Bottled water piles up in the home of Texas resident Leroy Thomas, who has long relied on bottled water. (Photo by Brandon Kitchin/News21)

PHOENIX – When Bonnie Sicard of Beebe Plain, Vermont, started receiving notices about arsenic in her drinking water more than than five years ago, she wasn’t going to risk poisoning her family. She went straight to bottled water.

“I got seven grandsons,” she said. “When they used to come over when they were little, we didn’t let them drink the water.”

Maine officials often recommend bottled water when they find traces of arsenic because it’s less expensive than water treatment options.

However, the cost adds up over time. Sicard spends about $20 a week, she said.

Bottled water has become the No. 1 beverage choice in the U.S., with 12.8 billion gallons sold in 2016, according to the Beverage Marketing Corporation. Wholesale sales totalled $16 billion last year.

But bottled water can come from many sources, but most of it is either spring water or purified tap water.

Bonnie Sicard of Beebe Plain, Vermont, holds up a boil water advisory. She drinks bottled water. (Photo by Fionnuala O’Leary/News21)

About 45 percent of bottled water, including leading brands Dasani and Aquafina, comes from public tap water that is treated before being bottled, according to the companies’ websites and California-based scientist Peter Gleick, who wrote the book “Bottled and Sold.”

Arizona State University professor of practice Elisabeth Graffy, who used to work at the U.S. Geological Survey, said consumers shouldn’t assume any bottled water is completely safe.

“You should be able to trust tap water more than bottled water,” Graffy said. “Bottled water is actually not regulated the same as tap water.”

The Environmental Protection Agency monitors public water supplies, and it makes violations available to the public. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration monitors bottled water.

While there are some similar regulations, according to a 2010 analysis by the nonprofit EWG, 18 percent of bottled water brands do not provide customers with the source of the water, and 32 percent do not give any information about how the brands test the water.

A 2008 study by the same group found 38 pollutants – from industrial chemicals to bacteria – in 10 brands of bottled water.

However, Graffy said consumers must make the choice.

“There are concerns when you’re talking about the implications of people relying on bottled water,” Graffy said. “But then, you compare that to the concern of water that you know is contaminated … that may be a risk that is fine.”

To see the full News21 report on “Troubled Water,” go to troubledwater.news21.com on Aug. 14.

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Bonnie Sicard, who lives in Beebe Plains, Vermont, said her water has problems: “It’s got arsenic. It’s got a bunch of other stuff in it.” (Photo by Fionnuala O’Leary/News21)

BEEBE PLAIN, Vt. – The residents of Beebe Plain in Derby, Vermont, have gotten used to the “boil water” notices that come in the mail.

“They send us a post every once in awhile saying that we should be boiling our water,” resident Bonnie Sicard said. “This has been going on pretty much ever since I’ve lived here. And that’s 27 years.”

The picturesque community, which straddles the Canadian border, is more than two hours away from the nearest city, Burlington.

Although the local water district draws its water from Stanstead, Quebec, Vermont’s Department of Environmental Conservation regulates it.

But several Beebe Plain residents said they’re frustrated that officials on both sides of the border can’t seem to fix the problems, despite the fact residents still have to pay for the water.

Residents must rely on bottled water because “nobody knows half the time whether you can drink it or even take a bath in it,” Sicard said.

But, she said, nobody wants to take responsibility.

“When you’re talking to the mayor (of Stanstead, Quebec) in Canada, they tell you it’s not their problem,” she said. “Then you go to the town and you talk to them about it, and they say it’s not their problem. Whose problem is it then?”

Ben Montross, a representative from Vermont’s environmental department, said it’s a complicated relationship. The community had to switch to the Canadian water source after its local well water source became contaminated with arsenic, but they have still run into problems.

Montross said the latest boil water notice was issued to warn residents of potential bacterial contamination after a leak in Vermont’s water distribution system.

For some residents, paying an annual fee of $254 for drinking water is a major source of contention.

“It’s just scary to think about drinking water not being safe to drink,” said Paul Therrien, a father of three. “That’s your drinking water. That comes out of your faucet. You’re paying. We’re expected to pay (nearly) $300 a year for water that we can’t use.”

Therrien and his girlfriend, Alyssa Coburn, said they wanted to “settle down, be happy and have our family” in Beebe Plain. But they received an arsenic warning with their first bill.

