The Wind River diversion dam in Wyoming was built to divert water to mainly non-Native American irrigators on the Wind River reservation. Many Shoshone and Arapaho tribal members fear the complete loss of their fishery because of depleted waters. (Photo by Lauren Kaljur/News21)

FORT WASHAKIE, Wyo. – Jason Baldes stands next to a bridge facing the Wind River diversion dam, a concrete reminder that his Eastern Shoshone tribe does not have the right to use the water on their lands as they want.

Instead, dams and diversions move water toward the many farms in the region, leaving the Wind River depleted to the point that it sometimes runs dry. In what became one of Wyoming’s longest running court battles, known as the Big Horn cases, the state’s Supreme Court ruled that allocating water to benefit fish and wildlife and recharge groundwater was not considered a beneficial use.

“This is an environmental justice issue,” said Baldes, a member of the Shoshone tribe who still takes issue with the court’s decision. “It’s as though the tribes don’t exist when it comes to using water for our purposes.” The Eastern Shoshone tribe’s code lists 15 beneficial uses of water, including fisheries and culture.

In the final 1992 decision, the courts upheld the state of Wyoming’s right to administer Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho water rights, which they had secured in previous court cases, and the tribes’ traditional use of the river as a fishery was barred.

In 1905, farmers were offered land on Native American reservations to encourage agricultural development. The federal government built a massive network of irrigation districts, canals and dams.

“The tribes were hunters and gatherers, fishermen,” said Richard Baldes, who served with the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service for decades and continues to sit on the tribal water board. “If you don’t have enough water in the river, then fishing isn’t any good. And that’s exactly what’s happened as a result of the Bureau of Reclamation building the diversion dam on the Wind River.”

Wind River tribes faced decades long legal battles over water rights from News21 on Vimeo.

Hydrological maps of the region show a stark divide between portions of the reservation dried from the diversions and portions of the reservation fed from the diversions – one side brown, one side green. The green areas are the most concentrated with private land ownership.

Upstream from the dams, fish are healthy. Downstream, there are almost no fish. Sediment deposits are making the area around the dam uninhabitable, and fish are blocked from moving upstream, save for a “largely ineffective” fish ladder designed to help fish get past the dam, according to recent research by Kelli Blomberg out of the University of Wyoming.

Climate change coupled with heavy demands on water for oil and gas industry and agriculture activities are stressing supplies. In an economic study funded by the Wyoming Water Development Commission, Edward Barbier notes that “persistence of drought conditions over much or all of the state of Wyoming in recent years has raised concern as to whether water availability relative to use may be limiting economic growth.” He notes that oil drillers are reportedly striking deals with farmers for use of their irrigation water.

Jason Baldes, A member of the Shoshone Nation in Wyoming, is teaching is sons to hunt and fish. He hopes they will pass on the same to their own children. (Photo by Lauren Kaljur/News21)

At certain times of the year, portions of the Wind River run dry. Past shortages have even caused skirmishes among farmers in the region, according to reports by WyoFile.

“Time and time again, when you look at the history of water for Native Americans, you have to look at the social, political issues that stand in the way of how tribes progress,” said Yufna Soldier Wolf, an Arapaho tribal member.

Paul Robinson is a research director at the Southwest Research and Information Center. “Often Indian water issues are secondary to other water concerns of the states,” he said. “Tribes get water when there is infrastructure for other people getting their needs met.”

He pointed to the management of the Colorado River as an example, where major diversions from northern Arizona and eastern New Mexico to serve urban centers have limited Native Americans’ access to water.

“The trail of tears over Indian water is one where first water users don’t always get control over that right,” he said.

What frustrates Baldes most is that, properly managed, there’s enough water for everyone. His ancestors chose the headwaters of the Missouri River as their home for its wealth of resources, and there should be plenty to go around, he said. He added that the one year that the tribes were able to run instream flow was a drought year, and farmers still had bumper crops.

“We know that the ranchers and farmers need water for their crops. But we also know that fish need water to survive,” he said.

“I believe that the two can co-exist.”

Jason Baldes of Fort Washakie, Wyoming, has many friends who are farmers and has nothing against the industry. He said he wants to see water on the reservation used for both farming and the protection of the fishery. (Photo by Lauren Kaljur/News21)

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

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Jeff and Rhonda Locker tour their old farm property in Pavillion, Wyoming. The home now has a cistern and underground tank with clean water because the well is contaminated with benzenes and other substances, which the couple believes is from the oil and gas activities on their land. (Photo by Lauren Kaljur/News21)

PAVILLION, Wyo. – Rhonda and Jeff Locker enjoyed hosting friends and family at their farm home in Pavillion, Wyoming. The 56 year old said she took pride in serving her guests water from the well on their land.

