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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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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Tory Lowe has always been a community advocate in Milwaukee. The city has antiquated infrastructure with more than 70,000 suspected lead service lines that need replacement. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/News21)

MILWAUKEE – When Milwaukee native Tory Lowe found out about the lead service lines running through Milwaukee, he took a different approach to help spread the word that the water is unsafe to consume.

Along with producer Godzilla and rapper Eric “EP” Perkins, they formed The Midwest Connect and wrote a song titled “Don’t Drink the Water.”

The song describes the problem: “Poison coming through the sink, but it seems like nobody cares. Thousands of kids jacked for life cuz they don’t want to stop and fix the pipes.”

The lead lines are especially prevalent in the south side and the north side of Milwaukee, a predominantly African American part of the city, according to a list on Milwaukee’s water department website.

Lowe does advocacy work to help those in need. He uses his Facebook page, where he has amassed more than 30,000 followers, to spread awareness when a kidnapping or murder happens. He also goes live on Facebook during protests or community events, such as the start of a summer basketball league.

Milwaukee has about 70,000 lead service lines that lead to homes, and the city began an initiative to spend $3.4 million to replace lines that serve schools and daycare centers in 2017.

But when it come to the lines that service homes, the city will only replace pipes if they leak or they present some sort of emergency, said Robert Miranda, a representative for the Freshwater for Life Action Coalition.

Longtime friends Tory Lowe and music producer Godzilla help to bring awareness to Milwaukee’s lead crisis through music. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/News21)

Going forward, the city plans to spend another $3.4 million to replace 300 lines to service homes. Based on the current replacement plan, it will take more than 233 years to transition the city’s lead pipes to copper.

Lowe and The Midwest Connect said they chose to spread the word about the lead pipes through music because it was the best way to reach a wider audience. The community has embraced the song by liking the group’s Facebook page and sharing the song.

The post Milwaukee native uses music to spread awareness about city’s water problem appeared first on Troubled Water.

A flag in the city of Waukesha is displayed downtown. (Photo by Rachel Konieczny/News21)

WAUKESHA, Wisc. – The city of Waukesha has a radium problem, and it’s looking to Lake Michigan for a solution.

Although talks of drawing water from nearby Lake Michigan began in 2002, Waukesha has struggled with radium contamination since the late 1970s when the Environmental Protection Agency lowered the acceptable limit for radium in public drinking water systems.

In 2010, Waukesha submitted an application to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources for an alternative water supply from Lake Michigan, citing its radium contamination, depleting aquifer and unsustainable water supply.

The more than $200 million proposal, known as the Great Water Alliance, will return 100 percent of the used water back into the lake. The city plans to draw 10-million gallons of water per day from Lake Michigan.

The Great Lakes Compact, the legally binding agreement crafted by the eight Great Lakes states and two Canadian provinces, details how the states and provinces regulate the Great Lake Basin’s water supply. Any community applying for a diversion must demonstrate it has exhausted all other options for getting water, according to the compact’s website.

Waukesha met the compact’s requirements, and the governments involved supported the agreement.

However, individuals have mixed feelings about the alliance. While residents mainly argue the project will hurt the city economically because water rates will increase, water advocacy groups cite the effect the diversion will have on the Root River carrying water back to Lake Michigan and on the lake itself.

Sandy Hamm, Waukesha resident, said he thinks the diversion of water from Lake Michigan to Waukesha is unreasonable. (Photo by Rachel Konieczny/News21)

Waukesha resident Sandy Hamm said the diversion is unreasonable.

“It’s just foolhardy to be pumping water from Lake Michigan 20-some miles out here and then pumping it back,” Hamm said.

Cheryl Nenn, riverkeeper at the nonprofit group Milwaukee Riverkeeper, said her organization also opposes the diversion.

