NYT: Millions drink contaminated water
Having exposed the nation’s toxic waters, The New York Times‘ Charles Duhigg has now turned his attention to the Safe Drinking Water Act. Duhigg has found that “since 2004, the water provided to more than 49 million people has contained illegal concentrations of chemicals like arsenic or radioactive substances like uranium, as well as dangerous bacteria often found in sewage.”
Furthermore, Duhigg found that only 6 percent of violators were ever fined or punished.
Duhigg used EPA data on Safe Drinking Water Act violations as well as other parts of the massive Toxic Waters database.
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AP finds contaminated water in schools
The Associated Press has analyzed a decade of Environmental Protection Agency data and found that tests at thousands of American schools had shown the drinking water to be contaminated, with the water at some schools hitting unsafe levels in as many as 20 separate inspections. As part of the investigation, the AP provided an interactive map with which you can search and sort violations in your area. Although some children have become sick and some schools have resorted to bottled water, the AP found that the contaminants are generally not present in levels that would harm adults.
(Hat tip to Poynter’s Al Tompkins)
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- Greg Barnes of the Fayetteville Observer gives a behind-the-scenes look at the award-winning “What lies beneath” series that revealed contaminated drinking water in the Fayetteville area.
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CNN looks into link between Lejuene water, cancer
CNN’s Abbie Boudreau and Scott Bronstein investigated a possible link between male breast cancer and contaminated drinking water provided at the Marine training base at Camp Lejeune between the ’60s and the mid-’80s. Twenty male Marines with breast cancer have found that the only thing they have in common is drinking the water at Lejeune, but, Boudreau and Bronstein report, “two independent studies have found no link between water contamination and later illnesses, according to the Marine Corps.”
The reports talked to seven of the cancer-afflicted men, finding that neither the VA nor the Marine Corps will pay for their cancer treatments, citing in at least one case that the cancer “neither occurred in nor was caused by service.”
The men with breast cancer are among about 1,600 retired Marines and Camp Lejeune residents who have filed claims against the federal government. According to congressional investigators, they are seeking nearly $34 billion in compensation for health problems they say stemmed from drinking water at the base that was contaminated with several toxic chemicals, including some the federal government has classified as known or potential cancer-causing agents.
In a blog post about the piece, Boudreau discusses questions raised by her research on unproven links between Lejuene water and cancer, openly wondering if the connection will ever be conclusively proven to be either true or false.
Abandoned mercury mines taint water, fish
As The New York Times‘ Toxic Waters captures attention across the country, the Associated Press has released its own story about government oversight failing to stop massive contamination, this time from abandoned mercury mines in California.
Creek near an abandoned mercury mine in the California ghost town of New Idria. Photo by mlhradio via Flickr
The AP’s Jason Dearen found that the government has only tried to clean up a handful of the hundreds of abandoned mercury mines in California’s coastal mountains.
According to Dearen, “mercury mines are the biggest sources of the pollution in San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the largest estuary on the Pacific Coast.” At least 100,000 impoverished people are eating fish tainted with levels of toxins beyond EPA guidelines, Dearen found.
“Records and interviews show that federal regulators have conducted about 10 cleanups at major mercury mines with mixed results, while dozens of sites still foul the air, soil and water.”
NYT investigates Clean Water Act violations
Filed under: Government, Health data, Hot Health Headline, Public records
In the latest installment of The New York Times‘ Toxic Waters series, Charles Duhigg says that, for this investigation, the Times “compiled a national database of water pollution violations that is more comprehensive than those maintained by states or the E.P.A.” (That database can be found here.)
In that database, Duhigg found serious violations across the country, from wells tainted by wet manure used to fertilize fields to seashores soiled by runoff from overwhelmed sewer systems, and discovered that while 60 percent of Clean Water Act violations were judged to be serious, only 3 percent “resulted in fines or significant punishment.”
The investigation found that agencies at every level of government had contributed to what amounts to a national failure to enforce the Clean Water Act. The causes of this failure are every bit as diverse as its manifestations, with lack of agency funding and political pressure from powerful industries being the worst culprits.
Duhigg’s story touches on points across the country, but focuses on the particularly egregious violations of West Virginia mining companies. He also details the Environmental Protection Agency’s response to the investigation, as well as its plans for correcting the systematic problems revealed by the Times‘ database.
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