Big Berkey Water Filters

The Environmental Protection agency estimates that lead in drinking water accounts for 20 percent of lead exposure in children, on average. Unfortunately for kids most at risk for lead poisoning, older homes with lead paint are also more likely to be served by lead water lines.

The U.S. Safe Drinking Water Act has very specific requirements about testing for lead and what happens when lead levels rise above “actionable levels,� but even low levels of lead exposure are not considered safe. What’s more, SDWA depends on hundreds of small and sometimes cash-strapped water authorities to monitor water quality and report and address problems.

Washington DC Lead Crisis Alerts Nation to Health Risks

In one high profile public health failure that in 2004, The Washington Post revealed that the city water authority had been aware of dangerous levels of lead in the water of many District homes for more than 2 years without warning residents. DC health officials responded to the revelation by warning residents to flush their water pipes and filter water for drinking and cooking. Unfortunately for many kids, the damage may already have been done.

“In some high-risk neighborhoods, the number of toddlers and infants with blood-lead concentrations that can cause irreversible IQ loss and developmental delays more than doubled after harmful levels of lead began leaching into the city’s drinking water in 2001,” reported the Post.

Subsequent investigations determined that a change in city water treatment the prior year had caused lead levels in homes served by lead pipes to skyrocket as the new disinfectant corroded old pipes. By failing to adequately assess the risk and inform the public of the danger, the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority had needlessly exposed DC citizens to unsafe levels of lead, including thousands of children and pregnant women for whom exposure is most dangerous.

Risk from Lead Water Pipes Around The United States

Dozens of U.S. cities have lead pipes running throughout their aging drinking water systems. A change in water chemistry, partial replacement of lead pipes, or general wear and tear can cause lead levels to spike. Overall the EPA has estimates that 40 million Americans are exposed to drinking water lead concentrations that it considers to be a health risk. And the Centers for Disease Control has found a correlation between lead in drinking water and the blood lead levels of affected household members.

What to Do if You Suspect Lead in Your Water

Your water utility may be able to test your household lead level for you. If not, there are many tests available from mail-order labs and test kits are often sold at local hardware stores. If you suspect you or your child has been exposed to lead, either from water or other sources, your doctor or child’s doctor can screen for lead with a blood test.

In the mean time, the EPA recommends the following steps for reducing lead exposure:

• “Use cold water for drinking or cooking. Never cook or mix infant formula using hot water from the tap.
• “Make it a practice to run the water at each tap before use.
• “Do not consume water that has sat in your home’s plumbing for more than six hours. First, make sure to run the water until you feel the temperature change before cooking, drinking, or brushing your teeth, unless otherwise instructed by your utility.”

Additionally, EPA recommends only filters that reduce lead according to NSF testing standards. The black berkey water filters meet that standard, and then some.

Are U.S. Lead Poisoning Standards Effectively Protecting Kids?

Hundreds of thousands more children may be diagnosed with and treated for lead poisoning this year, compared to last year, if the Centers for Disease Control accepts a new recommendation by the Advisory Committee on Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention. The government-convened panel reviewed the available science on lead and children’s health and determined lead is more dangerous than previously thought at levels currently considered safe.

Health Impacts of Lead Exposure

Lead is a naturally-occurring metal whose high density and resistance to corrosion means it has hundreds of possible industrial and other applications. But unlike iron and copper, metals that are also nutritionally important, no amount of lead is safe for humans to consume. Even at very low levels of exposure, lead is harmful to human health.

“In adults, lead can increase blood pressure and cause infertility, nerve disorders and muscle and joint pain. It can also make you irritable and affect your ability to concentrate and remember.”

“Lead is especially dangerous for children. A child who swallows large amounts of lead may develop anemia, severe stomach ache, muscle weakness and brain damage. Even low levels of lead are linked to lower IQ scores.�

- National Institutes of Health

Children at Risk From Lead Poisoning

Since lead was phased out of use in gasoline and house paint, the number of children annually diagnosed with lead poisoning has dropped dramatically. In 1988, researchers estimated that 9 percent of U.S. children had elevated lead levels. By 2004, that figure was only 1.4 percent.

