[CPEO-MEF] PFCs: "As Military Phases Out PFC Firefighting Foam, Colorado Drinking Water Questions Remain"

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

As Military Phases Out PFC Firefighting Foam, Colorado Drinking Water Questions Remain

By Grace Hood 
Colorado Public Radio
August 29, 2016

Brenda Piontkowski has a to-do list most people recognize with meal plans and family events.
But the regular run to a filtered water station stands out.

"[This is] the sound of clean water,” said the resident of Security, near Colorado Springs, as she fills a one-gallon plastic jug. It’s one of a half dozen containers she’s filled every two days for months.

“All I know is it’s not healthy. I can’t drink my tap water.”

Across the cities of Security, Fountain and Widefield, officials have worked overtime since January to remove higher-than-normal concentrations of perfluorinated compounds, or PFCs, from the water supply. While the city of Fountain is now 100 percent PFC free, Security and Widefield still have work to do.

The cities are three of 194 drinking water supplies across the country estimated to have higher-than-normal PFC levels in drinking water. The higher levels are often connected to manufacturing facilities, or spots near airports and military bases where Aqueous Film Forming Foam was used to put out fuel fires. Colorado health officials have begun to trace the issue to foam used at nearby Peterson Air Force Base.

...

For the entire story and a link to the audio, see
https://www.cpr.org/news/story/as-military-phases-out-pfc-firefighting-foam-colorado-drinking-water-questions-remain

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice/Fax: 650/961-8918 
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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