This year, 29 journalism students from 18 universities traveled across the country. They conducted hundreds of interviews, reviewed thousands of pages of state and federal statutes and other records and built databases and data visualizations documenting the issues surrounding water pollution.

To see the full News21 report on “Troubled Water” and view the 30-minute documentary, go to troubledwater.news21.com. Watch a preview of the project here:

News21 investigates drinking water in America from News21 on Vimeo.

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Troubled Water Trailer from News21 on Vimeo.

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Gloria Murray grew up in Hilton Head, South Carolina. She said the septic system on the island was “disastrous.” (Photo by Bryn Caswell/News21)

HILTON HEAD, S.C. – Gloria Murray spent 20 years dealing with the consequences of a faulty septic system on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.

She grew up on the island, which is often described as “paradise” by tourists, with its sandy beaches and gated golf resorts. But for many native islanders such as Murray, everyday life on Hilton Head was often more hellish than heavenly because of the septic situation.

“When it rained, it actually filled up the (septic) system,” she said. “The drainfield got clogged up at the end of the line, so there was no place for any of the water to go except come up on the ground or back up in my house.”

Murray told News21 that it was “disastrous” bringing up three children in that environment. Water would regularly gurgle up from the drain in the bathtub, while they sometimes could not flush the toilet for hours.

When it rained, the water wouldn’t drain properly, and the house would become flooded. The septic system had to be fixed “every three months” before the Murrays finally connected to the public sewer system in November 2016.

Murray told News21 that she had “religiously” lobbied Hilton Head’s Public Service District before they got the connection. “For 20 years, I have been checking to make sure when they came through here with the infrastructure that I would be first on their list,” she said.

Soil conditions on the island aren’t suitable for septic systems because of excessive drainage in some parts and a lack of drainage in others, said Pete Nardi, general manager of Hilton Head  Public Service District.

The town has allocated more than $10 million to bring sewer lines to unserved areas, but that funding won’t cover all residents immediately.

Nardi is part of the Sewer Access For Everyone project, a collaborative effort with Hilton Head town and Community Foundation of the Lowcountry. The initiative aims to connect all island residents to sewer by 2020.

Mario Martinez and his family, who live in Hilton Head, South Carolina, must live with a septic system that frequently breaks down. (Bryn Caswell/News21)

The foundation raised $3 million to hook up 1,000 low-income homes to public sewer. Residents can apply for grants to help cover the expense.

“There will still be some places where the town funding won’t be at play,” Nardi said. “That’s what we’re tackling with Project SAFE: using that charitable effort to get the low-moderate income homeowners connected.”

Mayor David Bennett said the aim of the project was to give everyone who desires public sewer the ability to connect to it.

“First, we are getting the infrastructure in place for individuals to connect to,” Bennett said. “Our hope is that everyone will connect to that. If that doesn’t happen, then I suspect the town council will come back and look around at a policy of requiring everyone to tap on to the sewer system.”

But Murray said the project will take a long time: “Four years is not a long time. But if you have (septic) issues, it seems like a lifetime.”

“These 30-year-old septic tanks, (they’re) going to become a hazard before too long,” she told News21. “It’s going to cause lots of illness and sickness if we don’t take care of it.”

However, there are still people who will not be eligible for the grant given the fact that Project SAFE is for “owner occupied” households, Nardi said.

Landscaper Mario Martinez has lived in the community for four years, and he has yet to be hooked up to public sewer.

“There’s a certain level on the water where it just stops working,” he said. “Nothing works until the (water) level goes down.”

“We just basically have to wait (to shower),” he added. “The toilets don’t flush. The water doesn’t go away. It just stays there.”

Martinez cannot connect his family to public sewer because he is renting his home on Darling Road. This means he cannot apply for a SAFE grant.

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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The former Carver Terrace sits vacant in Texarkana, Texas. (Photo by William Taylor Potter/News21)

PHOENIX – Patsy Oliver wanted the white picket fence dream, so the single mother jumped at the chance to to move to the Carver Terrace subdivision in Texarkana, Texas, where she could have a yard and garden.

“It was an affluent, black neighborhood. Everybody wanted to live in Carver Terrace,” said Bess Gamble-Williams, Oliver’s daughter who grew up in Carver Terrace. “When the deaths and the sicknesses started … we could not understand it.”