Today, most of the children affected by lead live in older houses with crumbling paint or dust from renovations. Children might also be exposed by contaminated soil near roadways where lead emissions from gasoline fell decades ago or from industrial sites. In raw numbers, researchers think about 250,000 children would be diagnosed today under the current standard. If the standard is halved from 10 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood to 5 micrograms, as the CDC advisory committee recommends, that quickly becomes 450,000 children.

Effectiveness of New Lead Standards Reduced by Budget Cuts

While the Centers for Disease Control has historically adopted the recommendations of its advisory panel, the Associated Press reports that this recommendation might be difficult to implement.

“In many places, it’s up to city and county health departments to provide many of the services for lead poisoned kids, and those departments have lost more than 34,000 jobs in the last three years because of budget cuts. Meanwhile, Congress just slashed the CDC’s lead program from more than $30 million to $2 million.

“‘The CDC should accept the recommendation,’ said Robert Pestronk, executive director of the National Association of County and City Health Officials.
“‘(But) the grim reality is that local health departments and other community agencies don’t have the person-power to identify and follow up on all these children,’ he said.”

More Information About Lead

Many hardware stores carry paint and soil test kits that will identify lead contamination. Although some kits require the tester to mail samples to a lab for analysis, they are often simple to use and the lab results often include easy-to-understand instructions for interpreting your test results.

If you suspect you or your child has been exposed to lead, either from water or other sources, your doctor or child’s doctor can screen for lead with a blood test.

If you know or suspect you have a lead problem, your local health department will know what resources are available to you.

A discussion of lead in drinking water and the Berkeys effectiveness at removing lead is forthcoming in part 2 of this series.

Most customers of the United States’ 170,000 public drinking-water systems expect safe, clean water to come out of their faucets ever time they turn the tap. What most of them don’t know is that the service they take for granted is at risk from decades of deferred maintaining and underfunding.

Chronic Underfunding Threatens America’s Drinking Water

According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, approximately $55 billion in necessary maintenance and repair was unfunded and undone in 2010. ASCE estimates that unless a major investment is made in our water and sewer system, failure of this essential service will cost businesses and households $206 billion in related expenses between now and 2020.

In many U.S. cities, water pipes are at least half century old and sewer pipes are much older. Leaks in these aging systems means 25 percent of the drinking water piped through never reaches the faucet. At the other end, approximately 900 billion gallons of raw sewage leaks into waterways every year from broken sewers or overflows during heavy rains.

Deferred Water System Maintenance Means Big Costs for the U.S. Economy

In a tough economy, it’s easy to put off what seems like less urgent government spending, but the impact on businesses down the line means higher costs and fewer jobs.

“We’ve all seen the impact aging water and wastewater infrastructure has on our daily lives. From broken water mains to “boil water� alerts, failing to invest in this vital part of our country’s infrastructure has clear economic consequences,� said Steven Landau of EDR, the lead author of the ASCE report.

ASCE estimates that “In a worst case scenario, the U.S. will lose nearly 700,000 jobs by 2020. Unless the infrastructure deficit is addressed by 2040, 1.4 million jobs will be at risk in addition to what is otherwise anticipated for that year.” These job losses will be from businesses closing or moving to places with more reliable service or never opening in the first place. The group estimates the per-household cost will be $900 a year in higher water rates and lower wages by 2020 unless significant investments are made in our water infrastructure.

Aging Water Infrastructure Threatens Health

While Berkey customers can count on their filters to provide safe, clean water even during boil water alerts, that doesn’t solve the problem, even at the individual level. The Black Berkey filter removes most pathogens, bacteria, viruses and chemicals in your drinking water to safe levels, but public health experts estimate that we are exposed to even more contaminants from showering and bathing. This is where the berkey shower filter will help.  Overall, ASCE expects health costs to rise as the nation deals with outbreaks of waterborne diseases and other effects of lower quality water supplies. 

“The longer we wait to make needed repairs and upgrades, the more acute these problems become and the higher the costs to American families and businesses,� explained Landau.

Energy drinks such as Red Bull, Monster Energy and Rockstar have become popular among fans of snowboarding in the United States, with drink companies advertising at events and sponsoring athletes. After professional snowboarders Bryan Fox and Austin Smith were approached by a company about promoting their product, the duo decided to do something about their concerns that the added sugar, stimulants and other ingredients in those drinks weren’t just a bad substitute for water but might actually be dangerous.

