Lucie MacGillvray
Staff Writer
Across the country, American citizens are having their basic human rights violated. Water is expected to be clean and drinkable. Unfortunately, these expectations are not always met. Concerns about the potential effects of contaminated water have risen in the recent years. Contrary to what many New Hope residents believe, the water quality is not as safe as it is thought to be.
In Bucks County, towns have received a large amount of criticism for the high amounts of toxins found within local drinking water. Originally found in former military bases, harmful chemicals have leaked into drinking water through runoff.
These chemicals, known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, were used as firefighting chemicals but have been shown to cause devastating effects, such as cancer, infertility, and liver damage.
Due to the amount of these toxins in the groundwater, the chemicals are expected to stay. Areas as close as Upper Dublin, Bensalem, Cheltenham, and Northampton have been found to have extremely high amounts of PFAS (around 20 parts per trillion) that threaten the safety of residents. Even though the Environmental Protection Agency’s health advisory level is 70 parts per trillion, states with incredibly strict water regulations, such as Vermont, have deemed levels as low as 20 parts per trillion to be unsafe.
Repairing the water issues is quite costly. In some Pennsylvania counties, the cost to reduce the number of PFAS to zero is around $5 million.
Many New Hope-Solebury residents are unaware of the water quality issues in the area. Two non-military sites have been found to be the sources of contamination in Doylestown, Plumstead, and Buckingham, and as a result, wells in these areas have been shut off.
Water quality is an issue in other places as well. In Enterprise, La., reports of water emerging as sludgy brown and black hues are quite common. Some are forced to travel around 20 miles, just to be able to use clean water for basic tasks such as laundry. According to a report by CNN’s Sara Ganim: “Years of water system neglect means that the 250-or-so residents there are left with pipes that leak more than 70% of their water into the ground.” Unfortunately, the problem is difficult to fix, as the town is unable to afford to repair the pipes.
One of the more well-known instances of unusable and deadly water is the crisis in the town of Flint, Mich. In 2014, it was reported that around 100,000 residents were exposed to water that was contaminated with lead because of inadequate water treatments. In January of 2016, a state of emergency was declared, and all residents were advised to only use bottled water or filtered water. This past week, newly-elected Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive directive requiring state employees to alert their bosses of anything that poses a health or public safety threat. In reporting this, the Detroit Free Press also noted that PFAS chemicals have emerged as a threat to drinking water across the state.
In other states contaminants such as fecal matter and arsenic have been found in drinking water as well.
Over time, conditions such as gastroenteritis, neurological diseases, and cancer can be caused by contaminated water. Despite the fact that the water supply across the country needs attention, the issue is not widely known, and too little is being done by cash-strapped regions to ensure access to clean water.