Cheryl Nenn, riverkeeper at the Milwaukee Riverkeeper group, said her organization opposes the diversion of water from Lake Michigan to Waukesha. (Photo by Rachel Konieczny/News21)

“We’ve never thought the diversion was the best option for Waukesha. We always thought they were asking for a lot more water than they were currently using,” Nenn said, referencing the city’s average daily water use of 6 million gallons in contrast to the proposal’s 10 million gallons. Nenn said the city must be prepared to extinguish a fire with its largest facility out of service.

Nenn said the Root River, which will carry water back to Lake Michigan, could have increased algae blooms due to higher amounts of nutrients entering the river.

“When there’s lower flow (during the summer), the pollution is more concentrated in the river so that’s something we would be concerned about,” Nenn said.

However, Waukesha resident Chris Curren said he supports the project.

“Other than figuring out how to pay for it, I’m for it,” Curren said. “Those against it seem to be because they think it will open up a floodgate, allowing other cities to do the same.”

One of those residents, Laurie Longtine, said she thinks the city is setting a negative legal precedent.

“I can just see a scenario where another community within the Great Lakes basin decides to apply for water … to grow and keep expanding,” said Longtine, a board member of the Waukesha County Environmental Action League. “All of these other communities could all stick a straw in it at any time and withdraw.”

While officials said they believe the city’s aquifer is declining and cited that as one of the reasons for the diversion, residents say otherwise.

Like Longtine, Waukesha resident Steve Edlund agrees the aquifer is rising. He began researching the United States Geological Survey’s data on the city’s aquifer in 2013 and found it was no longer declining 5 to 9 feet per year, but rather increasing.

However, Dan Duchniak, Waukesha Water Utility general manager, said the aquifer levels frequently fluctuate, causing the aquifer to appear to be rising.

Dan Duchniak, Waukesha Water Utility general manager, said the Great Water Alliance will likely be completed by 2023. The alliance will divert water from Lake Michigan to Waukesha. (Photo by Rachel Konieczny/News21)

Edlund said the radium problem is practically a nonissue, citing the city’s reluctance to install radium filters on four of the system’s wells that he said would effectively eliminate the contamination.

Duchniak said the diversion is not just about radium. He also identified total dissolved solids, or saltwater, as an additional contaminant.

“If this was just about radium, it would have been an easy solution,” Duchniak said. “It’s not just about radium – it’s about a sustainable water supply because we have other contaminants that we’ll have to deal with, and there’s other emerging contaminants that are coming down the pipeline.”

Edlund said he is also concerned with the socioeconomic impact the diversion will have on the community.

“There is no public assistance for your water bill and that’s scary,” Edlund said. “This is going to have a huge impact, especially on people that are lower income or fixed income. They are not going to be able to afford to live in the city of Waukesha. They’ll be forced out of their homes.”

The diversion does not have a definitive route for the pipeline yet. However, the project is expected to be completed by 2023, Duchniak said.

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

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Cows feed inside a barn at Dairy Dreams, a large-scale dairy operated by Don Niles in Kewaunee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Chelsea Rae Ybanez/News21)

KEWAUNEE COUNTY, Wisc. – In 2014, a study by U.S. Department of Agriculture researcher Mark Borchardt indicated that 40 of 131 residential wells sampled in Kewaunee County were contaminated with bovine feces.

Lynn Utesch, the founder of environmental advocacy group Kewaunee Cares, sees the presence of bovine feces in the water as coinciding with the expansion of large-scale dairy farms, known as Confined Animal Feeding Operations, in the area.

Kewaunee has 16 of these large-scale farms, with many of those managing thousands of cows – many more than the traditional farmers that once dominated the area.

Lee Luft, chairman of the Kewaunee County Groundwater Task Force, has been focusing on groundwater issues associated with large-scale dairy farming practices.

“We saw a very substantial increase in herd counts over the past 20 years or so,” he said. “In fact, Kewaunee County has seen the fastest herd growth of any county in the state by far.”

Luft explained that these large herds have exactly the impact one would imagine. “There ends up being high volumes of liquid manure” he said.

The concentration of feces – human and otherwise – has profound health implications. The contaminated groundwater is filled with coliform, E. coli and nitrates, which can lead to anything from serious bacterial infections to cancer.

