Latest news with #drinkingWater
E&E News
2 days ago
- Politics
- E&E News
EPA seeks more time on PFAS water rule
EPA is still evaluating how it plans to regulate 'forever chemicals' in drinking water, a process that has taken 'longer than anticipated,' the Trump administration said in a court filing Wednesday. The agency is asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for another 45-day pause in litigation challenging last year's first-ever national drinking water rule for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. EPA has said it will maintain stringent limits in tap water for two substances, PFOA and PFOS, while giving water utilities an additional two years to meet those limits. But it is still considering to what extent it will regulate other PFAS included in the Biden-era rule. EPA says it will propose a new rule in the fall. Advertisement 'EPA is still evaluating the impact of its planned reconsideration and compliance extension proceedings on the issues presented in this case,' attorneys for EPA said in the new court filing. 'This evaluation has taken longer than anticipated at the time EPA filed its last motion to govern.'
CBS News
23-05-2025
- Health
- CBS News
How does Ann Arbor clean PFAS from its drinking water? City officials explain.
PFAS, or "forever chemicals," were first detected in Ann Arbor's drinking water in 2014. Two years later, the city performed a follow-up investigation and detected PFAS in the Huron River. The river supplies the city with 85% of its drinking water. "We traced it up to upstream manufacturing facilities and wastewater treatment plant discharges," said Ann Arbor Water Treatment Services manager Molly Maciejewski. "So, it was really industrial discharges that caused it, but we also know that there could be other sources of PFAS in the Huron River." PFAS are highly stable, man-made chemicals used in many items. They're typically used to repel water, oil and grease from surfaces. PFAS spread easily and do not biodegrade naturally, making cleanup a challenge. "Michigan was one of the first in the country to actually sample all of the drinking water supplies," said Abigail Hendershott, the executive director of the Michigan PFAS Action Response Team. Hendershott said PFAS are all around us. They're found in clothing, furniture, cleaning products, outdoor gear, cosmetics and more. "Most everybody in the country is going to have some concentrations of PFAS already in our blood because of the widespread use of PFAS in our everyday society," she said. After extensive testing, officials at the Ann Arbor Water Treatment found an effective solution. "We use granular-activated carbon filtration," said drinking water quality manager Becky Lahr. "So, you can see here the media inside the filter. The water travels from the top down through the filter, and the PFAS gets stuck within the media." Lahr told CBS News Detroit the method filters out PFAS to below detectable levels in the drinking water. "We are constantly monitoring the water quality before and after this process to make sure it's working right," Lahr said. "Ann Arbor has been very aggressive in their actions, and we, of course, applaud them for that because they're being very proactive in protecting their residents," said Hendershott. "We want to make sure that the residents who are drinking this water are protected long term, that we're not just protecting for one or two chemicals, but we're protecting for the whole suite of PFAS chemicals."
