Alabama Water Crisis

When living off the land may shorten your life

It’s a popular vision, growing your own plants, eating local, buying local. Many families like ours are focused on choosing our sources for life, living and food closer to home. Retail industry is in the business of making food last, of chemically altering food, containers, and processes to further their profitability. I don’t know about you, but I’d prefer my food fresh please.The problem with learning your water has been contaminated with PFOS and PFOA and your soil may be involved, as may be your well, your springs, and health, is that we are trained to believe contamination has a specific look. My garden looks healthy, my soil and grass is growing plants, but just because water is clear doesn’t mean its not contaminated.

The last two years at the tacky brown house we have been aware that local landfills have offered free offerings to fertilize our garden spaces. Each year we’ve chosen NOT to use anything in our garden we were not aware of what someone had put in it. Our water did not occur to us to be something we needed to consider. Little did we know that the water we were watering the land with was the ultimate toxic fertilizer available: PFOA and PFOS in our water system itself.

As the weeks since the announcement that our water was unsafe to drink, I have been researching what the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has said about our area’s reports, finings for industry missteps, and outcomes of on-going toxicology reports.

PFOA and PFOS may be lessened by flushing it out, the particles are small and they travel. What does that mean? They are less likely to cling to things like pipes, but that is if there is a clean water flushing happening that is not laden with additional chemicals. Our Alabama situation is much different. We have a utility company up the road legally permitted to dump toxic chemicals into the Tennessee River daily. It is happening every day as I type. We also have sludge fields that were created in Lawrence County as waste removal sites. Other farms have been brought New York human refuse as fertilizer. This has been going on for years, and the tests from the EPA itself show that the chemical damage is present in the soils, the people, and the things grown on the land. That means the wheat, the grasses we are feeding the animals, which are feeding some of us, are contaminated as well.

As a land owner, concerned wife, mom, and citizen it seems surreal that our local authorities, state authorities, and federal authorities with information presently available.We are being told our state will not support the fight. We see Hoosick Falls and other Attorney Generals leading the charge, but ours in Alabama is oddly silent. Even with all the EPA information and documentation known from the past and the current findings, authorities are still are not declaring a state of emergency, calling in the Superfund for immediate support of testing, citizen support and cleanup. It’s obvious that the problem is known and is being ignored by those put in office to protect our people. Poverty has a way of making people expendable. We are a poor county, the highest number of American Indians in the state and the average home income is low in Lawrence County. At the last community meeting families told story after story of their family’s illnesses, awareness of dumping on the land, open landfills of known contaminants, and decades of being ignored despite illnesses, questions, and asking for help.

We are not even receiving the BASIC information EPA provided Hoosick Falls on how to handle things like vegetables grown on our land, or best practices at home…suggestions like not boiling the water, not taking steamy showers, avoiding breathing your dishwasher’s steam or drying heat released air. The authority’s stance seems to be “those simple country folks are just not informed”….well, they are absolutely right, for when we gather the facts, pictures, stories, lab results and reports, I suspect you’ll see Alabama country folks rise like you’ve never imagined. It has already begun with citizens groups such as Warriors for Clean Water, Concerned Citizens for WMEL Water Authority Grassroots and many, many more.

The fight will be long and hard, but that’s never been an issue for Alabama folks on a mission. We’re use to having to work hard for what we achieve and earn.

Last night private donations provided 360 or so families gallon jugs of water for their homes, for drinking, cooking, and the preparation of formula for fragile and young children. We have over 10,000 families affected. The water drives have been one maybe two per week. Alabama, we have a problem. It’s 90+ degrees in North Alabama. The health authority recommends officially that pregnant women, nursing children and children under 14 not drink PFOA or PFOS existant water, even small amounts. However, there is no public method for support of providing water to the families in need.

Every day I read, I talk to local community members, the stories and the facts being proven with lab results, paperwork from corporations, and personal presence of contamination outcomes are breathtaking. Personally, it seem surreal that our community is facing such atrocities in agency allowed permits, state government lapses in caring about the environment, and personal inattention to the citizens that elect our officials.