Carver Terrace was built on the former property of Koppers Co. Inc., which used creosote and other potentially dangerous chemicals to treat wood for railroad ties. According to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, creosote is a “probable carcinogen” and exposure can lead to lung, stomach, skin, kidney and liver problems.

Koppers stopped production in 1961 and sold 34 acres of the property to Carver Terrace Inc., in 1964. Later, the EPA found several heavy metals in groundwater, according to Catherine Howard, the dean of science, technology, engineering and mathematics at Texarkana College. Some samples had dangerous levels of arsenic, iron, chromium, nickel, lead and zinc.

The former Carver Terrace sits vacant in Texarkana, Texas. (Photo by William Taylor Potter/News21)

In 1984, the land was designated as a Superfund Site, and in 1993, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed the buyout and relocation of affected residents, according to the EPA. The Superfund program is designed to clean up some of the nation’s most contaminated lands.

Oliver quickly became one of the community’s outspoken critics.

Decades after her mother’s fight, Gamble-Williams started working with high school students to spread Oliver’s message of “environmental racism” to a new generation of Texarkana residents. Their tribute to Oliver’s work is a 12-minute documentary, “Poison in the Pipes,” featuring Carver Terrace and Gamble-Williams speaking on Oliver’s work.

“After we aired it, several people stood up and gave their own testimony,” said Cailey Robinson, one of the students who produced the documentary, which debuted in July. “People were crying. It was a really beautiful moment.”

The demolition of Carver Terrace began Dec. 16, 1993 – the same day Oliver died. Odin Contreras, another member of the documentary team, said visiting the vacant site was a haunting part of the experience.

“Seeing all the markers and the concrete, and knowing that these people used to live here and the protests and all the awful things going on, I got a little emotional,” Contreras said. “They were dying because they wanted to live better lives.”

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

Robert Miranda is a representative for Freshwater Action for Life Coalition. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/News21)

Vonnie Williams became aware of the symptoms of lead poisoning after taking custody of her nephew, who had been poisoned. Once her oldest daughter began to display behavioral issues, she became concerned. She later learned her daughter’s school tested positive for lead. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/News21)

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Janet McMahan shows documentail that detail water pollution in southeast Georgia. (Photo by Brandon Kitchin/News21)

WAYCROSS, Ga. – Janet McMahan has a message for southeast Georgia, and it is the one printed on her T-shirt: “No cure until you stop the cause, test your water, get a filter.”

In 2014, McMahan became committed to improving water quality after she lost her 28-year-old son to a rare form of cancer she believes he got from drinking contaminated water.

“I started to get the health department to warn people to test their water, (but) they said they were not allowed to tell people to test the water,” said McMahan, who lives in Ocilla, Georgia.

She said she believes government neglect and lack of awareness contributed to health problems in her family. McMahan, her son Ben and her two Labrador retrievers were all diagnosed with cancer in 2009. After the four rare cancer diagnoses, McMahan felt confident she knew the cause: the water they were drinking.

She had read an article about Bangladesh, where millions of people were being exposed to arsenic in their drinking water from wells. McMahan and her family also depend on well water.

When she had her well water tested, it showed negligible levels of arsenic, she said. However, she said her water heater had toxic levels of the cancer-causing chemical in it. She said she later found unsafe levels of lead and radon as well.

Arsenic is a known human carcinogen associated with skin, lung and bladder cancer, according to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. It also has been connected with kidney and liver cancer.

The U.S. government has limits on how much arsenic is allowed in drinking water. The maximum level of inorganic arsenic permitted is 10 parts per billion. While public water systems are frequently tested for it, there are no regulations that mandate testing of water from private wells.

“All they had to do was tell us there was arsenic in the water, and we would have bought a filter … and my son would still be here,” she said.

After she lost her son, she became active in the community and told people to get their water tested. Her efforts have been praised by well-known environmental advocate Erin Brockovich and have earned McMahan the nickname, “The Georgia Water Lady.”

Janet McMahan McMahan became committed to improving water quality after she lost her 28-year-old son to a rare form of cancer she believes he got from drinking contaminated water.
(Photo courtesy of Janet McMahan)

“I’m doing this for Ben because I could not keep him alive,” she said. “This way, I’m keeping him alive. I’m doing this in his memory. He deserved better.”

She recently helped residents of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, where some people voiced concerns that pesticides in the water could be causing brain cancers.

For several years, she has worked closely with the environmental activist group Silent Disaster of Waycross, Georgia. Members believe local industries have polluted waterways, which have resulted in increased rates of childhood cancer and caused other diseases.