“It definitely has an effect on our population in their health and the health for our children,” Utesch said.

Kewaunee Cares, which is made up of residents and small farmers, has focused on putting constraints on the practices of large farms in the county. These farms house between 1,000 and 6,000 cows in a handful of sheds across just 1 to 2 acres of a larger 40 to 60-acre lot.

That leaves behind high volumes of liquid manure concentrated on a small bit of land, making it more likely for that manure to seep down through the soil and into the groundwater.

Lynn Utesch unwinds fencing to stake around the pasture on his small dairy farm in Kewaunee, Wisconsin, before allowing his cows to graze. (Photo by Chelsea Rae Ybanez/News21)

Utesch said he believes these large-scale farming practices are causing the contamination. His group continues to look at the effects of industrial agriculture, push the county to set requirements on farms for things like manure spreading and petition the Environmental Protection Agency to intervene under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

On the other side, large farm owners point to residential septics as another source of feces, but they don’t entirely deny the role their manure plays.

Don Niles is the president of Peninsula Pride Farms, a watershed initiative in Kewaunee County made from an alliance of large farm owners. In an online mission statement, the group said it’s “committed to protecting, nurturing and sustaining our precious soil, water and air.”

“Agriculture plays a role in environmental challenges in our county,” Niles said. “We’re the major use of land, and we have the major responsibility.”

His operation uses a methane digester to treat waste from his cows. “We use things like methane digesters to create green power but also reduce the pathogens in the manure,” he said of the building-sized machine that cost him millions.

Don Niles, owner of Dairy Dreams farm in Wisconsin, stands along the center corridor in one of his barns, surrounded by hundreds of his cows. (Photo by Chelsea Rae Ybanez/News21)

Still, Utesch said measures like this fall short, and the only solution is for these farms to take responsibility for specific wells their manure contaminates.

If residents can prove a specific farm contaminated their well, there is some legal recourse available. In situations like this, the Department of Natural Resources will intervene to compel the farm to pay for a replacement water source. Or residents can lodge a civil court case against the farm.

However, pinning contamination on a specific farm is complicated.

Jesse Jerabek, an architect in Kewaunee County, doesn’t own a single cow. In the short time after the expansion of Kinnard Farms down the road from him, he said his water became contaminated. While he feels the connection is obvious, proving it is another matter.

Borchardt said that requires technique called “microbial source tracking.” He explains that this method “could link a contamination event in a well to a particular farm,” and even more specifically “could link it to a particular cow.” The process matches animal DNA found in contaminated water to DNA in the manure on a farm.

Calves are tagged at Dairy Dreams, a large-scale dairy operated by Don Niles in Kewaunee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Chelsea Rae Ybanez/News21)

But there’s a catch. To work, a farm needs to provide a manure sample, something that may go against its own interests.

Niles expressed doubts about the technique, which is used routinely by microbiologists. “Even if you found out that it was bovine, there (are) 100 plus farms in the county,” he said. “How would you necessarily know which farm it came from?”

Beyond this, Niles said he also hesitates because of the high cost of the test.

Niles said he hopes his efforts help make Kewaunee water safe down the road.

“We’re not slowing down our program. We’re speeding up,” he said. “I think it’s gonna take us a long ways.”

The post Wisconsin community grapples with bovine feces in water appeared first on Troubled Water.

Vanessa Budetti and her son Skylar have lived in Newburgh for more than a decade. In 2016, the city of Newburgh declared a state of emergency after discovering that Lake Washington, the source of the city’s drinking water, was contaminated with high levels of perfluorooctane sulfonate that exceeded the levels recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency for safe consumption. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/News21)

NEWBURGH, N.Y. – Vanessa Budetti tries to live a clean, healthy life. She stocks organic and natural products in her household. She runs frequently to stay in shape. And she even rejects bottled water to decrease her environmental impact.

So the 45-year old Newburgh resident said she was surprised when she found out that she and her 14-year-old son Skylar had traces of a cancer-causing chemical in their blood.

They believe it came from their tap water.