We are only too aware in the WMEL that we’re risking our economy, after all, who wants to bring more industry to a place that is contaminated. Who will bring tournaments where their participants are at risk for fishing in contaminated waters? Citizens are sick. Lands are contaminated. The Tennessee River is contaminated and like the Goldilocks tale, the contaminators are still sleeping in MY bed…our community. Reports from long ago already have identified the problems exists and are on-going.

I look out to our garden and yard every morning, I walk the land knowing that the very place we dreamed of, have nurtured into a home and space we chose to live, is now contaminated. How much damage is done is unproven until testing is done and studies are proven. The septic systems may also be leeching it into our wells or ground waters. We simply don’t know how deep, wide, or long the contamination of the River and the local utility has been going on. What we do know, is it’s time to stop ignoring damage that is being done, that has been done, and will be done if we do not demand change.

Resources:

http://sweetieberry.com/water Links as I gather them of reports, local data, and previous EPA and agency findings.

http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HAC/pha/Decatur/Perfluorochemical_Serum%20Sampling.pdf

https://archive.epa.gov/pesticides/region4/water/documents/web/pdf/epa_decatur_fact_sheet_final.pdf

What water contamination means in daily life…

Alabama Water Crisis, Water

We’ve all seen the stories on television and perhaps even tales from earlier generations of carrying water long distances to survive. The pictures and fundraisers are always heart tugging, the countries impoverished and the situations dire. Water contamination in Alabama doesn’t immediately provide such heart pulling scenes. We’re more the country folk, the dusty and perhaps muddle cousins to the ads you’ve no doubt seen. We are many things in Alabama, and yet most of us are unaccustomed to carrying water to the fields, to hauling water to our homes, but we are learning.

In our home, the tacky brown house, we are comfortable though we are still in renovations, we have air conditioning. We are fortunate. The house provides for our needs, the inconvenience factor of contaminated water is what first stands out. No longer can I go to the refrigerator to push the ice button and then fill my glass with cold filtered water. No longer can I fill my pups bowls with water out of the tap, or feed the animals outside from a water hose. No longer can I deftly boil water for pasta without considering what chemicals I will be breathing, or may be in the pipes, or released as I mix tap water with cleaners. No longer can I can the harvest for the water may be unsafe to use, much less boil.

You read a little more each day, and watch a video or two to try to sort through the scariest outcomes to the common sense ones. Have you considered that when chemicals are in your water source, that adding heat may release them into your breathing environment? What about your dishwasher steam? What about long showers or taking hot baths. My creature comforts of daily life vanish. All now much be considered, calculated, and decided upon…and there are “truth testers” to verify what the media or your representatives tell you. Research tells you time and time again you’re being told a story of convenience, not truth or the depths of truths known.

It’s not just about what bottle of water you drink out of anymore, but why you’re having to buy water at all, while you still pay for your WMEL water that is questionable at best to drink from. You wonder daily why the system has failed its citizens, and you thank God for Don Mills, who told the truth about our dangers.

You begin to acclimate to the many times a day you took clean water from the tap for granted. You brush your teeth with bottled water. You start considering whether or not your garden is safe to eat. You stop watering anything from a water hose because city water simply isn’t safe any more. If you drink the amount of water each person is said to need, you start wondering what you’ll do with all the plastic refuse your household now requires. The water bottle wastes themselves, now creating even new issues for our community.

You avoid using the clothes dryer, for the EPA warnings say that particles flush through water, but may cling to clothing, that heating the water to vapor may release small particles into your family’s air. You line dry your clothes, it’s hot anyway, but you wonder just how much contamination truly exists between you and the water company’s testing. The contamination has been decades, and the testing minimum…you wonder exactly what it is you are washing, wearing next to your skin, and breathing….day in…day out.

When you quiet down or have time to consider, you start realizing your septic system has the capability of leeching this to the soil, and to the water table. While the research says the amounts of contaminant will diminish over time, you know that it’s been a long long time since authorities first recognized pollutants were in our area. You meet people who are sick, who share stories of their loved ones lost, their grandchildren struggling and who know that they are a part of what the corporations don’t want talked about. The “political” media says we have no problem, but our statistics of health, cancer, and deaths beg to differ. Today I am pretty certain the water won’t kill me, but the odds are that the past contamination and the present continued dumping in our river will harm my health if not my entire family’s health…over time…slowly…until we are measureably sick or our next generation damaged in utero.