CTV News
17-05-2025
- Health
- CTV News
A deadly E. coli outbreak in Walkerton, Ont., changed everything 25 years ago
Bruce Davidson remembers the E. coli outbreak that ravaged his hometown 25 years ago as a 'strange dream.' The hospital in the small Ontario community of Walkerton usually wasn't busy but it suddenly got inundated with patients experiencing severe diarrhea, vomiting and abdominal pain. The first cases were reported on May 17, 2000. Soon, the township roughly 140 kilometres north of London, Ont., ran out of diarrhea medication, the emergency department overflowed and air ambulances came to take sick people to other hospitals. What turned out to be Canada's worst outbreak of E. coli O157 infections, caused by manure-tainted drinking water, ultimately killed seven people and sickened around 2,300. It was a 'strange dream where you're still you but nothing else is the same,' said Davidson. His own family fell ill and he later formed a citizens' advocacy group in response to the tragedy. Schools and restaurants were closed, he said, and streets that normally buzzed with children playing on warm spring days felt like a 'ghost town.' 'For the first bit, we were all in shock, but very, very quickly that started to change to anger,' Davidson said in a recent phone interview. He had heard about waterborne diseases in impoverished parts of the world, but said he never imagined experiencing that in Canada. The country had the technology, money and infrastructure needed for a safe water supply, 'and yet here we are killing people with drinking water,' he said. The health crisis caused by a mix of human negligence, lack of resources and natural factors caused countrywide outrage and triggered a public inquiry led by Ontario Justice Dennis O'Connor that lasted for nearly two years. It was determined that heavy rainfall between May 8 and May 12, 2000 had washed cattle manure from a nearby farm into a well. From there, deadly E. coli bacteria found its way to the municipal water system. The two brothers who managed the system -- Stan and Frank Koebel -- pleaded guilty to criminal charges in the case. The inquiry found that neither brother had the formal training to operate a public utility and water system, that they failed to properly chlorinate the water and that water safety records were falsified. The inquiry also found that Stan Koebel knew on May 17 that water was contaminated with E. coli but he did not disclose those test results for days. By the time a boil-water advisory was issued on May 21, it was too late. 'It was extremely tragic and even more tragic by the fact that the operators who didn't have proper training and didn't understand that groundwater could make people sick were suppressing the results of tests,' said Theresa McClenaghan, the executive director of the Canadian Environmental Law Association. McClenaghan, who represented Walkerton's residents during the inquiry, said had the brothers been transparent and told the public about the issue as soon as they knew, many would not become ill. 'But that went on for days and days that people were still drinking this highly contaminated water,' she said. McClenaghan said the inquiry didn't leave any stone unturned and in the end put out a series of recommendations that now serve as the foundation of water safety regulations, including the province's Safe Drinking Water Act and the Clean Water Act. The tragedy led to fundamental legislative reforms aimed at strengthening drinking water safety norms, including water source protection, treatment standards, testing and reporting procedures. Despite the huge progress, access to safe drinking water is still a serious issue, especially in northern Ontario's First Nations communities. A report released by the Ontario's auditor general in March raised concerns about oversight of non-municipal water systems that include inadequate testing and monitoring and lack of compliance enforcement. Nearly three million Ontarians get their water from a non-municipal system. While 98 per cent of samples tested from these systems in the past decade have met the provincial drinking water standards, there are weaknesses that need to be addressed to ensure water safety, the report said. It said about 1.3 million people drink water from private wells, and 35 per cent of the samples taken from them between 2003 and 2022 tested positive for indicators of bacterial contamination. The report listed recommendations that include increasing testing and oversight, and raising awareness about the risks and availability of testing resources. 'As demonstrated by the Walkerton crisis, the consequences of Ontarians drinking unsafe water can be deadly,' auditor general Shelley Spence wrote. The Canadian Environmental Law Association and dozens of other organizations have written to the provincial government calling for a 'timely and transparent' implementation of Spence's recommendations. The mayor of Brockton, Ont., the municipality that includes Walkerton, said he is glad that important reforms have been made since the deadly drinking water contamination. 'The testing that occurs of the municipal drinking water in Ontario now is very rigorous,' Chris Peabody said. He said 35 people currently work at the Walkerton Clean Water Centre where operators from across Canada are trained on how to provide safe and clean drinking water. But Peabody didn't want to speak further about the tragedy from 25 years ago, saying it was a traumatic experience for so many people. Bruce Davidson, the Walkerton resident, said even though the E. coli illnesses in his family weren't as serious as many others, they have all been struggling with the consequences. He said his wife had sporadic but 'excruciating pain' and severe cramping for around three years, and he and his son are still experiencing 'days when you just don't really want to get too far from a washroom.' The community has largely moved forward, he said. Housing has expanded and so have schools. The water is probably safer than anywhere else in the province, he said. After the tragedy, a few residents decided to leave Walkerton but most -- including Davidson -- stayed. 'Most people looked at it and said, this community is our home. It is worth fighting for,' he said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 17, 2025.
Irish Times
17-05-2025
- Health
- Irish Times
What's going on with Ireland's failing septic tanks?
