Controlling Unregulated Toxic Chemicals In Colorado's Water - Continued Dem Majorities Are Key

 

The public water treatment plants  around Colorado's hardest (pollutant) - hit cities  have been retrofitted with granular carbon filters and other costly systems - to try to control a hidden threat to drinking water.  As noted in a Sunday Denver Post investigative piece (Sept.20, p. 1A)  Colorado officials are stepping up a campaign to minimize harm to human health and environmental harm by targeting "PFAS" chemicals that don't break down easily. 

PFAS refers to polyfluoroalkyls, actually a class of about 5,000 widely used chemicals that rank among the most problematic in terms of polluting groundwater, soil and drinking water.  The problematic aspect is a direct result of the carbon-fluorine bond which makes them persistent in the environment.   This property also allows them to bio-accumulate in air, water, soil, plants, animals (e.g. fish) and people.

For as long as records show, the "safe" level for PFAS in drinking water had been identified at 12 parts per trillion.   This is compared to the current EPA safe level of 70 parts per trillion, or nearly six times more.  You can thank the loosened regulations under Trump's original EPA pick, Scott Pruitt.  

Wendy Cleland-Hamnett, who retired in 2017 after nearly four decades at the E.P.A., -  where she ran the toxic chemical unit during her last year -  said flatly in regard to Pruitt's passive policies:

“It is ridiculous! You can’t determine if there is an unreasonable risk without doing a comprehensive risk evaluation.”

Here in Colorado we are dealing with the fallout.  The most recent investigations, according to the Post, found elevated levels of PFAS contaminating water in areas from north metro Denver, to the foothills west of Boulder, to the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. 

In its timely report, the Post referenced the blood testing of 213 residents south of the Springs who for years ingested PFAS in drinking water. The tests conducted by the Colorado School of Public Health showed absorption of the chemicals at up to 15 times higher than the national norm. 

The same Public Health team is seeking to determine the role of these toxic chemicals in an array of health problems including: kidney, liver cancer, testicular and prostate cancer, thyroid disease, asthma, spiking cholesterol, decreased fertility, pre-clampsia and lowered birth  weights.  (In a study published last year the team concluded the PFAS chemicals reached people mostly through drinking water.)

Where do these chemicals come from?   They were originally developed in the 1950s to provide fast food wrappers but are now ubiquitous and found in everything from firefighting foam to non-stick coatings in household implements, to stain resistant recreational gear and even dental floss. 

So far one of the largest PFAS contaminations in Colorado history has been found south of the Springs in the Security-Widefield, Fountain areas.  Residents subjected to a particular sub set of these PFAS chemicals - PFOS,  PFOA, PFHxS and PFHpA-  have been found to suffer a higher incidence of liver, kidney and prostate cancers.   State-backed water testing in the Fountain creek watershed alone has found PFAS at levels ranging from 150 parts per trillion to 1,600 parts per trillion.   These levels would affect more than 50,000 people living south of Colorado Springs.

Why not set a state limit to aid inspectors  trying to control PFAS pollution in soil and water?  The main reason, according to officials quoted in the Sunday Denver Post piece,  is  that "it would be too costly".  There would simply be too many chemicals to control, and the volume of testing and oversight needed to determine each assay would exact a prohibitive cost-  not to mention effective enforcement.

What state Democratic officials are still trying to do - because they know the Republicans won't - is to create more aggressive actions immediately to reduce environmental impacts.  Quoting John Putnam, director for the state health department (ibid.):

"We want to chase this down.  We don't have a program set up to create our own 'maximum contaminant level' - independent of the EPA- but we are actually jumping past the setting of standards into how we make sure we know where it is."

The emerging state strategy calls for:

- District surveys to determine who is using fire fighting foam containing PFAS.

- A broader statewide inventory of PFAS chemicals

- A survey of water pollution permit holders combined with effluent tests.

- Mandating proper disposal of firefighting foam as hazardous waste.

- Taking back foams that contain PFAS.

- Helping state water utilities test for and remove PFAS from drinking water.

Another good move: State health officials told the Denver Post they're discouraging use of any PFAS, including newer, shorter chain varieties based on carbon-fluorine bonds that don't break down as easily - even when ingested.

In the meantime, Colorado's Dem lawmakers (in control of both state houses for now) have prohibited the use of firefighting foam containing  PFAS at all airport hangars starting in 2023.

Dem officials know they need to act now because if the Reepsget control of the state houses again, they will simply continue the deregulatory agenda, i.e. let the cancers keep exploding while they take away affordable health care.

See Also:

• The Cancer Industrial Complex: The Biggest Conflic...