“It was the best I’d ever tasted,” Rhonda Locker said.

That changed in the early 1990s when the couple began to suspect something was wrong with their water. It would intermittently run black and release a strange odor, they said.

The Lockers were not alone. Similar complaints came from other residents near Pavillion – a town with little more than a couple hundred residents and an oil field.

Decades later, officials still can’t definitively identify the source of the contamination.

The Lockers, however, believe they know who is responsible. They are taking an oil and gas giant to court, claiming the company polluted their water and lied to them about it. They are seeking compensation after Rhonda Locker became ill.

In 2014, the couple filed suit against Encana Corp. for negligence, and the couple claimed the company convinced them to drink unsafe water and did not communicate water problems with them, according to court documents. The case is ongoing in U.S. District Court.

Encana officials deny any wrongdoing.

Couple tries to identify cause of mystery illness

The Lockers’ brown farmhouse sits between tall apple trees and has a view of the Rocky Mountains. Pavillion residents have learned to coexist with the dozens of gas wells on their hay and barley fields.

When the couple noticed changes in their water, they contacted Tom Brown Inc., a company that built and operated gas wells on their land. The company sent a hydrologist to test the Lockers’ wells.

The company assured them the contamination was not from their oil and gas activities, and there were no petroleum by-products in their water – and the Lockers believed them, they said. Tom Brown Inc. paid for a reverse osmosis water filtration unit for the home. In exchange, the couple signed an agreement releasing the company of any future liability.

“We wanted to believe them,” Rhonda Locker said. “I so badly wanted water to drink out of the faucet again. It was no fun to always bring jugs of water home, always having them on the laundry, on the washer machine – everywhere. And our house wasn’t that big, so It just got to me.”

Jeff Locker and his son still did not drink the water because they did not like the taste of it, but Rhonda Locker did.

“I just wanted to be able to take my vitamins and brush my teeth out of my own bathroom sink,” she said.

Four months after installing the filtration system, Rhonda Locker became ill. Her arms and legs tingled, she could not think clearly and she struggled to walk.

The couple became determined to find answers.

Rhonda Locker sought out numerous doctors, none of whom could give her a clear diagnosis for her mystery illness.

It was her declining health that lead the couple to file suit against Encana, the company that bought Tom Brown Inc.

Wyoming couple’s water problems launch national debate about oil and gas drilling from News21 on Vimeo.

EPA study suggests connection

The Environmental Protection Agency began an investigation into Pavillion groundwater in 2009, and it released a draft of its conclusions in 2011, pointing to the oil and gas industry as a possible culprit for the contamination.

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry informed the couple their groundwater showed signs of contamination in 2010 and suggested the couple use an alternate water supply. This was the first time the Lockers were informed of specific contamination in their water since the problem began in 1992, they said.

It was not the first time someone knew of the contamination, however. According to court documents, Tom Brown Inc. tested the Lockers’ well in 2001 and found toluene – a harmful solvent oil and gas companies use that can cause “central nervous system depression and decreased memory,” according to World of Chemicals.

The EPA’s report confirmed Pavillion groundwater was contaminated with benzene, methane and other petroleum by-products. The lead author of the report said the contamination was most likely due to leakage from unlined pits carrying oil and gas wastewater.

Encana refutes the draft study, arguing that it was flawed science. They deny the chemicals in the Lockers’ well came from their activities, citing a number of other possible sources, in their official response to the EPA findings.

The company declined to comment on the court case since it is ongoing.

The well at the Locker family home near Pavillion, Wyoming, is contaminated with benzenes and other chemicals. (Photo by Lauren Kaljur/News21)

EPA’s study causes scrutiny

U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., in a statement called the EPA’s draft study part of the agency’s “witch hunt” aimed at harming the oil and gas industry.

“The Obama Administration has done everything it possibly can to destroy domestic production of oil, gas and coal,” Inhofe told the Senate floor in 2012.

The issue has become part of a national debate over the potential effects of hydraulic fracturing in the oil and gas industry.

The industry is a boon to Wyoming, which is one of the top 10 oil and gas producers in the U.S., according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Coal, crude oil and natural gas are produced in all but one of the state’s counties.

While the EPA said it “stands behind its work and its data” in a 2013 news release, the agency handed over the groundwater investigation to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality. Encana donated $1.5 million to the Wyoming Natural Resource Foundation for the state to fund the investigation and for a groundwater education campaign, according to the same release.

The state released a report in 2015 “discrediting” the EPA’s earlier report, according to a statement from the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. The state’s report contended hydraulic fracturing had most likely not impacted the water supply.