“Kids are quite a bit of work anyway on their own nevermind having to boil water to bathe my children,” Coburn said. “For a household of five people every single day, it just kind of felt like the workload got even worse.”

The couple, who received the latest boil water notice two months ago, said they are never informed when and if the water is safe to drink again. Stacks of water bottles line their hallway along with children’s toys.

“There’s no freedom,” Therrien said. “You’re not able to go to the kitchen cupboard and grab a glass and fill it up with water and know that you’re drinking a safe substance. It’s very, very stressful.”

Montross told News21 that the boil water notices were just a “precautionary” measure after that leak in the distribution system.

But Therrien said he still worries about the health of his children, ages 3, 4 and 9. He is terrified they will accidentally drink water laced with arsenic or contaminated with bacteria.

“You can’t be in every room of the house with three kids,” he said. “You’ve got one running up the stairs. You can’t stop them from washing their hands. And the little ones, they want a drink – they don’t understand.”

To see the full News21 report on “Troubled Water,” go to troubledwater.news21.com on Aug. 14.

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Yolanda Johnson, a parent at George Washington Carver Elementary School in Newark, New Jersey, said she will advise her 13-year-old daughter to avoid drinking from fountains when they’re turned back on. Johnson buys four cases of water bottles a month, one of which she gives to her daughter. (Photo by Fraser Allan Best/News21)

NEWARK, N.J. – When Kim Gaddy’s godson got lead poisoning from ingesting paint chips, she said he suffered irreversible brain damage that affected his memory and academic performance. That made Gaddy, then a member of the school board in Newark, New Jersey, turn her attention toward the place where children spend most of their days.

“I said, ‘How do we know it’s not in school?’” Gaddy said. “That’s when I was first elected as a board member. They did an investigation and found out that there was lead in the drinking water.”

That was in 1994. More than 20 years later, lead continues to contaminate Newark Public Schools’ water. And Gaddy continues to fight for clean drinking water as a parent and school board member.

About half of Newark schools tested high for lead in April 2016, according to test results released by the school district. The district shut off fountains and installed lead-reduction filters, even though they had done the same thing in 1994 and 2002.

Along with publicizing its 2016 test results, the district released annual water testing data from the past six years. It revealed that about 12 percent of 4,137 samples taken since 2010 exceeded the Environmental Protection Agency’s limit for lead.

While the news shocked the rest of the country, it was all too familiar for Newark residents.

“If you talk to people in Newark, they’ll say to you, ‘I remember being tested for lead when I was younger,’” said Valerie Wilson, school business administrator at Newark public schools. “Newark as a city has had a lead management program for kids for the longest that anybody can remember.”

Kim Gaddy has advocated for clean drinking water as a parent and school board member at Newark Public schools since the 1990s. (Photo by Fraser Allan Best/News21)

Gaddy said frequent changes in school leadership led to a lack of oversight when it came to lead contamination. Newark became a state-controlled school district in 1995, and it has gone through numerous superintendents since then. Things once prioritized by previous administrations, such as lead testing, lost the attention of new leadership, Gaddy said.

“People are just not educated about the issue, and they think it’s OK because somebody else is going to take care of it,” Gaddy said.

Newark’s lead problem persisted until 2014, when officials discovered lead-tainted water in Flint, Michigan, and it sparked a massive public health crisis.

“If there wasn’t a Flint, everything would’ve gone on as usual,” said Yolanda Johnson, a parent at George Washington Carver Elementary School in Newark. “When Flint, Michigan, came out, everybody started testing.”

Newark is a heavily industrialized city filled with century-old buildings. Toxic pollutants contaminate the city’s air, water and land, and there’s little funding available to clean it all up.

Lead experts and education advocates said it’s too expensive to replace old pipes, so lead will remain a widespread and persistent problem at Newark schools.

“There’s a lot that goes into the remediation process, and the biggest obstacles are money and time,” said Maria Lopez-Nuñez, who works with the Ironbound Community Corporation in Newark. “I think in a district like Newark that has to pick and choose what it’s going to work on, that becomes complicated when so many schools just need overall replacement.”

Valerie Wilson, school business administrator for Newark Public Schools, talks about the school district’s ongoing plan for lead remediation. (Photo by Fraser Allan Best/News21)

Until the school district can consider renovating old buildings, it will have to remediate within its means. In April 2016, the district vowed to install filters that automatically shut off when they need replacement.