You begin to understand that it’s not just a health hardship, but your budget is going to be different. You’re going to purchase water, you’re going to need to identify whether or not your well has been contaminated. You’re going to be spending time seeking bottled water and systems that our community isn’t being provided because our government has failed to identify this proven contamination as an emergency. You learn that each test, for yourself, for soil, for water well start in the $1200 range and up…IF you can find a lab willing to take your samples through the difficult, but necessary process of capturing with a chain of custody passage process. You’re going to need to budget time for community meetings, education and time to really consider each step for your family.

You recognize that the value of the land you’ve worked hard to plan a life on, just lost it’s ability to provide for your children a nest egg to build from. That less than 2 months ago you were celebrating dreams come true, only to find that this particular dream may turn out to have been a nightmare you are now awake to. That you cannot sell or buy a home with known contamination, and most of us do not see how starting over, when you still have your investment money tied up will work. Litigation, if won, may take decades, meanwhile there are decisions to be made about this day and tomorrow and what the future may need to be.

You realize that paying cash for your home at least puts you in a better situation than others who are now unable to even sell their home…and have to keep paying for it, knowing that the very soil and home they are paying for may be a threat to their family’s health.

As you carefully consider every drop of purchased water you consume, you realize how blessed you are that you can afford to purchase water. It’s 100 degrees, and many of our community not only cannot purchase it, but cannot afford the fuel to go receive donated water. We won’t even dare to think long on the many who will go without because of infirmities, transportation or pride that won’t take charity.

With each passing day you recognize that the water problems are not going away any time soon. You can count on only one thing, that time will reveal just how many ways the people of North Alabama will suffer because of decisions made in greed and at times, in ignorance of what allowing chemicals to be poured into our land, our river, and our people will cost….the generations present…and those to come.

You lean hard in to the scriptures that promise no weapon formed against me will prosper for your family… and you pray for wisdom to make the right choices as we go.

When We Became Who It Happened To

Alabama Water Crisis, Water

Water contamination is a national conversation, but it becomes a good bit more important to individuals when it happens to their source of water. We chose to move to Trinity, Alabama because the country atmosphere and beautiful land supported the kind of back-to-simpler ways living our family desires to live.

We came to Trinity two and a half years ago, so very excited to renovate a 1955 home we call the tacky brown house, to plant new gardens, to enjoy the wells and springs on our lands, and to come home to what we called “the perch” for a place to grow our dreams. Little did we know our dreams would soon begin to be a nightmare.

One of the first things we were drawn to on our land was the presence of a water well and multiple springs. Water wells provide freedom and allow for crops to be watered easily. Springs support the ability to expand the crops as well as the possibility of a pond or watering livestock we hoped to have. We chose West Morgan East Lawrence water services, but knew we also had backup for water on our land and in our well.

In May of this year, the Environmental Protection Agency announced new lower acceptable levels of the presence of chemicals known as PFOA and PFOS. They are part of a family of chemicals created as a by-product of the teflon family, water repellants, and chemicals used in products of multiple large corporations that use the Tennessee River to release their refuse. WMEL Water Authority water was testing at 270 or more times past what was acceptable in the new EPA identified range of parts per billion. Households were warned to consider not using local water and our local water authority head alerted citizens. I am thankful for his honesty and risk taking. As we know now, the very days our gentleman Don Sims warned his citizenry of their danger, political office holders are said to have been meeting to attempt to have him removed from office for telling the truth.

At first the newspaper articles and website searches were alarming, but because often difficulties with water systems are temporary, our family was concerned, and cautiously, immediately went to bottled water for cooking, for family and pets, but our concerns were not overly pressing, trust of our systems had lead us to believe we were being told the truth. However, with awareness comes knowledge, and with each day, we have learned more and more about just how troubled our water, our land, our river, and our policies concerning the environment are in North Alabama. Our Governor Bentley has not declared a state of emergency, our water board, has not authorized testing of individuals for contamination, nor has the EPA or Alabama authorities supplies bottled water during the days following the first announcement. Measures have been taken to purchase water resources from a neighboring city, but the facts further investigated are troubling. The same utility that is supplying the water (for a fee of course) is the same one who is daily legally dumping more contaminants into the Tennessee River which causes additional contamination. We have very little factual information on how the flushing of the system was carried out. What chemicals were used to flush the system and the on-going process to affirm that contamination is not in the pipes, that the pipes in our system are free of lead, and such. We know sadly from Michigan’s experience, that hastily changed lines can lead to more contamination from the flushing and cleaning process itself if not carefully constructed.