The state of Wyoming did not return requests for comment.

Senior officials at the EPA had decided not to finalize the draft and hand the investigation over to Wyoming because of the “intense pressure from the oil and gas industry and the state of Wyoming,” said Dominic DiGiulio, the lead author of the EPA’s initial study.

“The findings affect hydraulic fracturing across the country,” said DiGuilio, a researcher at Stanford University. “That’s why the oil and gas industry was very defensive about the findings out there.”

DiGuilio released results from an independent, peer-reviewed investigation with Stanford University in 2016. It also concluded that the water contamination was due to the industry’s disposal of fracking waste into unlined pits.

In 2016, the EPA released a comprehensive national report that didn’t offer a conclusive answer to whether hydraulic fracturing effects water, and it suggested more testing.

Rhonda and Jeff Locker said they are happy they live in a new home with safe water in the Pavillion area of Wyoming. They are tangled in a legal battle over the source of contamination, which they believe came from oil and gas activity on their farm. (Photo by Lauren Kaljur/News21)

Couple still has unanswered questions

As Rhonda and Jeff Locker sit on the back porch on a warm summer evening, they still want answers.

The know there was something wrong with the water. In fact, the state of Wyoming started giving cisterns to residents with contaminated water in 2012. They just haven’t proven what caused it.

Without her medication, Rhonda Locker can’t walk properly. Her cognitive problems are becoming more severe. She feels much older than she should in her 50s, she said.

“It’s always, ‘Don’t hurt grandma, watch her legs,’ and stuff like that,” she said. “I did picture how much I was going to run around with them and do all these things with them because I was so active, and it didn’t happen that way.”

“In retrospect, if there’s anything I could change and go back,” Jeff Locker said. “I’d just soon not ever have heard the name Encana and Tom Brown.”

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

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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.

There are disparities between small versus large water systems in America. (Photo by Davide Restivo/Wikimedia)

In the U.S., it’s often a case of the bigger the system, the better the drinking water quality.

Most water systems in the U.S. are small and serve 3,300 people or less. These smaller systems may be numerous, but they only serve 7 percent of the population. The vast majority of Americans get their water from larger systems.

Smaller systems are more likely to violate the Environmental Protection Agency standards because fewer customers means less funding and in turn, they’re less likely to pay for upgrades and maintenance. Check out News21’s findings below and see why bigger is definitely better when it comes to water systems:

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

The post The bigger, the better? Disparities between small and large water systems appeared first on Troubled Water.

Brady is known as the “heart of Texas” because it sits at the geographic center of the state. This tiny, rural town is home to 5,400 residents. (Photo by Elizabeth Sims/News21)

BRADY, Texas – Tony Groves cannot get clean drinking water for his city.

Brady, a historic city proudly known as the “heart of Texas,” has the second-most contamination violations in the country from the radium that has seeped into its drinking water for decades, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. And this tiny, rural community is running out of options to fix the problem.

The radium is naturally occurring in the Hickory Aquifer, the city’s only drinking water source. Groves, Brady’s mayor, knows concerns of cancer, kidney damage and birth defects from the radium drive many residents to buy case after case of bottled water.

“There’s a lot of bottled water sold in Brady to different people, both for convenience of drinking the water and for concern,” Groves said. “I drink the (tap) water. It’s just a matter of personal integrity, I guess, that says ‘I can’t get you any better water than this, so I’m gonna drink the same water you’re drinking.’”

In fact, water bottles are just a way of life for many of Brady’s 5,400 residents. Children take water bottles to school every day so they do not have to drink from the fountains.

“The kids are aware,” said Angie Borrego, a first grade teacher at Brady Elementary School and lifelong Brady resident. “There will be times when the kids will leave (their water bottle) at home, and they’ll be like, ‘Oh gosh, I don’t have my water, and I’m not going to go to the water fountain,’ because they are drilled that this water is not safe.”

The “Clean Water For Texas” sign is displayed outside of Brady’s water treatment plant. Brady has the second-highest number of contaminant violations for the naturally occurring radium in its drinking water. (Photo by Elizabeth Sims/News21)

The city made progress in correcting the problem by building a system to mix its groundwater with water from the nearby Brady Lake. However, the success was short lived as a multiyear drought nearly dried up the lake, forcing the city to shut down its $20 million investment in 2015.

The radium levels spiked once again, violations poured in and notices went out with the water bills month after month. The notices became so common, some residents said they just throw them out.

“We’ve gotten a lot of notices from the city saying that the amounts of radium or the amounts of whatever – honestly, I haven’t even read them. I just know it’s bad, “ said Melissa Regeon, a Brady resident and a teacher’s aide at Brady High School.