Gaddy said she hopes such measures will prevent further lead contamination since these filters rely more on technology and less on human error.

“I’m looking forward to better results,” she said. “And from everything I’ve heard in the meetings, I’m confident that this time, they’re going to get it right.”

To see the full News21 report on “Troubled Water,” go to troubledwater.news21.com on Aug. 14.

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When Lori Clark woke up from a 43-day medically induced coma, she realized she could no longer mover her limbs. Doctors placed Clark in a coma to try and treat Legionnaires’ disease she contracted at a hotel in New York state. (Photo by Karl Schneider/News21)

ALBANY, N.Y. – Doctors twice notified Lori Clark’s family that they expected her to die.

Clark, a project manager who lives in upstate New York, was placed in a chemically induced coma for 43 days after she was diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease in 2011. She initially thought she had the flu and delayed seeing a doctor. The last thing she remembers before waking up from the coma is her son rushing her to hospital.

“I couldn’t feel my limbs, was coughing all the time and had a really high temperature,” she said.

Legionnaires’ disease is a severe form of pneumonia caused by the waterborne bacteria legionella. People may contract Legionnaires’ when they breathe in water mists contaminated with legionella, or when drinking water goes down the wrong pipe and into the lungs. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says people above the age of 50 or those with underlying health conditions are most at risk from the disease.

Clark was 46 years old when she was diagnosed. She also suffers from rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, and she went into septic shock and organ failure after contracting Legionnaires’ disease. Her fingers caved in while she was in the coma because she couldn’t take her arthritis medication, she said.

“Before Legionnaires’? I could walk. I could run. I could ride my bike. I could garden, and I could bend over. Life after legionnaires? Not so much,” said Clark, now 54. “I will never see another country unless they build a bridge. I will never get on a plane after this as I’m more susceptible to pneumonia now. I can no longer type properly as my fingers curled up while I was in the coma… Legionella is a killer, and people need to pay more attention to it.”

Legionnaires’ wasn’t something that ever concerned Clark before her diagnosis. She knew it existed, but she never thought she was at risk. Now, after the disease nearly killed her, she finds herself angered by the fact that thousands of people are affected by this waterborne illness every year.

“I’m reading about it in the news every day. How could I not be mad?” she said. “People in power need to see the light and understand that they are playing with people’s lives. They’re  shirking their responsibility for the public’s health. I invite them to go through what I went through.”

Clark’s lungs now only function at 50 percent capacity. She has to work from home most days, and she can no longer travel by airplane or do the hobbies she once enjoyed.

Doctors diagnosed Lori Clark with Legionnaires’ disease in January 2011. Clark first noticed symptoms when she began coughing after a visit to a hotel in New York state. Doctors induced Clark into a chemical coma for 43 days to try and treat the disease. (Photo by Karl Schneider/News21)

“Mentally, it gets easier. Physically, it doesn’t,” she said. “Anxiety levels subside after a while, but in the beginning, I felt like I was walking through a minefield every time I went out in public. I was like a ticking timebomb. If I couldn’t tie my shoe. I would fly off the handle.”

Potable water is one of the most common sources of legionella, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. But health experts argue that officials tend to ignore drinking water supplies when it comes to identifying sources of legionella contamination.

Brad Considine, director of strategic planning with the Alliance to Prevent Legionnaires’ Disease, said officials need to start “facing the facts.”

“When outbreaks happen, health departments look to cooling towers and air-conditioning systems, but research shows potable water is the often the main source,” Considine said.

“By ignoring domestic water systems, they are putting people’s health at risk. We were given bodies that fend off all these threats that we live with, but there’s some things we shouldn’t have to fight.”

Clark sued the hotel where she contracted Legionnaires’ for negligence.

She was there for a three-day work event, and she used the spa and pool facilities, the restrooms and drank the water. A week later, she was fighting for her life. It turned out the hotel never informed guests that elevated levels of legionella had been found in the water system a month earlier, she said.

Health inspectors said it was possible she contracted it from the spa and pool, but like in most Legionnaires’ cases, it is difficult to identify the exact source.

Her attorney, Michael Conway, of Harris, Conway & Donovan, said most Legionnaires’ cases settle as people don’t want it known publicly that their water systems are contaminated.

“Because it’s often difficult to identify the source of contamination, people tend not to take legal action as they believe they’re fighting a losing battle,” he said.