While it’s good that our local water systems are working on a temporary solution as identified:

The press release from WMELWSA states the following:

WMELWSA has recently been mixing its processed water with water provided by another system in order to come up with a temporary solution to the PFC pollution problem. We have been removed from the Alabama Public Health Department health advisory list through this temporary solution. We are pleased the initial temporary plan is working. Once our charcoal purification system is operational in September of this year, we hope to have a more reliable and locally operated means to provide water to all of our customers. Ultimately, the PFOS and PFOA problem must be addressed through implementation of a permanent RO system that will take over three years to construct. In the meantime, WMELWSA will continue to work to make its water meet standards and health advisories established by the State of Alabama and the EPA.

There are many missing pieces of information for the public and our family. How were the tests to prove safe water performed? How many locations were tested? How were the pipes and waterways proven to be contaminate build up free before the new water was sent through them? Why isn’t water being provided to the citizens in the contaminated area? Why aren’t citizens being offered testing (after all, testing is more than $1200 per test for these chemicals and they have admitted we were in fact, drinking this contamination and have been more than likely for years). Why is the attorney general of Alabama not going after those who issued permits, those who daily contaminate the river and open dumps? Why are citizens being told that the water is not an issue in our riverways when their own EPA has banned swimming, and advises against eating fish from the river more than once a month if at all? Why are we being told by authorities in the system of changing contamination that our local and state government if failing us?

It’s 95+ degrees in an area already depressed in economy. We’re into this problem several weeks. For many families in North Alabama, they have been quietly tested for decades over previously identified contamination in this same area. Their families are sick, their land is not healthy, their wells are contaminated. Why isn’t that public acknowledgement of continued presence of toxins present in today’s conversations?

There is no water being supplied except through private donations and volunteers. The Governor and his staff continue to say there is not problem. Yet the EPA reports confirm our area has problems, has had problems and they aren’t going away any time soon. Alabama, we have a problem.

It’s June 28th, 2016. Our soil is contaminated, our local authorities are not coming forth with the facts that EPA and other testing has already proven that these chemicals do not simply “go away”. Citizens are sick, sludge and chemicals are continuing to be dumped in the Tennessee River daily (with an AL permit no less). Big business reports that the presence of the chemicals in our human and environmental systems are not necessarily the issue when people get sick, their sicknesses get worse, or they die. Studies prove that at the least the presence of these toxins exaccerbate health issues, they can change the very structures of our health at a cellular level for generations. Scientist at the EPA and private labs throughout the world HAVE linked the presence of contamination chemicals to illness, weakening of individual’s health and the difficulty of removing the chemicals from soil, land, water systems, and animal life. It’s not matter of “if” these chemicals will cause a problem, it’s a matter of watching “when” they will…particularly as nothing is done clean up the contamination.

It’s time to ask everyone to help get the word out. Multiple agencies, individuals and corporations are responsible for damage that must be identified, stopped, remediated, and cleaned up. The work begins with becoming aware of what is happening to water resources in Alabama, Michigan, Minnesota, and New York. The more you read the more you’ll ask questions about the water in your own neck of the woods. I can assure you, we are now aware of many, many proven facts of what has been allowed to happen to ours in North Alabama.

Next community meeting will be July 3rd, Courtland, Alabama Town Depot at 2 pm

One of the easiest to understand articles on what is PFOS and PFOA

http://www.ewg.org/enviroblog/2015/08/your-drinking-water-safe

This law firm short video succinctly shares what we are up against:

EPA Reports on PFOS Contamination

https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-05/documents/pfos_health_advisory_final-plain.pdf

Additional Links to the Alabama Water Story:

Warriors for Clean Water Organization (a 501c3)

http://warriorsforcleanwater.org

Concerned Citizens of WMEL Water Authority Grassroots

An organization of citizens who have come together to support the communities without bottled water. This group is the backbone of actually getting citizens safe water who are compromised and distributing private donation water as it becomes available.

http://facebook.com/wmelwaternews

June 2 Announcement

West Morgan-East Lawrence Water Authority to customers: “Do NOT drink our water”

Why is the West Morgan-East Lawrence Water Authority just now acknowledging the drinking water is contaminated?