Since the drought, the city has been planning a $22 million water system overhaul to finally bring clean water to residents. However, the state considers Brady an “economically distressed area” because its median household income is far below average. The city’s economy relies heavily on hunting at local ranches and fracking sands sales from mines surrounding the area.

“That makes us eligible for grants, so funds are very significant in paying for that project,” Groves said. “Otherwise, we would be severely financially impacted by doing this process.”

Brady set its sights on Texas’s Economically Distressed Areas Program, a $250 million fund distributing $50 million every two years to help cities such as Brady afford major infrastructure projects.

City officials hoped the grant would cover, at best, 85 percent of the water system project. However, three things stand in the way of the funds: Brady is not the only applicant city. This $50 million is the program’s final allocation. And state senate committees have rejected a bill to renew the program’s budget.

Amy Greer, a local farmer at Winters Family Beef, walks on her ranch’s property line. Greer’s family is working with city officials to prepare easements for a new water system. (Photo by Elizabeth Sims/News21)

“If we don’t get it this time, and the state doesn’t reauthorize that program, I don’t know what we’ll do,” said Amy Greer, a sixth-generation farmer at the locally operated Winters Family Beef.

Her family is collaborating with the city on easement agreements. Part of the plan includes upgrading the aging distribution pipes throughout the community if the funds for the project come through.

“I really want our state legislators to know how terrible it is that they are not renewing a program that will help small rural communities face and tackle these kind of massive health and safety problems,” Greer said. “I’m just ashamed of them.”

Texas legislators deferred the final allocation to the state’s 2019 budget, further complicating matters for the city – already under a strict timeline from the EPA to fix its radium problem. Greer worries the EPA will take over the system entirely or the city will end up with no water, but Groves stands by the city’s ability to take care of residents.

“Nobody understands their problems better than we do, so nobody can figure out a solution better than we can,” Groves said.

Groves said the city will find another way to get funding if the grant falls through, and he is confident residents will support their efforts to provide clean water, even if water rates have to go up.

“If it needs it, we’re all for it. Let’s go. Giddy up,” said Joe Evridge, a Brady resident and co-owner of D and J’s Good Ole Days Antiques and Oddities. “How are they going to pay for all that? They’ve got to go get some revenue somewhere. So there’ll be an adjustment, I’m sure. But that’s just life. Deal with it. What can you do?”

The post ‘Heart of Texas’ struggles to overcome radium contamination in water appeared first on Troubled Water.

Lester Evans, 83, of St. Bernard Parish, said the drinking water in his Louisiana community has been “bad” for a long time. (Photo by Jasmine Spearing-Bowen/News21)

SAINT BERNARD PARISH, La. – Lester Evans prefers to drink bottled water. If he runs out, he’ll drink from the tap, but only when he needs to take his medication.

“It’s like pouring a cup of bleach down the hatchet,” he said. “If I don’t take the medication, it’s bad for me. If I drink the water, it’s bad for me. What you gonna do?”

The 83-year-old has lived in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, for 45 years. He reminisced about the days of “good, old-fashioned” cistern water. “That might not have been healthy either, but at least it tasted nice.”

Drinking water sources have changed a lot since Lester was a boy. The St. Bernard community once relied on the huge, rainwater harvesting cistern tanks. Now, the majority drink from bottles as they don’t trust the water flowing from the tap.

More than 44,000 people live in St. Bernard, about 5 miles from downtown New Orleans. Residents complain that they can’t drink their water because of the “overpowering” taste of chlorine.

Officials detected Naegleria fowleri, otherwise known as “brain-eating amoeba,” in the water in September 2013. They have found brain-eating amoeba in the water a number of times since. A spokeswoman with the Louisiana Department of Health said it’s safe to drink, just as long as it doesn’t “go up your nose.”

Workers treat the water with chlorine to kill the species. While locals don’t want the amoeba, they are now paying for water they won’t drink – and which can irritate their skin.

Lester Evans’ wife, Frances, refuses to drink any water, whether it comes from a bottle or tap.

Louisiana residents Lester and Frances Evans stock their fridge with flavored water and juice because they don’t like the taste of their water. (Photo by Jasmine Spearing-Bowen/News21)

“She don’t trust none of it, or like the taste of it,” he said. They stock their fridge with bottles of water, some which are filled with grape juice. “I drink the bottled water, then fill it up with what she likes to drink … so it’s easier to carry around.”

Just over a year ago, doctors diagnosed Frances Evans with progressive supranuclear palsy, a brain disorder. She can no longer speak and can barely walk. They installed railings in the hallway to help her move around safely.