Drink Water Gives Voice to Energy Drink Wary Snowboarders

Fox and Smith began sporting their own “drink water” logo on their boards and apparel. Before long, they found themselves leading a campaign. “It’s been crazy to see the overwhelming support since we started this, that we’re not the only ones,â€� Smith told the New York Times.

The Drink Water campaign now sells t-shirts, stickers and hoodies with the following explanation: “Drink Water is a friendly reminder to drink water.”

“If you love snowboarding or some other healthy activity that defines many decisions in your life, you are likely a choice target-consumer for companies that sell ‘energy drinks.’ Maybe you, like us, started to feel uncomfortable about how effective these companies have become at encouraging young people to consume their product: beverages of caffeine, sodium, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and even some mystery chemicals about which little is known.”

 

Energy Drinks Marketed to Kids

Fox and Smith are not the only ones raising concerns about energy drinks. Parents and doctors around the country have raised the alarm about the host of sugary drinks marketed to kids that contribute to obesity, diabetes, even ailments like kidney stones, once unheard of in kids. According to SugaryDrinkFacts.org, “from 2008 to 2010 ad exposure for regular soda doubled for children and teens, and energy drink exposure increased by 20 to 50%.�

The New York Times last year reported on an emerging trend of kidney stones showing up in in kindergarteners, in part because they were drinking high-sodium sports drinks instead of water. Sports drinks were designed to replenish nutrients lost by top athletes during hard exercise, but they are now marketed in lunch-box size packages and found as an alternative to soda in school vending machines.

The big difference between sodas or sports drinks and the kind of energy drinks that inspired the Drink Water campaign is that, by labeling energy drinks as dietary supplements instead of food, companies avoid a host of Food & Drug Administration regulations about truth in advertising. The companies are not required to substantiate the claims on its packaging.

Drink Water Campaign Touches a Nerve

SugaryDrinkFacts.org reports that 5 Hour Energy ranked among the top 3 beverages most advertised to kids and the #1 most advertised to teens. While energy drinks are considered safe in reasonable quantities by the generally healthy adult population, Fox and Smith are hearing anecdotal evidence that overdoses are more and more common. On their blog they recount a conversation with a fellow postal customer after explaining their campaign:

“Lady: Oh my God, thank God! I work at the county Poison Control Center, and for years, when we got calls on caffeine overdoses, we never asked a follow up question for specifics. Now, we have a separate option for “Energy Drink Overdoses.â€� I just had a mom call in last week, and her 8 year old had drunk a 6 pack of *******. She called because the kid was light headed, was sick to his stomach and his heart was racing, and you know what I told her? Give him a lots of water to flush out his system. We get calls every week on this stuff. Crazy.”

The campaign donates 10 percent of their profits to Water.org, a nonprofit co-founded by the actor Matt Damon that provides clean water and sanitation in Africa, southern Asia and Central America. (BigBerkeyWaterFilters.com also supports and donates to Water.Org)

If you are looking for a water filtration solution while you are on the go, we encourage you to check out the Sport Berkey.

In 1993, a law office file clerk named Erin Brockovich began investigating illnesses in the town of Hinkley, California, which residents suspected were linked to drinking water contamination. In 1996, Brockovich’s firm settled a lawsuit with Pacific Gas & Electric for contaminating the town’s water with chromium-6 (hexavalent chromium). In 2000, a Julia Roberts film made Brockovich and Hinkley famous. In 2012, there are still no drinking water standards for chromium-6. If Congressional supporters of the recently-passed REINS Act get their way, there never will be.

Widespread Chromium-6 Tap-Water Contamination

According to the Environmental Working Group , “At least 74 million Americans in 42 states drink chromium-polluted tap water, much of it likely in the cancer-causing hexavalent form.” Under EPA enforcement of the Safe Drinking Water Act, there is a limit on total chromium in the water. Given that chromium-3 is an important nutrient found in food and taken as a dietary supplement while chromium-6 is a carcinogen, many public health experts think a separate chromium-6 standard is warranted. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and National Toxicology Program, along with agencies in California, have spent years studying the scientific evidence about how much chromium-6 in drinking water it takes to increase cancer risk. The black berkey water filters that come standard with every berkey water filter remove total chromium levels by up to 95%.

