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Scientists: new way to get ‘forever chemicals’ linked to cancer out of our water

Scientists found a new way to get 'forever chemicals' linked to cancer out of our water. They're in the bloodstreams of 99% of Americans.

Photo: Clarkson University professors Tom Holsen and Selma Mededovic in front of a plasma reactor. Clarkson University

They’re in the bloodstreams of 99% of Americans.

  • Researchers at Clarkson University are working with the US Air Force to remove a group of "forever chemicals" from water.
  • The chemicals, known as PFAS, have been associated with cancer, liver damage, and developmental issues.
  • They’re found in food packaging, cookware, outdoor gear, and firefighting
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Pain, cancer, death: Michigan families devastated by toxic chemicals in their water

Pain, cancer, death: Michigan families devastated by toxic chemicals in their water

Sandy Wynn-Stelt at home in Belmont. ‘I’m sitting here full of this stuff and not knowing what it’s going to do to me five years, 10 years from now.’ Photograph: Tom Perkins

In the years before 2017, Sandy Wynn-Stelt and her husband had suspicions about the water they drew from a well on their House Street property in the Michigan town of Belmont. She attributed the bad taste to it … [more…]

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State chips in money for project to try to “destroy” PFAS in wastewater

State chips in money for project to try to "destroy" PFAS in wastewater

Photo: The sample room at the Grand Rapids wastewater treatment facility. DUSTIN DWYER / MICHIGAN RADIO

The swirling liquid rushes into concrete channels behind a black chain-link fence.

“That is what sewage looks like,” says Nicole Pasch, who works in Environmental Services for the city of Grand Rapids.

Pasch is showing off the wastewater treatment facility, along with the various stages the sewage has to pass through before it can … [more…]

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Environmental Group Says Almost All Kansas Tap Water Is Too Contaminated

Environmental Group Says Almost All Kansas Tap Water Is Too Contaminated

Nomin Ujiyediin / Kansas News Service file photo

WICHITA, Kansas — The water coming out of your tap might meet legal standards, but that doesn’t mean that it’s safe to drink — at least according to the Environmental Working Group, an environmental advocacy nonprofit.

EWG found that nearly all of the 870 water utilities in Kansas tested for at least one contaminate above what it considers safe, though most water

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U.S. drinking water supply mostly safe, but that’s not good enough

The US drinking water supply is mostly safe, but that’s not good enough

Most Americans take clean drinking water for granted as a convenience of modern life. The United States has one of the world’s safest drinking water supplies, but new challenges constantly emerge.

For example, on May 6 researchers at the nonprofit Environmental Working Group and Northeastern University reported that 43 states have sites where water is contaminated with toxic fluorinated compounds known as PFAS. And many farm workers in California’s Central … [more…]