Delaware, according to a report by the AP.
• The water systems are reportedly testing positive for dangerous levels of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.
• Dumped into water, the air or soil, some forms of PFAS compounds are expected to remain intact for thousands of years; one public-health expert dubbed them “forever chemicals.”

HORSHAM, Pa. (AP) — Lauren Woeher wonders if her 16-month-old daughter has been harmed by tap water contaminated with toxic industrial compounds used in products like nonstick cookware, carpets and fast-food wrappers. Henry Betz, at 76, rattles around his house alone at night, thinking about the water his family unknowingly drank for years that was tainted by the same contaminants, and the pancreatic cancers that killed wife Betty Jean and two others in his household.

Tim Hagey, manager of a local water utility, recalls how he used to assure people that the local public water was […]

Full article: Troubling report finds toxins are turning up in dozens of public water systems across the US

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