Lawsuit filed over contaminated Tennessee River water; water authority works on a solution

http://www.waff.com/story/32303310/wmel-water-authority-reacts-to-states-declaration-that-water-is-safe

I am compiling information resources at http://sweetieberry.com/water and will be adding information as it is released.

Resources on Alabama Water Contamination

Alabama Water Crisis

Water quality standards and regulations for Alabama (EPA.gov) site information

https://www.epa.gov/wqs-tech/water-quality-standards-regulations-alabama

EPA Reports on Decatur/ WMEL Area PFC Contamination

https://archive.epa.gov/pesticides/region4/water/documents/web/pdf/epa_decatur_fact_sheet_final.pdf

WAFF 48

http://www.waff.com/story/32029021/epa-warns-cancer-causing-chemicals-in-west-morgan-east-lawrence-water-supply

Why isn’t the EPA Superfund being called upon to clean up the contamination in our river and in our waterways?

The Superfund Program is administered by EPA in cooperation with state and tribal governments. The program gives EPA the funds and authority to clean up polluted sites. Goals of the Superfund program are to:  Protect human health and the environment.  Involve communities.  Make those who are legally responsible pay for the work performed at Superfund sites.

Contact your EPA Environmental Justice Coordinator of EPA Region IV Cynthia Peurifoy at 1-404-562-9649. Without calls, the Superfund will NOT be engaged nor will the EPA continue to pursue the contamination.

Are West Decatur East Lawrence citizens at risk due to contamination?

The questions and answers below are excerpts from the EPA Document provided to Hoosick Falls, NY Residents regarding practices for safety with EPOA and EPOS Contamination.

Can the PFOS and PFOA as well as other chemical contaminants be “boiled” out of the water at homes?

NO. Boiling water contaminated with PFoA and PFOS may further release particles into your home’s air.

The following Questions and Answers are from the EPA regarding the Hoosick Falls Contamination, which is about the same contaminants in Alabama. The EPA has not created a Q/A for Alabama at this time. https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-01/documents/hoosickfalls_faqs.pdf

Is it OK to shower or bathe with water from Hoosick Falls?

There is a lack of studies evaluating the human health effects from inhalation and skin exposure to PFOA. Regarding inhalation, the EPA does not believe that routine showering or bathing would cause a significant exposure. A minimal amount of inhalable water droplets (aerosols) are formed during showering or bathing. PFOA also has a very low evaporation rate, which further minimizes inhalation exposure. Nonetheless, the use of bathroom ventilation systems and opening bathroom windows while showering or bathing can help remove the water vapor/aerosols that form during showering or bathing. Similar to inhalation exposure, skin exposure from PFOA while showering or bathing is also not a significant exposure. Studies have shown very limited absorption of PFOA through the skin, and the movement of PFOA through the skin is extremely slow. However, as a precautionary measure and given the limited information on skin exposure, children or people with skin conditions (for example, rashes, cuts and abrasions) should avoid prolonged contact (such as long showers or long baths) with PFOA-contaminated water.

What about teeth brushing? Consistent with the EPA’s recommendation not to use tap water from the Hoosick Falls public water supply for drinking or cooking, the EPA recommends that bottled water be used for brushing teeth.

Can I use a humidifier? Until a treatment system is in place at the public water supply and confirmed to be consistently removing PFOA to acceptable levels, the EPA recommends the use of bottled water for a humidifier.