Multi-Year Scientific Review of Chromium-6 and Tap Water Safety by Agencies

EPA put a draft scientific assessment of the health risks of chromium 6 out for peer review in 2010, taking comments from non-agency scientists throughout 2011 in order to better inform the regulatory process. This is exactly the kind of regulatory work state agencies want EPA to be doing because they don’t have resources to evaluate each of the hundreds of chemicals that may be in our water. Yet, 241 members of Congress, most of whom have no formal science training, think that they should be the ones to decide how much chromium you drink.

REINS Act Would Make Every Regulatory Decision Subject to Political Vote

The Regulations From the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act would, very simply, shut down the federal executive branch when it comes to new rules or regulations, whether on food safety, drinking water, health care, workers rights … How? If passed by the U.S. Senate and signed into law, the REINS Act would require any new regulation that might cost more than $100 million dollars in cumulative economic impact (meaning cost to anyone) get a majority vote in both houses of Congresses before it could go into effect. Any rule or regulation not voted on by Congress within 70 days of its finalization by its respective agency would not be implemented.

With 50 to 100 regulations issued by federal agencies annually, the REINS Act could create a vote-scheduling nightmare. David Goldston of the Natural Resources Defense Council explains: “The bill could, in effect, impose a slow-motion government shutdown, and it would replace a process based on expertise, rationality and openness with one characterized by political maneuvering, economic clout and secrecy.”

Existing Checks & Balance System Makes REINS Act Unnecessary

Ironically, Congress already has the power to block regulations coming out of EPA, FDA, USDA and all the other executive branch agencies, but not with a simple majority vote as they would under the REINS Act.

In our three-branch system of government, the legislature passes the laws and the executive branch implements them. Numerous laws passed by Congress, including the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act, specifically delegated detailed, science based regulations to the agencies. Subsequent Congresses were unhappy with some of those regulations and in 1996, Congress passed the Congressional Review Act, enabling a “resolution of disapproval” from both houses of Congress to override proposed regulations.

However, because stopping a regulation under the Congressional Review Act requires a two-thirds majority in both houses to override the president, Congress has only managed this once since 1996, in 2001 to block ergonomics regulations out of the Department of Labor. The high hurdle for overriding regulations means an agency’s decision must be truly misguided or genuinely opposed by the public for Congress to muster the political will to overturn it.

REINS Act Would Create More Gridlock in Washington

The REINS Act turns the regulatory review process on it’s head, requiring members to rally political support for every single new regulation, no matter how carefully considered or scientifically sound. Considering how few of the top legistalative priorities of the most powerful members of Congress make it through the process, many political experts think the bill would bring Washington to a grinding halt.

“The REINS Act would undermine our ability to protect children from harmful toys, prevent asthma and lung ailments resulting from pollution, and ensure that our small businesses can compete fairly in the marketplace. At the same time, it would force Congress to play a larger role in the regulatory process, leading to even more gridlock in Washington,� House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said in a statement.

The good news is that, as a stand-alone bill, the REINS Act has little chance of being passed by the Senate and signed by the president. Unfortunately, it is exactly the kind of measure that members like to attach to must-pass spending bills so it’s very likely that we see it again.

For decades, millions of Americans have been unknowingly exposed to water contaminated with perchlorate – the main component of rocket fuel and a powerful toxin that interferes with thyroid function. To date, the chemical has been detected in drinking water in 45 states, including Nevada, California and Utah where large volumes of perchlorate have been dumped since the 1950s. About 20 million people living by the Colorado River are affected as a result of rocket fuel release from two military facilities.

Perchlorate’s Source of Contamination?

The U.S. Military Defense has been using perchlorate since the early 1900s. The chemical is the main component of rocket and missile fuel, is used in explosive materials, and very often perchlorate contamination has been recorded near chemical plants and military facilities.

The full scale of contamination is yet unknown, but it is worth mentioning that there are 12,000 military sites across the U.S. where trainings with live explosives have been taking place. In one such facility - in Henderson, Nevada, the recorded level of perchlorate was 30,000 higher than the country’s average. However, in many other cases the source of perchlorate pollution remains unclear.

Can Perchlorate Affect Human Health?

The safe perchlorate level recommended by the EPA is 0.7 micrograms of the chemical per kilogram of body weight per day. However, this is regarded by experts as inadequate to protect public health. Researchers from The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia have noted that exposure to even minimal doses of perchlorate has an affect on thyroid function and can disrupt the body’s metabolism.

