Fresh water

“Superman Is Not Coming”: Erin Brockovich on the Future of Water

Erin Brockovich speaks at the 2016 Arizona Ultimate Women’s Expo at the Phoenix Convention Center. Phoenix, Arizona, October 9, 2016. Photo: Gage Skidmore

Come take a ride on America’s toxic water slide: First stop: Flint, Michigan, where two years later, people are still contending with lead-laced water, which was finally detected by the EPA in February 2015 with the help of resident Lee Anne Walters.

Next stop: California, where hundreds of wells have been contaminated with 1,2,3-TCP, a Big Oil-manufactured chemical present in pesticides.

Travel to the East to see the significant amounts of 1,4-dioxane, an industry solvent stabilizer that continue to pollute the waters belonging to North Carolina’s Cape Fear River Basin. In New York and Pennsylvania, residents are contending with outbreaks of waterborne Legionnaires’ disease (the bacteria grow easily in water distribution systems and often hide in the biofilm of aging pipes).

Meanwhile, in June 2016, kids in Hoosick Falls, New York, protested in the streets with placards around their necks that featured PFOA (Perfluorooctanoic acid, a man-made chemical used in Teflon) levels to denote how much has infiltrated their blood through tainted water.

Drop to Houston, Texas, where high levels of […]

More about: Erin Brockovich advocacy for clean, healthy water and public health:

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

Recent Posts

Sacramento has a new plan to grow the city’s tree canopy and wants your feedback

Trees line 68th Avenue in the Meadowview neighborhood of Sacramento on Thursday, April 26, 2024.…

23 hours ago

40 million people share the shrinking Colorado River.

Here’s how that water gets divvied up. The Colorado River passes through Mesa County, March…

2 days ago

Trout Unlimited Wins Award for California Partnership Uniting Landowners to Save Coho Salmon

Chris Wood, President and CEO of Trout Unlimited, speaks to staff from Trout Unlimited, NOAA…

3 days ago

Advocates work to safeguard critical lake, extend the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act

Photo Credit: iStock The lake supports nearly 300 species of birds, mammals, and fish, as…

4 days ago

Well Data Explorer: Visualizing Contaminated Groundwater in 3D

Map: A 3D view with basemap transparency adjusted to show underground wells, with filtering by…

7 days ago

California’s Plans for Slowing Climate Change Through Nature-Based Solutions

As part of SF Climate Week, KQED’s Danielle Venton sat down with the California Secretary…

1 week ago