“All Skylar and I drink is tap water,” Budetti said. “I felt it was the best choice to just drink the water that was supposedly clean and ready for us. We tried so hard, and then all of a sudden … (we) realize there are these chemicals in our body at these levels.”

Nearly 29,000 Newburgh residents were exposed to this chemical for years, according to Riverkeeper, a nonprofit organization that advocates for clean water for New York residents. Budetti found that she and her son are among the residents whose blood tested positive for perfluorooctane sulfonate.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation determined that the Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh was the source of the contamination.

Military bases have used firefighting foam that contains the chemical, and manufacturers also have used it in cleaners, carpets and non-stick surfaces such as Teflon. Newburgh City Manager Michael Ciaravino, declared a state of emergency in May 2016 after these chemicals were discovered in Silver Stream and Washington Lake, the city’s primary water source.

State officials will fund a carbon filtration system for Washington Lake to eliminate the chemicals from the water supply, and they said they will seek reimbursement from those responsible, including the Department of Defense, according to a New York State Department of Environmental Conservation news release. While residents wait until they finish installing the filter, scheduled for completion in October 2017, the city is receiving re-routed water from New York City’s Catskill Aqueduct.

An unclear future

Although officials are installing the filtration system, Ciaravino said other areas need clean up as well.

Some of the city’s highest pollution levels were detected in water coming from a pond near the military base. The pond used to flow into Washington Lake, but officials diverted it so it now flows into the Hudson River.

Ciaravino said his next goal is to urge the state to fund another filtration system at Recreation Pond so Washington Lake becomes usable again as a long-term water source.

Ciaravino said the Department of Defense has been “polite” in its response to the city. “But at the end of the day, we’re not seeing a meaningful action plan that translates into the level of urgency that everyone agrees this is,” he said. “We would like this to be treated like a threat on domestic soil in the United States of America.”

Dan Shapley, the water quality program director for Riverkeeper, said two other important problems aren’t resolved: The DOD has yet to claim full responsibility, and it still allows polluted water to flow off its base.

“They polluted this city’s drinking water supply,” Shapley said. “They’re charged with protecting us. Get started protecting this city.”

The DOD did not respond to a request for comment.

Riverkeeper also is pushing for a long-term, comprehensive plan to protect the drinking water and will continue monitoring the state’s response to ensure information reaches all Newburgh residents, especially since nearly 48 percent of households in the city speak a language other than English, according to the U.S. Census Bureau 2015 data.

“The question that many of our community residents are asking rhetorically is: If the Department of Defense can defend us to threats around the world, why can’t they defend us against this cancer-causing agent that’s emanating from their very military base … where’s the urgency of that?” Ciaravino said.

In 2016, the city of Newburgh, New York, declared a state of emergency after discovering that Lake Washington, the source of the city’s drinking water, was contaminated with high levels of a chemical found in foam used to fight fires at military bases. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/News21)

Potential health effects

Residents have raised questions about how the contaminated water could affect their long-term health. The Environmental Protection Agency classified perfluorooctane sulfonate as an “emerging contaminant,” or a chemical the EPA is researching and monitoring to determine its human and environmental effects. Researchers have linked the chemical to some cancers, high cholesterol and fetal development complications.

After living in Newburgh for 15 years and drinking the tap water while pregnant, Budetti said she suspects her son’s autism is linked to the contamination. She is concerned about his future.

The U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry and the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command have conducted studies to evaluate how the chemical may cause birth defects and delayed development. However, there is no conclusive evidence.

The New York State Health Department offered blood testing to Newburgh residents starting in November 2016. After receiving her results, Budetti said she expected to see elevated levels of the chemical.

However, she was shocked that her son’s tests showed extremely high levels of one of the chemical variations, PFHxS. They were about 30 percent higher than Budetti’s levels, and in the 95th percentile for U.S. testing. Budetti said a state health department counselor told her the increased levels are likely due to the transmission of chemicals from her bloodstream during breast-feeding.

“It’s really upsetting to see,” Budetti said. “Everything I’ve done for his entire life … and these are the levels he’s at.”

