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.

The post Millions of Americans turn to bottled water, but is bottled better? appeared first on Troubled Water.

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.

The post ‘Boil water’ notices common for small Vermont community appeared first on Troubled Water.

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.

The post Connecticut resident tries to solve health mystery, discovers arsenic contamination in well appeared first on Troubled Water.