For too long Ireland has had a poor record in making sure septic tanks operate properly and don't pollute their environs. This is not an isolated problem with holiday homes in remote places: Domestic wastewater treatment systems, mostly in the form of septic tanks, are attached to almost 500,000 properties, mainly in rural areas. They are installed where connection to the public sewage system is not possible. The problem has been highlighted yet again by the Environmental Protection Agency. More than half of 1,400 domestic septic tanks inspected by local authorities last year failed to meet the required standard. How is human health and the environment threatened? Faulty systems can contaminate household drinking water wells with harmful bacteria and viruses. Ireland has the highest incidence of Verotoxigenic Escherichia coli (VTEC) in Europe and a substantial proportion of cases have been linked to contaminated private drinking water supplies. Excessive releases of nitrogen and phosphorus from faulty systems can cause pollution in receiving waters. Domestic wastewater is identified as a significant pressure on water quality in 148 (9 per cent) at-risk water bodies in Ireland. READ MORE Why is the problem persisting? Too many septic tanks are not built or maintained properly, with more than half posing a risk to human health and the environment. Tanks not being desludged, discharges of effluent into ditches or streams, leaks and 'effluent ponding' in gardens were the most common faults. The other problem is a lack of consistency across local authorities who are required to carry out inspections and enforcement under the EPA's national inspection plan. Some meet inspection requirements consistently and bring legal proceedings against the worst offenders, but many do not. Of most concern is high failure rate where inspections are carried out. The worst areas are in Laois, Westmeath, Roscommon, Kildare, Leitrim, Offaly and Wexford. The number of advisory notices (on what must be done to rectify issues) open more than two years has decreased for the first time, from 576 at the end of 2023 to 523 at the end of 2024 – the only good news. How can the problem be solved? The Green Party has suggested free well-water testing should be made available for rural households. According to Senator Malcolm Noonan, this would ensure householders know what risk to their health was coming from their taps and in turn create a culture of urgency to fix faulty septic tanks. Half a million people living in rural areas rely on private domestic wells for their drinking water. The EPA recommends these supplies are tested once a year – at a cost in excess of €200. So a significant ramp-up in inspections, enforcement, free well-water testing and consistency across all local authorities are required.
CBC
15-05-2025
- Health
- CBC
25 years later, Walkerton, Ont., bears the scars but has bounced back
It's been 25 years since the Walkerton, Ont., tainted water tragedy nearly killed her daughter, and Trudy Fraser still does not feel comfortable drinking tap water. "You lose that trust when you see people you know who got sick and passed away," she said. "That's why I still drink bottled water. It's stayed with us." Many in this town of 5,000 roughly 150 kilometres north of London, Ont., vividly recall the effects of the Victoria Day weekend in 2000, when a massive rainstorm washed water contaminated with deadly E. coli bacteria from a nearby farm field into one of the wells that fed Walkerton's water supply. Seven people died, 2,300 people got sick, and an inquiry followed, exposing how funding cuts had gutted provincial oversight of drinking water. The people who managed the town's water system hadn't been properly trained, but the problem went beyond simple incompetence. Two water utility employees, Stan and Frank Koebel, were convicted on criminal charges after the inquiry found they regularly falsified tests for chlorine levels. Also, Stan Koebel, the water system's manager, lied during the height of the crisis, telling public health officials the water was safe to drink, even though testing clearly showed presence of the deadly bacteria. Fraser's daughter Allyssa Schnurr was 17 when she got sick in early June 2000. She became lethargic and was taken to hospital in Hanover, just outside of Walkerton, where her family doctor worked. Soon after, she was rushed by ambulance to London, where she ended up staying in intensive care for four weeks. "It was terrifying," Fraser told CBC News, reliving the harrowing days spent at her daughter's bedside as the teen underwent life-saving surgeries, dialysis and multiple blood transfusions. "The doctors told me the day after she got there that she probably wasn't going to live," Fraser said. "And all I could think was, 'What am I going to say to her when I get back into her room?' Because I knew she was going to ask me what the doctors said." Years later, health complications linger Doctors were able to save Schnurr, who is now 42 and works as an accountant near Kitchener, Ont. By