According to independent consultant Dr. Laura Power, perchlorate can cause numerous health problems, such as thyroid cancer, hypothyroidism, goiter, immune system dysfunctions, breast diseases and disruption of the menstrual cycle. Pregnant women are advised to be particularly careful and pay attention to the quality of water they drink, as it has been scientifically proven that perchlorate can cause mental retardation, loss of speech as well as hearing and motor skills deficits in fetuses.

Babies and Toddlers are Particularly Vulnerable

Perchlorate does not accumulate in the human body, but it is still unsure if it can build up in breast milk (it has been found in breast milk of women in 18 states). It may come as a surprise, but perchlorate has even been found in baby powdered milk formula with CDC scientists reporting in 2009 that 15 brands were selling contaminated products. The researchers warn that mixing perchlorate-contaminated formula with any water containing the chemical may boost the toxin level above the safety limit. Even small differences in thyroid hormones during the first few weeks of life can have major lifetime consequences, including brain development and mental abilities, and this is where primary concerns lie.

Perchlorate has also been found in other commonly consumed food and beverages and while the source of the toxin in foods remains unclear; some are identified to originate from contaminated irrigation water. These products combined with perchlorate contaminated tap water has the potential to put millions of children at risk. Two-year olds can be particularly exposed as they start to consume adult food in substantial amounts.

Is Perchlorate in Drinking Water Subject to Any Regulations?

Under the Bush administration, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declared that rocket fuel posed no risk to human health and therefore it did not need to be regulated. This statement caused outrage and triggered protests from consumers, health experts, scientists and other health advocate groups.

Currently however, the EPA is in the process of developing a national primary drinking water regulation for perchlorate. Unfortunately, this action does not in itself impose any requirements on public water systems and it may be some time before tany public protective measure gets initiated and enforced. It should also be known that there is also no requirement for testing bottled drinking water for perchlorate. A couple of states, Massachusetts and California, are being more proactive and have set their own limits for the acceptable chemical level in drinking water - 2 parts per billion (ppb) and 6ppb respectively.

Can I Avoid Drinking Rocket Fuel?

The answer to what is the safe level of perchlorate in drinking water remains very unclear. Until more scientific information emerges, it may be worth protecting yourself and your family against any possible harmful consequences of drinking the contaminant.

Cooking or even boiling tap water will not help as this chemical has shown to be more difficult to remove than others. The following types of treatment will be most appropriate for the treatment of perchlorate at the levels found in drinking water: ion (anion) exchange, membrane technology, and potentially high quality gravity filter systems and whole house carbon adsorption.

Note:  To date, the black berkey water filters have not been tested for perchlorate removal, so we cannot comment as to their effectiveness in this regard.

With a new report released last week, the Environment Integrity Project unveiled more evidence that waste from coal-fired power plants is contaminating drinking water across the country. The report, Risky Business, lists 19 new sites near coal ash ponds and landfills where groundwater testing revealed arsenic or other contamination at levels that violate the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Coal Ash Contaminates Groundwater

“The Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) has been collecting evidence of groundwater contamination near coal ash ponds and landfills for several years, and the more we look, the more we find,” the group writes. “Since 2010, EIP has identified 90 coal ash ponds and landfills with groundwater contamination that have been overlooked in reports prepared by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).”  Coal ash contamination is a serious ongoing issue that we continue to cover.

Coal ash is a very fine dust that gets caught in the pollution control equipment of coal-fired power plants. Coal ash contains a number of toxic heavy metals, including arsenic, lead and mercury, as well as cancer-causing dioxins and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) compounds.

Federal Coal Ash Waste Regulation Pending

EIP is one of many groups that has been asking The Environmental Protection Agency to better regulate the disposal and recycling of ash, which is often stored as sludge in holding ponds near power plants. A disastrous collapse of the dam holding a pond owned by the Tennessee Valley Authority dumped somewhere between 525 million to 1 billion gallons of coal ash sludge 6 feet deep over 400 acres of homes and farmland and into the Emory River.

Arial Footage of 2008 TVA Coal Ash Spill

So far, the federal government has left regulation of ash disposal to the states but EPA has been working on a set of federal regulations for several years. In 2010, the agency began taking comments on proposed rules but the outcome is far from certain. Earlier this year, the U.S. House of Representatives voted on a bill that, if passed by the Senate and signed into law, would block any such regulations.