“These people need to know what they’ve been exposed to,” she said.

McMahan and her husband Howard McMahan, a family physician, have used their platform in the medical community to alert patients, other professionals and politicians that water contamination can cause cancer and other illness.

The couple has met with top National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences officials in Washington, D.C., and U.S. Rep. Austin Scott to express concerns on a national level.

McMahan’s ultimate goal is to raise awareness about water contamination to prevent any more unnecessary death.

“Ben didn’t have to die – that it was greed that put him 6 feet under. It was politicians that put him 6 feet under,” she said. “It was not knowing, doctors not knowing, people not knowing, that the water was causing cancer is what put him 6 feet under. And if he could do anything about it, he would have. He helped everybody. He was just loved by everybody, especially me.”

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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Francisco Tavira, 62, earns $12 an hour at Sierra Sun Landscaping in Tempe, Arizona. He spends about $20 a month to refill his water bottles. (Photo by Andrea Jaramillo/News21)

PHOENIX – Dolores Escobar takes a 30-minute bus ride every Sunday from her house to the closest water-vending machine and carries eight empty gallon jugs with her to refill them.

During hot seasons, she travels twice a week. She spends nearly $50 a month on the water, plus her bus tickets. The Phoenix resident said she didn’t like the taste of the tap water at her home, which she said has as a “metallic taste.”

Numerous studies have found that Latinos’ consumption of tap water is significantly lower than non-Latinos’ consumption in places with predominant or growing Latino populations such as Northern California, Denver, Salt Lake City and Milwaukee.

These studies indicate that many Latinos believe their water is unsafe, don’t like the taste or the odor, or repeat the cultural patterns from their home countries, where tap water isn’t safe to drink.

Watermill Express was founded in Brighton, Colorado, and is one of many self-serve drinking water companies in the country. Its main locations are in California’s San Joaquin Valley, Arizona, Florida, New Mexico, Nevada, Texas, Illinois and Colorado. (Photo by Andrea Jaramillo/News21)

Paloma Beamer, a researcher at the University of Arizona’s Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, led one of those studies in Nogales, Arizona. Beamer said nearly 80 percent of the 90 Latino residents surveyed didn’t drink tap water, and most of them thought it was as unsafe as drinking and driving and more unsafe than smoking. They relied on bottled water and water-vending machines.

Latinos in Tucson responded similarly. According to the 2013 American Housing Survey, Latinos were more likely than whites and African Americans to distrust their tap water and buy bottled water to replace it.

Dulce Estrada, who works at a Ranch Market in Phoenix, said she doesn’t drink or cook with tap water because she heard “the pipes are damaged” and because she never drank tap water when she lived in Mexico.

Phoenix residents Dora Godinez (left) and her daughter Diana Garcia refill their 5-gallon water jug every week because they don’t trust their tap water. (Photo by Andrea Jaramillo/News21)

Beamer’s research indicated that 73 percent of the people surveyed said they would drink the tap water if they knew it was safe – even if they didn’t like the taste.

Beamer’s team also did water-quality tests during their home visits in Nogales and found no significant difference between the tap water and the bottled or vended water Latino residents drank, except in cases where they found water stored in reusable containers that weren’t properly cleaned.

Although Beamer’s water samples came out clean, water contamination poses a problem in many other predominantly Latino communities.

For example, small-water systems that serve larger shares of Latinos in California are more likely to have higher levels of nitrate contamination than those serving larger shares of white residents, a 2011 University of California at Berkeley study found.

Not only that, Latinos are more likely to live in states with higher water-system violations reported to the Environmental Protection Agency, according to a national sample study led by Vanderbilt University’s economist William Viscusi.

Phoenix resident Diana Garcia fills water jugs to take them home. (Photo by Andrea Jaramillo/News21)

Latinos reported more pipe leakage problems than whites, although less than African Americans and Native Americans, according to the 2015 American Housing Survey. Leaky water pipes can be a sign of corrosion or deterioration, which affects water quality.

Latinos also spend more money in bottled water. Viscusi’s study found that Latino households spend $2.17 more a month than non-Latinos, yet their median income is 24 percent below the national average.

But the concern isn’t just financial. Beamer said that not drinking tap water increases Latinos’ risk of developing diabetes because they tend to consume sugary drinks instead of water.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Latinos are more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes than whites.

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

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