the time she became sick, the Walkerton deaths had made international news — and she knew the infection could kill her. "I remember being on my way to London thinking, 'Only the really sick people go to London, so it must be really bad," she said. Although she survived, complications of her illness linger. Because an E. coli infection can lead to a condition that damages a person's kidneys, Schnurr's renal function is at two-thirds its normal capacity. She takes medication to control her blood pressure and has to watch her sodium intake. After a difficult pregnancy 13 years ago, she and her husband decided it would be too risky to have a second child. The scars and bad memories also continue for Bruce Richardson. He remembers his son, who was nine at the time of the E. coli contamination, asking about his best friend after seeing the little boy taken to hospital by air ambulance. His son had been playing with the boy the previous day. "My son asked me if his friend was going to die, and I didn't have an answer for him," Richardson said. "There wasn't a person in town who wasn't affected." 'We took water completely for granted' In the weeks after the tragedy, Richardson helped form the group Concerned Walkerton Citizens, whose members pushed for a judicial inquiry into what happened. At the time, Ontario's Mike Harris Conservative government was under fire for cutting back on water testing and wanted to hold a legislative inquiry instead, which would have meant the people involved in allowing water testing to become so lax would also be the ones investigating what happened, Richardson said. Following his advocacy, the government relented and called the higher-level inquiry. "We took water completely for granted," he said of the government's failures to ensure drinking water was safe. "We didn't take the basic steps of source protection to make sure this well was properly monitored." What's changed Water monitoring has improved across much of the province, in part due to the recommendations stemming from the judicial inquiry led by Justice Dennis O'Connor. New legislation includes more stringent rules for testing drinking water and how to protect wells from groundwater infiltration. And the training for people who work on water systems is also now improved, owing in part to the creation of the Walkerton Clean Water Centre — one of the recommendations that came out of the inquiry. The state-of-the-art facility conducts research into water testing and trains people from across Canada who work on drinking water systems. "We have treatment, we have distribution, we have lab facilities," said the centre's CEO Brian Bates. "Everything an operator would touch, we're able to train them on." However drinking water safety in Ontario continues to be a source of concern. In March, the province's auditor general warned that water systems not managed by municipalities, such as those in rural areas and on private property, still don't get tested regularly enough. Meanwhile Walkerton residents continue to face stigma. Many of those most affected politely refused to speak with CBC News for this story, with some saying they preferred to leave what happened 25 years ago in the past. Fraser remembers how her son was taunted about Walkerton being dirty while playing hockey against teams from neighbouring towns. But Chris Peabody, the mayor of Brockton, the municipality that includes Walkerton, said the town has gone through a period of renewal. Peabody said in the years immediately following the tainted water scandal, the town's growth levelled off. But when Walkerton needed a hotel to spur growth and access to financing was difficult, some community members pooled their money to get it built, Peabody said. That Best Western has since been sold to another operator and expanded in size because it's so busy. "What people should know about Walkerton is that it's a story of resilience," Peabody said. "The town was pushed down to the lowest level possible ... and the people didn't turn on each other. They worked together and we rebuilt the town." This week Brockton council was split on how to mark the 25th anniversary of the E. coli contamination in Walkerton and the ripple effect it had on the town. Some felt there should be a gathering to mark what happened, while others argued adamantly against that. "Many were traumatized by this and do not want to relive it, and it does trigger very bad memories," said Peabody. "The divisions on Walkerton council reflect the divisions in the town." In the end, the town opted for a low-key approach. The Walkerton Clean Water Centre will host tours. A memorial garden built shortly after the tragedy to honour its victims will get some upgrades. Fraser, who came so close to losing her daughter during that dark spring, regularly volunteers by tending to the memorial garden. During a Mother's Day gathering with family last weekend, she shared videos and newspaper clippings of what happened with a curious granddaughter Fraser wouldn't have if Schnurr had not been saved.
