Here is an interesting/related article I came across for people in parts of the state to consider. This may also be a piece related to infrastructure and industrialization/regulations as well.
PFAS ‘forever’ chemicals found in hundreds of New York water systems at unsafe levels:
https://auburnpub.com/news/state-and...9530b4d89c1102
From the article: “Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include details from a recent Drinking Water Quality Council meeting in which it was revealed that New York officials told the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that nearly 550 public water systems in the state contain PFAS.
The drinking-water systems that serve at least 3.2 million New Yorkers rely on water from rivers, lakes and streams that - before it’s treated - contains unsafe levels of the so-called “forever chemicals” known as PFAS, state and federal data show.
Those chemicals have been linked to health problems including increased risk of kidney and testicular cancers, liver disease and reproductive damage.
But only some of the hundreds of affected drinking water systems across New York that contain PFAS at levels that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency now says are too high actually are required to treat their water for PFAS or take other steps to reduce the chemicals before residents turn on their taps. That leaves an untold number of New Yorkers subjected - sometimes unknowingly - to elevated PFAS levels in their tap water.
Tony Schillo, a resident at Rolling Hills Manufactured Home Park in Onondaga County, has heard a common refrain from neighbors ever since he moved in: “Don’t drink the water.”
Schillo recently received a notice from the park that the water flowing from their taps has contained PFAS at a higher level than New York allows since at least 2021, but no treatment has happened yet. The park owner said she is looking into multiple options.
“It’s like living in a third-world country,” Schillo said. “I can’t go outside and fill up a pool with water or the sprinkler for my kid to play with. Even the simple plight of taking a bath gives me anxiety for my kid not to try to drink that water.”
As a result, his family of four is dependent on bottled water for drinking and cooking. The empty jugs pile up in the shed. Buying water that way gets “crazy expensive,” Schillo said. When money’s tight, he skips buying the jugs and boils his tap water before using it.
“These are unacceptable conditions,” Schillo said.
PFAS - otherwise known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances - are man-made chemicals that have been used for years to manufacture heat-, water- and stain-resistant products – from nonstick pans and rain jackets to carpet, cosmetics, tampons, toilet paper and more. Contamination is so widespread that federal health officials estimate most Americans’ blood contains PFAS.
The EPA, which proposed the first-ever federal restrictions on PFAS chemicals in drinking water earlier this year, found that those chemicals are unsafe at even lower levels than utilities can reliably test for.
Hoosick Falls, a small village outside Albany, made national headlines in 2015 when the U.S. EPA told residents not to drink the water because of PFAS contamination. The community installed treatment technology to clean up the chemicals. Hoosick Falls became a watershed event for alerting the public to the issues of PFAS in drinking water.
But the contamination hasn’t only affected a few isolated communities. PFAS contamination in drinking water systems affects communities across New York, in larger water systems that serve hundreds of thousands of people and in small mobile home parks, schools and synagogues.
“This is a public health crisis at this point,” said Yvonne Taylor, founder of Seneca Lake Guardian, an advocacy group based in the Finger Lakes area that focuses on New York environmental issues. “Many people in the public don’t even know about this emerging contamination or the health implications of drinking water that has high levels of it. It’s kind of like Hoosick Falls, all over again, everywhere.”
An analysis of statewide drinking water system data and the state's PFAS regulations by the Lee Enterprises Public Service Journalism Team found the following:
In 2021 alone, nearly 300 public water systems serving 3.2 million people across about 35 counties reported to the State Department of Health in 2021 that the source water they use tested positive for at least one PFAS compound at a level that the U.S. EPA now says is too high.
The state told the EPA in late May that nearly 550 public water systems in New York contain at least one PFAS chemical at a level higher than their proposed restriction.
The worst PFAS contamination in drinking water sources in 2021 was found at mobile home parks in Oswego County, the Hoosick Falls and Petersburgh water districts in Rensselaer County, Hopewell Hamlet and Greenfield water districts in Dutchess County, and a Jewish school and synagogue in Westchester County. The water used to serve all of those places at some point in 2021 tested positive for at least 100 parts per trillion for PFAS – or 25 times the level that the EPA has proposed is adequate to protect public health.
The true extent of the contamination across the state is difficult to ascertain due to disparities in the state’s data. Some water utilities, such as the Buffalo Water Board, reported to residents that their finished tap water contained lower PFAS levels than what was initially reported by the state, because of what they said was a data error. And the state does not keep track of what each of the thousands of water utilities individually report to their customers about their PFAS levels.
Some New Yorkers are getting out-of-date information that downplays the health impacts of PFAS chemicals. The state’s current guidance dictates that for water systems with PFAS detections up to 70 parts per trillion, residents are to receive a notice that their water “does not pose a significant short-term health risk” and that the water "continues to be acceptable for all uses.” That means even people whose water systems exceeded the state’s maximum levels for PFAS contaminants are still being told their water is safe to drink, even though the EPA released information about a year ago that says PFAS is unsafe at a much lower exposure level.