“Ah, we had a great life together. That’s the love of my life right there,” Lester Evans said. The couple are known as “Captain Swampy and Sweet Lips” and have been married for 65 years. “We used to fish for a living, until (Hurricane) Katrina washed the boat away.”

As someone who spent his life on the water, he believes he knows a lot about it. “The water in St. Bernard is supplied from the Mississippi River, and people say the water here got bad after Katrina, but I’m telling you, it was bad long before then.”

He said the chlorine in the water sometimes irritates his wife’s skin after he bathes her. “You can’t stay in the shower or bath too long or you’ll get a red, raw rash. I suppose it can’t be good for you.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers chlorine levels up to 4 milligrams per liter safe in drinking water. Anything above that can lead to dry, flaky skin – particularly if residents already have eczema or other skin conditions. The Water and Sewer Division of the St. Bernard Parish Government say the chlorine levels are within CDC guidelines, but they did not confirm how much they add to the water system.

Lester and Frances Evans, of St. Bernard Parish, don’t like to drink water from the tap. Officials use chlorine in the water to kill Naegleria fowleri, otherwise known as “brain-eating amoeba.” (Photo by Jasmine Spearing-Bowen/News21)

Locals refer to Naegleria fowleri as “the amoeba,” and they’re concerned about why it keeps reappearing in Louisiana water systems, despite the fact that workers add chlorine to the water.

Lester Evans, who has a number of grandchildren, spoke about the 4-year-old boy who died in St. Bernard in 2013, when tap water containing brain-eating amoeba went up his nose.

“You have to be concerned for the kids more, and my daughter doesn’t let them drink the water,” he said. “Me and my wife, we’ve lived a good life, ain’t no point being concerned for ourselves no more.”

The post Louisiana residents must deal with chlorinated water to combat brain-eating amoeba appeared first on Troubled Water.

At Local Greens, Ron and Faye Mitchell mostly cultivate microgreens, which grow to about 10 inches before they are cut and sold in the area. (Photo by Jackie Wang/News21)

BERKELEY, Calif. – Tucked behind a Whole Foods in a corner warehouse unit, Ron and Faye Mitchell grow 8,000 pounds of food each month without using any soil, and they recycle the water their plants don’t use.

Hydroponic farming grows crops without soil. Instead, farmers add nutrients to the water the plants use. This method can produce a wide variety of plants, from leafy greens to dwarf fruit trees.

According to a study by the Arizona State University School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, hydroponic lettuce farming used about one-tenth of the water that conventional lettuce farming did in Yuma, Ariz. A similar study from the University of Nevada, Reno, found that growing strawberries hydroponically in a greenhouse environment also used significantly less water than conventional methods.

WATCH: How hydroponic farming uses water

The Mitchells started production of Local Greens in February 2014. They primarily grow microgreens such as kale, kohlrabi and sprouted beans while using the same amount of water as two average households and the same amount of electricity as three in a month, they said.

“Who knows what you’re getting when you’re using soil?” Faye said. “Hydroponics is a fully contained system, so we know exactly what’s in our water, what we want in it and what we don’t want in it, and we can control that.”

Ron Mitchell, 67, said the stacked trays inside his hydroponic farming facility in California allow them to grow twice as much. (Photo by Jackie Wang/News21)

Ron installed a water filtration system he customized. He removes fluoride, a common additive in municipal water, and chlorine, a common disinfection byproduct, before adding oxygen and other plant-specific nutrients.

To make use of the warehouse’s tall ceilings, the Mitchells stack six trays of microgreen seeds on top of each other. At one end, an irrigation spout controls the amount and type of water sent through the trays.

“Some plants don’t need or want nutrients because they have it in their seed,” Ron said. He explained that pea shoots don’t need any additives, but sunflowers require copious amounts of nutrients to grow quickly.

The water the plants don’t use is captured at the other end of the tray and reused for the next watering, with the nutrients replenished as needed. The additional nutrients in the water are organic and naturally-occurring since they don’t have to spray pesticides or herbicides in their controlled warehouse environment, Faye said.

The number of greenhouse farms has more than doubled since 2007, according to the 2012 U.S. Department of Agriculture Census of Agriculture. Some hydroponics advocates see the practice as a solution to a global food and water crisis.

“I don’t think it could take over the farming industry entirely because of the types of plants and vegetables people want to eat,” Faye said. “But I definitely think it could make a dent in the farming industry and make its place and replace certain types of farms for a more efficient and, in some cases, less expensive system.

At Local Goods in California, Ron Mitchell’s monitoring system checks the plants’ water supplies for temperature, pH level and electric conductivity. (Photo by Jackie Wang/News21)

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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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