Albany, New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo signed a bill yesterday, December 9, that will ban the sale of certain cleaning products, cosmetics and personal care products. The purpose of the ban is to reduce the risk of drinking water contamination from the 1,4 – dioxane chemical that can still be found in some consumer products. This bill will not go into effect until January 2022. Read More.
Read more from Governor Cuomo’s news release.
Tag: drinking water
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Eighth graders in Raleigh take on PFAS
A group a ten middle school students, from the Exploris School in downtown Raleigh, NC, have taken on the challenge to study the presence of PFAS in water and raise awareness in their community on the substance’s health impacts. The Exploris School and students are working in participation with the Design for Change program, a global nonprofit that encourages students to examine some the worlds most challenging social issues. The students are currently in the brainstorming phase of their project, where they will discuss potential solutions to decrease water testing time to more efficiently identify the presence of PFAS contaminated sources. Read More.
Mastery Frederick Douglas Elementary School in North Philadelphia tested drinking water fountains to find the presence of lead and failed to adequately notify parents. The Philadelphia school district holds a threshold level of 10 ppb for lead in drinking water while lead inspectors found one fountain in the elementary school with levels exceeding 1,700 pbb and a second fountain with levels around 3,500 ppb. Despite finding such extreme levels of lead in the drinking water, school officials failed to directly communicate the findings to parents. Read More.
A recent report released by the Connecticut Interagency PFAS Task Force has called for a statewide effort to test water sources for PFAS contamination. The task force was formed in response to a spill releasing 50,000 gallons of firefighting foam containing PFAS. More recent incidents involving the release PFAS containing foams have called state officials to the attention of examining water and food-related pathways for evidence of contamination. Further recommendations include an advisory panel responsible for setting a maximum contaminant level of PFAS in water and an “interagency information-sharing network.” Read More.
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National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week
October 20th to the 26th is established as National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week. This week is designed to bring annual attention to the dangers of lead exposure and how communities, agencies, and the government can work together to limit those exposures. The EPA began the week by releasing a progress report on the government’s plan to reduce childhood exposure to lead. The EPA, along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), are working to bring awareness and organize preventive measures to reduce children vulnerability to lead. Read More.
The EPA has revealed new rules for drinking water quality testing and water line repair actions for the presence of lead. The updated regulations are the first significant changes since the establishment of the lead and copper standards in 1991. The new rules will require water testing in all homes with lead service lines and the production of a public inventory listing all lead water systems. Additional rules include federal action towards replacing sections of contaminated pipes. Some environmental advocates claim that although the updated regulations are a start, they do not hit at the root cause of the lead contamination: replacing the 6 million lead service lines spread across the country. Read More.
As Children’s Health Month continues, the Environmental Protection Agency has released a memorandum stating its improved action towards eliminating lead contamination in school and childcare water systems. In support of the Lead Action Plan, the EPA’s MOU lists ways partnering agencies, water utilities, and community health specialists can work together to train, identify, and remove lead from children’s drinking water. Read More.
New Jersey officials announced Monday, September 23, that EPA approved faucet filters have effectively made water in Newark, NJ safe to drink from lead contamination. The state is now waiting for the Trump administration to pass the Clean Water State Revolving Fund that will allow states to reallocate funds to address public health problems. New Jersey has been able to replace more than 900 of the 6,500 homes in Newark that have requested lead service line replacements. The passage of the bill will allow the city to be able to further replace the 18,000 privately owned service lines throughout Newark. Read More.
The state of Michigan has approved a $1.4 million budget for the collection of PFAS containing substances in fire departments and airports across the state. A survey conducted in 2018 found that 326 out of 762 fire departments in the state use PFAS Class B AFFF (aqueous film forming form). The PFAS liquid will be collected and solidified for safe storage in a hazardous waste landfill in Belleville, MI. Read More.
North Carolina was among 22 states that got an “F” grade for not getting rid of lead from school drinking water, according to Environment America Research & Policy Center and U.S. PIRG Education Fund. This week, Environment North Carolina released a back-to-school toolkit that gives the public information on how to get the lead out of schools. Read more.