About a dozen water systems with elevated PFAS levels have deferral agreements with the state health department, allowing them to pursue treatment on a schedule agreed to by the state. Those agreements allow them to “avoid being issued a formal violation while they are working on reducing” PFAS levels.
Clean-water advocates say the reality – where some New Yorkers drink water free from PFAS contamination but others aren’t as lucky – is a failure of government officials to adequately manage the state’s growing PFAS problem, even as the state has taken numerous steps in recent years to try to deal with the issue.
“How can you protect public health by allowing any of these in our drinking water?” said Loreen Hackett, a Hoosick Falls resident with documented elevated PFAS levels who has fought breast cancer and other health issues. She and other Hoosick Falls residents are involved in a long-range state health study monitoring the PFAS levels in their blood.
“If we’ve banned them in apparel, carpets and food packaging, why are we allowed to drink any of them?”
New York is one of 22 states that have enacted or proposed maximum levels for PFAS in drinking water, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
“New York State is committed to having the safest drinking water possible,” said Department of Health spokeswoman Erin Clary, who says the state’s existing standards have allowed it to “take action to reduce these levels to limit exposure and prevent health risks.”
And water utility operators say most of the state’s water systems are moving as fast as they can controlling PFAS in light of the fast-evolving science, while trying to keep up with increased regulations and compliance costs.
“You know, there may be some isolated instances where more prompt action might be warranted, based upon extreme circumstances,” said Marty Aman, executive director of the Wayne County Water and Sewer Authority. “But I mean … I don't see a lot of foot dragging going on.”
But some are pushing New York state officials – including the State Department of Health, Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers – to further tighten their PFAS rules to protect more New Yorkers’ drinking water from the chemicals. They say the state needs to keep up with states like Maine and Minnesota that have banned all but essential uses of the chemicals.
“When we’re talking about standards, it can seem so abstract, but it has such a concrete impact on people’s lives,” said Rob Hayes, director of clean water at the advocacy group Environmental Advocates NY. “These standards determine whose water gets cleaned up and whose doesn’t.”
Why some PFAS contamination in drinking water is cleaned up — and some isn’t
The reason why some New Yorkers’ water is treated for PFAS and some isn’t has to do with the gap between state and federal standards.
New York’s rules for how much of the chemicals can be in drinking water before treatment and notification is required are looser than what the U.S. EPA now recommends to be adequately protective. The EPA responded to new research showing even low exposure to the chemicals can cause health problems.
The EPA proposed earlier this year that drinking water across the U.S. should only contain the two main PFAS chemicals, PFOA and PFOS, up to 4 parts per trillion. But New York allows the chemicals to remain in people’s water without treatment or notification until they reach 10 parts per trillion.
“I totally support the new EPA standards - I think they’re long overdue,” said David Carpenter, a public health physician and professor at the University at Albany. “But I understand the state’s reluctance to implement them because they’re going to be expensive. It’s always this issue of cost versus protecting human health.”
The EPA proposal has not yet gone into effect and is likely to face extensive pushback and even litigation from opponents like the chemical industry, which has said it supports some drinking water standards but is concerned about compliance costs. If it does go into effect, the EPA estimates it could cost up to $1.2 billion to implement nationwide to install treatment technology in nearly 150,000 water systems. The state believes that cost estimate is too low.
In the meantime, advocates are concerned about those living in the gap. PFAS contamination in those drinking water systems does not reach New York's existing standards for mandatory treatment, but exceeds the EPA's.
“Residents should know if their water utility is exceeding the EPA’s drinking water standards,” Hayes said. “Without knowing if they’re going to exceed the EPA levels, residents will never think to hold their water utility accountable and get them proactively solving the problem.
“We aren’t advocating for everyone in the population to switch to bottled water. But there might be vulnerable members of a population - pregnant women, people with infants, the immunocompromised - that are most especially at risk of even short-term PFAS exposure,” he said.
Some larger, more-resourced drinking water systems - like the Monroe County Water Authority, which serves nearly 500,000 people - have taken proactive steps to remove PFAS from customers’ tap water after it’s detected in the source water or a well.
Ken Naugle, production engineer for the Monroe County Water Authority, said his utility has installed technology already to limit things like harmful algal blooms. That it also treats PFAS chemicals is a bonus.
“We were just fortunate we had (it) already built into our filtration process,” Naugle said. “Other water utilities may not be or are not as fortunate and will have to be forced into considering (treatment) as part of their compliance strategy.”
But many smaller systems can’t afford to do much about the problem until contamination reaches a critical level.
“Even if they might pose a threat to public health, you might be more likely to get treatment proactively if you’re in a large system than if you’re in a rural system that is struggling to keep the lights on every single day,” Hayes said.”