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| Photography by Stel Bailey |
Published July 21, 2019
Communities in Melbourne, Florida, came together for a town hall meeting to discuss their concerns about the quality and safety of drinking water. It started with a stench from their faucet and then news that there was an alga bloom in Lake Washington, where about two-thirds of the city's water comes from.
Some people took the initiative to do their testing; others brought medical documents to share. A local mom, Nancy Kirby, shared her experience on social media as the water issues unfolded. She explained that all four of her children had infections and, after experiencing a stench from her faucet, decided to do her own at-home water test. The test was positive for coliform bacteria. Kirby has become a voice in the community regarding drinking water concerns.
There were questions about infrastructure. Under normal circumstances, Florida's drinking water is safe unless the water becomes contaminated. According to the EPA, polluted groundwater can reach drinking water systems and cause serious public health threats, particularly to children. For instance, when drinking water in a specific area becomes contaminated, the local government sends out "boil water notices" and tells you to boil your drinking water. Boiling kills most types of parasites, bacteria, and viruses but increases concentrations of other toxic chemicals due to the evaporation of water.
Contaminated water can enter through pipe bursts when existing mains are repaired or replaced, potentially introducing contaminated soil or debris into the system. Contaminates getting into the drinking water concern Brevard County residents because scientists found chemical waste in lagoon wildlife from the space industry and military bases. Chemicals such s TCE, PCBs, DDT, and the emerging chemical known as per and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
The meeting lasted two hours. Aging stressed, or poorly maintained water infrastructure can cause the quality of piped drinking water to deteriorate below standard levels. Rapid population growth and inadequate pollution regulations are complicating our water quality issues. The more we recognize and invest in these issues, the more we can protect public health.
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| Lake Washington |
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| Lake Washington |
The water issues in Florida are complex, and the discussion isn’t going away anytime soon. Fight For Zero did a water quality concern poll before the meeting and found that 88% of people are not very confident that the tap water in their homes is safe to drink.
Read More:
Melbourne tests drinking water amid fears of toxic algae
Learn More:
In the United States, a few key laws aim to safeguard health from pollution and contamination:
The 1972 Clean Water Act is the country's primary tool for controlling source water pollution.
The 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act authorizes the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set national health-based standards for drinking water to protect against contaminants that are naturally occurring and/or caused by human activity.
The EPA's 1991 Lead and Copper Rule requires systems to monitor drinking water rat customer taps. If lead concentrations exceed an action level of 15 ppt or copper concentrations exceed an action level of 1.3 ppm in more than 10 percent of customer taps sampled, the system must undertake several additional actions to control corrosion and safeguard health.
The safety of water from private wells is NOT REGULATED by the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act. More than one in five wells tested from 1991-2004 contained one or more contaminates at a concentration created than a human-health benchmark.
A 2016 study found that levels of poly-fluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) exceeded federally recommended safety levels in public drinking water supplies for 6 million people in the United States.
The Environmental Protection Agencies Legislation snd regulations.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection Document Management System: OCULUS
The most prevalent water quality problem is excess of nutrient (mainly phosphorus and nitrogen) in a body of water.
National Geographic: Water Pollution Explained
Earth Matters: How polluted is U.S. drinking water?
Coal-burning plants in particular, discharge some of the most dangerous heavy metals on earth, including arsenic, lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium, and selenium.
Waste can introduce pathogens such as Shigella, Salmonella, Crytosporidum, Giarida, Legionella, and coliform into drinking water, leading to diarrhea and gastrointestinal illness.
Were you at the meeting? What are your thoughts?