“We already have here a clear and present danger to America’s public health; it is no solution for Congress to hand authority for addressing the problem permanently to states that have refused to enforce common-sense standards for the past 30 years and hope that the whole problem then somehow goes away,â€� said EIP’s Coal Combustion Waste Initiative Director Jeff Stant.

Report Identifies 20 New Sites of Coal Ash Water Contamination

By state, the sites identified in the report are:

• Illinois (7): Dallman Power Station, Joliet Station, Joppa Plant, Meredosia Power Station, Pearl Station, Powerton Station, and Waukegan Station;
• South Carolina (3): Cross Station, McMeekin Station, and Winyah Station;
• Iowa (2): Fair Station and Prairie Creek Generating Station;
• Texas (2): Coleto Creek Station and W.A. Parish Station;
• Florida (1): Plant Crist;
• Georgia (1): Plant Yates;
• Indiana (1): soil at an urban rail trail in Bloomington;
• Kentucky (1): Paradise Fossil Plant;
• Nevada (1): North Valmy Station; and
• Tennessee: (1) Allen Fossil Plant.

For the full text of the report, check out the Environmental Integrity Project website.

Water utilities nationwide may have to test drinking water for 28 additional contaminants, including perfluorochemicals (PFCs), currently unregulated by federal law according to the Environmental Protection Agency plans. A complete list of contaminants is expected to be published next year and the tests are planned to start in 2013.

PFC’s - What Are They?

On the EPA’s list there are six perfluorochemicals (PFCs). PFCs are used in the production of fluoropolymers - these are toxic industrial chemicals widely used by various industries for over 60 years to make products resistant to stains, oil, grease and water. They are commonly used in non-stick cookware, grease-resistant coatings (e.g. fast food wrappers or microwave popcorn bags) in stain-resistant textile coatings and some other industrial applications. Some of these products are made of chemicals breaking down into PFCs in the environment and inside human body.

Perfluorochemicals can be also found in carpet and furniture treatments, sprays for leather, paints and cleaning products and in shampoos and floor waxes.

Perfluorochemicals do not occur naturally in the environment – they are all man-made. Wastes from the PFCs production as well as from other processes in which these chemicals are involved have been placed in several disposal sites across the country.

Perfluorochemical Contamination and the Environment

PFCs are very longstanding in the environment. They can easily enter groundwater and move long distances. Some scientists suggest that PFCs can travel in air, lay down on soil and leach into groundwater.

There has not been a comprehensive survey conducted on the scale of PFC pollution nationwide, but water agencies, scientists, and environmental organizations has recorded pollution of drinking and source water in PFCs in 11 states. It is still not clear if PFCs can be released from products when being used.

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention have detected traces of PFCs in blood of almost all Americans over 12 years old. People get exposed to PFCs though food, water, products or from the environment. Environmental Working Group tests carried on new-born babies have confirmed the presence of perfluorochemicals in the serum, meaning they had been exposed to PFCs in the womb. Some PFCs can stay in a human body for several years.

PFC Research Studies Point to Definitive Health Risks

Currently, PFCs are a subject of intense research and very little is known on their impact on human health. Laboratory studies on animals indicate that PFCs in high concentrations can harm liver and other organs. Exposure to PFCs during pregnancy led to development problems in the offspring of mice. One of the PFCs - perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is linked to causes of human cancer.

Since 1951, DuPont plant near Parkersburg, West Virginia has released PFOA into the air and the Ohio River. In 2001, local residents filled a lawsuit against DuPont declaring health problems occurred as a result of drinking contaminated water. The lawsuit was settled and the company agreed to fund a research project to investigate if PFOA exposure can cause measurable health changes.

Researchers from London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine have found that the level of concentration of PFOA among local people exposed was much higher than the country average. Another finding was that children with high concentration of PFCs in blood reach puberty about 4 to 6 months later than their peers.

As a result of a long campaign and pressure from environmental groups and health advocacy organizations, in 2006 the Environmental Protection Agency and six major PFOA makers agreed to eliminate the chemical from the production and use by 2015.

This was a great success, but PFOA is still used in factories abroad, particularly in China, and products containing PFCs are still entering the U.S. market.

Drilling for natural gas by pumping a slurry of sand, water, and chemicals deep into the ground to crack the bedrock, a process known as hydraulic fracturing or “fracking”, has been officially linked to groundwater contamination according to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report issued December 8th.