Can I do laundry and wash my dishes with water from the Hoosick Falls public water supply? Yes. Neither doing laundry nor washing dishes with water from the Hoosick Falls public water supply pose a significant exposure to PFOA. 3

Would an in-home treatment system help filter the PFOA out of the water? Carbon filtration and reverse osmosis are two technologies that can remove low levels of organic contaminants, such as PFOA, from water. While there are currently no commercially available point-of-use (POU) filters (filters attached to a tap) or whole house filters specifically certified by the National Sanitation Foundation to remove PFOA, it is expected that any activated carbon or reverse osmosis system will have the capability of reducing PFOA levels. The Minnesota Department of Health tested several POU water treatment devices and found many to be effective (visit http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/hazardous/topics/pfcs/wateranalysis.html for a summary). If a treatment unit is used, it is important to follow the manufacturer’s guidelines for maintenance and operation. Moreover, testing of the treated water periodically would be necessary to ensure that the PFOA level remains below the EPA’s health-based level.

Has the soil been tested for PFOA and is the soil safe? There has been a limited amount of soil testing for PFOA in Hoosick Falls. Additional soil sampling may occur in the future. If PFOA is found in the soil, there are practical actions that would minimize exposure to PFOA. For example, where bare patches of soil are known to have PFOA contamination, grass, mulch, compost, etc. are effective ways to prevent direct contact with the soil. Additionally, don’t eat or smoke or engage in other hand-to-mouth activities while gardening. Is it OK to eat vegetables from my garden? To EPA’s knowledge, no gardens in Hoosick Falls have been tested for PFOA. In general, a number of studies have evaluated the absorption into plants of the whole class of perfluourinated compounds (of which PFOA is one). Absorption into plants depends on the size of the particular perfluourinated compound and its chemistry. Smaller compounds have more uptake. PFOA is a relatively large compound and has lower uptake. Absorption also differs by the type of produce. Root vegetables that grow in the ground and leafy green vegetables (for example, lettuce) generally have greater absorption of chemicals, including PFOA. Root and leafy vegetables also tend to adhere soil to the surface of the produce. If PFOA is found in soil, thoroughly washing root and leafy green vegetables with bottled water will further reduce the minimal exposure to PFOA from growing produce in soil contaminated with PFOA and/or watering produce gardens with PFOA contaminated water. One could also peel root vegetables prior to consumption.

Can PFOA coat the inside of my home’s pipes? Based on the high solubility of PFOA (ability of the chemical to dissolve) in water relative to the concentration found in Hoosick Falls drinking water, it would be unlikely for PFOA to coat the inside of pipes.

Can PFOA be removed from the public water supply? Treatment technologies exist that can remove PFOA from public water supplies. One such technology is granular activated carbon (GAC) filtration. Another is called reverse osmosis. The Village of Hoosick Falls and Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics are negotiating an agreement under which Saint-Gobain would pay for the installation of GAC systems at the Village’s water treatment plant. The systems need to be designed carefully to ensure that they will successfully treat the water to remove PFOA to acceptable levels. The New York State Department of Health will be working closely with the Village of Hoosick Falls as the treatment systems are designed with the goal of removing PFOA to the minimum reporting limit that can be reliably achieved by the 4 analytical laboratory when using EPA Method 537. Until the treatment systems are in place and confirmed to be consistently removing PFOA to acceptable levels, the public should not use the Hoosick Falls public water supply for drinking or cooking.

What is being done to address the groundwater contamination? The EPA has begun discussions regarding steps that need to be taken to: a. identify, control and clean up the source or sources of the PFOA contamination of the groundwater; b. determine the full extent of the PFOA contamination; and c. achieve a permanent cleanup remedy for the groundwater contamination and any other possible contamination. How would these actions be paid for? In this case (Hoosick Falls, NY), the EPA expects one or more private parties liable for the pollution to pay for addressing the problems.

The information will be on-going. For now, I can only rely on reports for our area, and data from areas like ours who are further down the road legally and environmentally. We’ve much to learn and to do to stop the contamination, deal with the past contamination and prevent future contamination.

The more I seek information, the worse it gets.

Alabama Water Crisis

The more I read what the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has put out in information for the public in Michigan, Vermont, New York, and in Alabama, the more it is clear that we must be vigilant to call, email, write, and show up as citizens. They are telling us in print in the reports that our own fields have been sludge and leech contamination sources for decades. No one is going to voluntarily take responsibility for the contamination…and multiple agencies FAILED to protect our land, our river and our citizens.