The Environmental Working Group has created an interactive map displaying 305 U.S. military sites that are known to have discharged firefighting foam containing PFAS. Each site includes information about the base, key findings associated with PFAS contamination and additional resources. Read More.
View the interactive map here.
Day: December 12, 2019
Categories
WVE’s Health First Roadmap
The Women’s Voices for the Earth (WVE) released a report outlining the levels of progress cleaning product companies are making in terms of chemical safety and transparency. The report establishes a “Health First Roadmap” that outlines strategies for companies to follow for chemical safety and compliance that will ultimately put health first. WVE tracked and compared the progress of 6 companies: the Clorox Company, Procter & Gamble, RB, SC Johnson & Son, Inc., Seventh Generation, and Meliora Cleaning Products.
Read the Full Report Here.
Access to the WVE Website
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Rue Mapp – Outdoor Afro Wins Heinz Award
Rue Mapp received the 24th Heinz Award in the Environment category for her role in developing and training a national network of African American conservation leaders, for building a more diverse voice in natural resource stewardship and for inspiring African Americans to rediscover their historic connections to the outdoors.
Through her work, Ms. Mapp is challenging the historical narrative that has caused many African Americans to be wary of the great outdoors as a place where racial violence took place. Outdoor Afro is addressing the legacy of mid-20th century, discriminatory Jim Crow laws that discouraged African Americans from visiting public parks and enjoying outdoor amenities. By overcoming these narratives, Ms. Mapp and the leaders she is training are using nature as a vehicle for black communities to address the violence in their past and present. Leadership training summits focused on developing African American leaders in conservation, outdoor activity and management are held annually, with attendees learning how to advocate for natural resources; the health benefits of nature; trip planning; proper clothing and gear; leave-no-trace principles; and community organizing approaches. Once trained, leaders volunteer to organize local meetups in their home regions for hiking, biking, camping, skiing and more, as well as larger destination trips to national parks and historical sites.
Launched by Ms. Mapp to establish a framework and community for African Americans to connect with and organize outdoor activities, Outdoor Afro has grown into a national nonprofit with more than 35,000 participants and volunteer leaders building communities in 30 states around the country. Its digital platforms reach more than 50,000 followers each day with stories, photos and events.
Ms. Mapp consults with the outdoor industry, environmental nonprofits and the national park system, as well as national and state administrations to increase inclusivity and has been instrumental in helping shape national leaders’ understanding of how federal public land policies affect people of color.
To learn more about the remarkable contributions of these individuals, please visit www.heinzawards.net/2019.
Currently, the action standard for lead for New York schools is 15 ppb— but research from the NRDC suggests that this is too high, as no level of lead intake is safe for children. They propose lowering New York’s lead action standard in schools to 1 ppb, in order to protect children from the affects of lead poisoning. <Read more>
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While drinking water in the United States is some of the safest in the world, that doesn’t mean that everyone should be drinking the water that comes out of their tap. Water scientist Joan Rose reports in the Great Lakes Echo that 43 states have toxic fluoride contamination in their water (PFAS), and many agricultural communities face arsenic and nitrate contamination from agricultural runoff.
Every single person on the planet needs to drink water in order to survive, and for many families, buying bottled water becomes an unfair financial burden. Under the Safe Water Drinking Act (SDWA), the EPA has been able to execute a water quality management program that keeps most of our tap water safe to drink. However, some communities are slipping through the cracks and many citizens are unwittingly drinking contaminated water. <Read more>[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
by Summer-Solstice Thomas, CHEJ Science & Technology Intern
In the small town of O’Brien, Texas, residents drank water that violated drinking water quality standards for months before one resident found out and altered his community. Facing financial stress, the city had switched from a treated reservoir to a groundwater source with violatingly high levels of nitrates to provide drinking water for its residents.
Nitrate pollution usually comes from fertilizers, as in agricultural towns like O’Brien, and can cause methemoglobinemia, or “blue baby” disease in infants. Nitrate levels in O’Brien schools were found to be 40% above EPA standards. Upon hearing the news, many residents switched to drinking bottled water or purchased individual water filters, but not all were financially able to.
O’Brien is just one example of residents suffering from public water quality violations, but they are not alone. In fact, millions of Americans consume unsafe public drinking water everyday.
Is US Drinking Water Safe?
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the US has “one of the safest public drinking water supplies in the world”. Recent reports, however, have challenged that statement. In March, EPA’s Administrator Andrew Wheeler assured that 92% of public water in the US meets EPA standards.
Given that 90% of Americans, or 300 million people, rely on drinking water from a public source, the 8% that doesn’t currently meet EPA standards indicates that over 26 million Americans consume unsafe water daily. Additionally, while the EPA sets legal limits for over 90 drinking water contaminants, ensuring that these limits are not breached is dependent on proper funding and oversight. Based on the 22% decrease between 2009 and 2014 in funding for public water distribution by state and local governments nationwide, it is possible that more than 8% of the nation’s water is unsafe.
Lead Violations
While the CDC has determined that there is no safe blood level of lead for children, the EPA lead rule determines action must be taken if 10% or more of taps sampled have a lead level of 15 ppb or greater. Recently, this rule has come under scrutiny as many companies find ways around the regulation, by selectively testing certain taps, “pre-flushing” or sampling slowly to reduce samples’ lead concentrations.
Additionally, in 2016, CNN found 5,300 US water systems, serving more than 18 million people, to be in violation of this rule. When the lead rule was first implemented by EPA in 1991, 10 million lead lines served public water nationwide. While this number has decreased to 6.1 million lead lines, there are still 15-22 million Americans served by lead lines, predominantly in the Midwest.
Bacterial Violations
Of the 10,000 public systems violating EPA drinking water standards in 2015, 72% of them were bacteria violations. Bacterial drinking water illness outbreaks have been rising since 2000, with 42 outbreaks between 2013-2014, causing over 1,000 cases of illness. Such violations often occur from contamination of water supplies by animal manure from agricultural operations or sewage, causing 16 million cases of acute gastrointestinal illness annually.
Disparate Impact
Violations of water quality are not experienced equally across the nation, and instead they disparately impact communities of color and low socioeconomic status. Research has determined that the prevalence of nitrates and pesticides in drinking water supplies in the San Joaquin Valley, California’s agricultural powerhouse, is significantly higher in Latinx and low-income communities. After the well-publicized water crisis in Flint, Michigan, children residing in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods were found to have greater elevation of blood lead levels when compared to their peers.
Public Herald has discovered that Eureka Resources, a company based in Pennsylvania, has been treating wastewater from shale gas development — a.k.a. “fracking” — and packaging the crystal byproduct as “Clorox Pool Salt” for distribution since 2017.
Read More.