She said she also worries about the current state of her water. She doesn’t trust the government’s test results and would like to test her own water.

But Ciaravino said they’re working hard to communicate that the water is safe now.

“We are now drinking some of the best, clearest water available in the state of New York,” he said. “I would like to be able to fulfill the promise that when we switch back to Washington Lake, we’re going to have the same quality water that we had been providing them since this emergency started.”

Ciaravino said this water contamination crisis is the last thing the city of Newburgh needs as it continues to face socioeconomic challenges. In 2015, about 34 percent of Newburgh residents lived below the poverty level, compared to the New York state average of about 16 percent. Nationally, it’s 15.5 percent, according to the Census Bureau.

“It’s this constant struggle between hope and despair in our community,” Ciaravino said. “We’re tough, though. That’s one the thing we have going for us: Newburgh is resilient, and Newburgh doesn’t shy away from its battles.”

The post Newburgh, NY, fights for clean water after cancer-causing chemical discovered appeared first on Troubled Water.

At the bee annex on Arizona State University’s Polytechnic campus, the honey bees are not monitored or tagged. They are free to roam the skies. This can leave them vulnerable to contamination from nearby farming activities. (Photo by Nicole Tyau/News21)

MESA – Farmers depend on honey bees to produce one-third of our food and drink, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But experts say those same farmers may be killing those bees because of the pesticides they use.

WATCH: Researcher Osman Kaftanoglu explains how honey bees are impacted by pesticide-filled water

About 2.5 million honey bee colonies live in the U.S. today – a drop of more than 50 percent since the 1950s, when the U.S. had 5.5 million, according to the USDA.

Farmers struggle to pollinate their crops with this limited bee supply. For context, every 2 acres of almond farms requires one hive for proper pollination, and almond growers in California’s Central Valley rent about 1.7 million hives for the brief almond blossoming season every year, according to Gene Brandi, president of the American Beekeeping Federation.

Researchers attribute the decrease in bee population to colony collapse disorder, and a Canadian study identified pesticide-polluted puddles as a potential cause. Systemic pesticides stay in the soil for months, contaminating the bees’ water supply.

Osman Kaftanoglu, the project manager of the Honey Bee Research Lab at Arizona State University, wears a mesh helmet for safety. In his left hand, he holds a smoker that sedates bees as he works with them. In his right hand, he carries a tool that pries the hives open. (Photo by Nicole Tyau/News21)

Water pollution, said Arizona State University entomologist Osman Kaftanoglu, is important to understand in relation to bees.

“Bees need water, especially in Arizona,” said Kaftanoglu, project manager of ASU’s Honey Bee Research Lab. “If there is no water … the temperature gets very hot, and honey will melt, beeswax will melt and the colony will collapse.”

Bees manage their ideal hive temperature of about 90 degrees Fahrenheit by bringing water they collected back to the hive, where in-hive bees will evaporate it by fanning their wings.

In Arizona, water is crucial to a hive’s maintenance in the summer.

Researchers at Arizona State University’s bee annex house bee hives in boxes so they can monitor the health of the colony. (Photo by Nicole Tyau/News21)

If a bee travels outside the hive, collects contaminated water and finds its way home – which it may not since pesticide exposure impairs bees’ ability to orient themselves – the polluted water will reduce the lifespan of the rest of the bees. Their lifespans are already very short, Kaftanoglu said, and reducing it may affect the survival of the colony.

“The colonies cannot develop, and there will not be enough population to maintain the temperature in the hive and to take care of, to brood in the hive,” Kaftanoglu said. “The colonies will be weak.”

Kaftanoglu said though there are other pollinators in the United States, they cannot fill the role that honey bees play in pollination.

“Honey bees are the only insects that can be managed, and we can transport the bees from one place to another,” Kaftanoglu said. “There are no other insects that can do the job as well as honey bees.”

These hives at Arizona State University are artificial honeycomb frames that withstand the Arizona heat better than natural beeswax. (Photo by Nicole Tyau/News21)

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