EPA: Hydraulic Fracturing Caused Drinking Well Contamination

EPA found at least 10 compounds known to be used in fracking fluids in test wells they drilled near the town of Pavilion Wyoming. While the drilling company EnCana contested preliminary data release two weeks ago, saying that contamination of local wells was from naturally occurring sources, EPA ruled out that among alternative explanations: “The presence of synthetic compounds such as glycol ethers … and the assortment of other organic components is explained as the result of direct mixing of hydraulic fracturing fluids with ground water in the Pavillion gas field,â€� the draft report states.

Fracking Report Based on Years of Research and Tests

EPA first found traces of contaminates in drinking water wells around Pavillion in 2008. After additional testing in 2010, EPA warned residents not to drink their water and to ventilate their homes when bathing and showering, to prevent explosions from the methane seeping into wells. Their draft report on all the tests and analysis to date concluded that the contamination was caused by both the fracking process itself and by leaking pools of fracking waste.

“…the EPA said that pollution from 33 abandoned oil and gas waste pits – which are the subject of a separate cleanup program – are indeed responsible for some degree of shallow groundwater pollution in the area. Those pits may be the source of contamination affecting at least 42 private water wells in Pavillion. But the pits could not be blamed for contamination detected in the water monitoring wells 1,000 feet underground.

“That contamination, the agency concluded, had to have been caused by fracking,” reported Propublica

EPA Hydraulic Fracturing Report Contradicts Company Rhetoric on Safety

The report directly countered many arguments by drilling companies about the safety of hydraulic fracturing, including:

1. that pressure from fracking forces fluids down, not up
2. that the geologic layers are watertight and no chemicals can migrate toward the surface
3. that fracking did not cause the problems with cement and steel barriers on gas wells that may have allowed methane to escape into residential wells.

One of the scariest things for residents near fracking operations is not knowing what chemicals might be in their water. As we’ve discussed in previous posts, gas companies are very secretive about what lubricants and chemicals they are using in tracking fluids.

EPA Fracking Report May Tip the Debate on Gas Drilling Safety

Opponents to fracking are declaring the report to be a smoking gun that will tip the debate on fracking safety. But proponents say not so fast: EPA did not go so far as to conclude that fracking in other parts of the United States had or could cause similar contamination. The hydrology, geology and drilling practices examined are unique to the area and EPA only extended their conclusions to the area surrounding Pavillion, Wyoming.

What does caffeine consumption have to do with water quality? Well according to researchers in Canada, your morning coffee could provide a red flag to alert officials of a sewage overflow and likely bacteria contamination in local waterways.

About 3 percent of the caffeine consumed in coffee, tea, chocolate and other foods and beverages ends up in the sewer system. Scientists at the University of Montreal found a direct correlation between levels of the chemical in rivers and other water bodies near urban areas and contamination by fecal coliform bacteria.

Environmental chemist Sébastien Sauvé and colleagues were looking for alternative makers for coliform contamination, because the bacteria isn’t always that easy to detect. The scientists considered medications, especially the anti-seizure drug carbamazepine because it breaks down slowly in the environment, but caffeine proved to be the winner. “[I]t’s probably very difficult to find one home or two homes where there isn’t one person taking coffee, tea, Coke, chocolate, or some medication that contains caffeine or energy drinks,” Sauvé told LiveScience.

Across the United States and Canada, urban sewer and stormwater systems are aging and in need of repair. Monitoring for caffeine in the waterways could alert cities to breaks in sewer lines and prevent outbreaks of illness caused by sewage contaminated water.

In cities like Montreal or Syracuse, NY, which we highlighted in our post on green infrastructure, combined sewer and stormwater systems routinely overflow into rivers and streams during periods of heavy rainfall.

Fecal coliform is itself an indicator bacteria of bigger contamination problems. While the most abundant bacteria in sewage, it rarely causes disease. However, contaminated water supplies can transmit E. coli, cholera, typhoid fever, shigellosi, salmonellosis, and gastroenteritis, which is caused by several different pathogens.

While Berkey customers can rest easy that these contaminates are filtered out of their drinking water, it’s still possible to come in contact with pathogens from sewage by swimming in contaminated water bodies. Caffeine could improve early detection methods for health officials to close beaches and alert the public to potential risks.