The CDC reports that about one in 10 people die from the lung condition, and Clark considers herself lucky to be on the right side of that statistic. The CDC also says that legionella has been responsible for 66 percent of waterborne disease outbreaks associated with drinking water in the U.S., while the number of cases has risen since 2000.

For Clark, that’s the most frustrating part. In her opinion, officials aren’t dealing with the problem.

“It’s entirely preventable. That’s one of the saddest things,” she said. “None of this has to happen. I feel for the families and the individuals who have to go through this. I’m lucky to be alive.”

To see the full News21 report on “Troubled Water,” go to troubledwater.news21.com on Aug. 14.

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Jessica Penna started losing her hair in “in gigantic clumps” because of water contamination in Weston, Connecticut. (Photo by Fionnuala O’Leary/News21)

WESTON, Conn. – The wooded village of Weston boasts forest walks and brooks, but the pastoral beauty of this wealthy southwestern Connecticut community can be deceiving, as Jessica Penna learned.

Penna, who lives on Farrell Road in Weston with her family, is one of about 823,000 people who rely on water from unregulated private wells in Connecticut, according to the state.

“It started with my hair falling out in gigantic clumps,” Penna told News21. “I was losing pigmentation in my skin. My joints were bothering me. I was tired all the time, fatigued. I went to several doctors trying to figure out what was wrong with me, and nobody seemed to have any answers.

“In my gut, I knew something was going on with my water.”

Then Penna’s 9-year-old son AJ developed a halo of hair pigmentation in “a ring that went all the way around his head.”

Penna finally consulted the Environmental Protection Agency’s website for possible well water contaminants using her symptoms as a guide. In 2013, she enlisted the help of a natural pathologist who sent a sample of her well water to a lab in Georgia. It tested positive for arsenic twice the recommended limit of 10 parts per billion amongst other naturally occurring elements such as uranium.

“I was ecstatic when I found out it was arsenic,” Penna said. “I know that sounds insane, but to finally have an answer to what was wrong with me and how to finally treat myself, I was over the moon.”

According to the World Health Organization, the symptoms of long-term arsenic exposure include skin disorders such as pigmentation or lesions, as well as cancer. The organization warns that if a person continues to drink or ingest arsenic over the course of five years, it may result in skin cancer. Penna had been exposed to the toxin for eight years.

“We’re in the United States of America,” she said. “How is that possible?”

WATCH: Jessica Pena discusses the contamination’s effect on her family.

The family of six has since installed a $1,000 reverse osmosis system on the kitchen sink as well as a $4,000 arsenic filtration system, which services the entire house. Penna said they can’t afford the $1,500 to maintain the whole-house system, which needs new filters, cartridges and sand for rebedding.

“If you can’t afford (filters), then what?” she said. “Then you’re buying bottled water, I guess. You’re cooking with bottled water. You’re still showering with it though.”

Penna said she and her 5-year-old daughter Anabella use the the local gym to shower and wash their hair.

A representative from the Connecticut Department of Public Health said local health departments regulate the construction and location of new private wells. Potential home buyers may “may choose to have the private well inspected during the home inspection for a real estate transaction.” Existing well owners are left to their own devices, however.

Penna said officials should do more to raise awareness about potential problems for private well owners.

“I think the government is responsible for making people aware of what’s in it and giving that resident the option to test for it,” she said. “The government should make you aware that those dangers lie in your water.”

Dependant on a well she doesn’t trust, Penna still worries.

“That’s the scary part,” she said. “What other natural contaminants could be there and the government doesn’t warn you about?”

To see the full News21 report on “Troubled Water,” go troubledwater.news21.com on Aug. 14.

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Water treatment experts say chlorine is used to treat contaminated water because it’s the most inexpensive method – not because it’s the most effective.

But some residents in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, say their health is paying a high price.

From raw red rashes to scalp psoriasis, one local resident said it’s as if he’s “rotting away.”

While officials use chlorine to keep parasites and brain-eating amoeba out of their water, it’s proven to be somewhat of a double-edged sword.

This episode of Unfiltered features two women who believe their skin problems are linked to chlorinated water.

For more stories like this, check out our major multimedia project Troubled Water, which goes live on Aug. 14.

Jennifer Kieff said she feels that her skin condition makes her look “like an alligator.” She continues to seek advice from dermatologists. (Photo by Jasmine Spearing-Bowen/News21)

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