161
PFAS may be contaminating drinking water for up to 27% of Americans – study (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world
28 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Summary

A US Geological Survey study estimates PFAS chemicals may contaminate drinking water for up to 70% of the 140 million Americans using aquifers, affecting around 95 million people.

Some groundwater readings were up to 37,000 times the EPA’s new limits. Private wells and small public wells, which serve 13% of the population, lack strict EPA PFAS regulations, making them especially vulnerable.

Contamination is most severe near military bases, airports, and industrial sites, with high exposure in Michigan, Florida, and California.

The USGS also produced an interactive map that shows where there may be trouble.

top 28 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] Fuzzy_Red_Panda@lemm.ee 1 points 12 minutes ago

Add it to the pile of man-made horrors that are going to kill us all.

PFAS is toxic and gets into everything forever -- including our bodies -- but governments have no real plans to stop using it. Hell, you can buy as much PFAS as you want on Amazon right now, no restrictions.

[-] Doomsider@lemmy.world 3 points 10 hours ago

Remember kids, 40% of Americans will get cancer in their lifetime.

[-] 9488fcea02a9@sh.itjust.works 43 points 23 hours ago

Just get rid of the regulations. Now 0% of the water has failed testing! 100% safe!

[-] FenrirIII@lemmy.world 2 points 49 minutes ago

"If you don't test, the numbers go down" - Trump

[-] WoodScientist@lemmy.world 8 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago)

Nah, see it's a good thing. Like a teflon cooking pan, having PFAS in your drinking water just helps lubricate your organs! This means as you move around, your internal organs won't grind past each other, wearing themselves down. Drink PFAS, keep your organs properly lubricated.

This message brought to you by the American PFAS manufacturers association of America.

[-] enbyecho@lemmy.world 4 points 17 hours ago

The My Life Outdoors dude has a relevant video "Your Gear is Poisoning You":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ht7nOaIkpI

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 14 points 1 day ago

That seems low.

[-] disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world 13 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago)

The majority of PFAs that we’ve consumed have been from food packaging and clothing/textile treatments over the last ~30 years.

Kris Hansen, the scientist who tested for the presence of PFO contaminants in blood for 3M, found them in all of the bags of blood she tested from the American Red Cross in the late 1990s. Those bags were initially intended to be the control against testing the high levels found in 3M employees.

https://www.propublica.org/article/3m-forever-chemicals-pfas-pfos-inside-story

[-] Biggles@lemmy.myserv.one 1 points 7 hours ago

I wonder if the bags are made of plastic from 3M.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 3 points 22 hours ago

But let's not stop using them! What could go wrong?

[-] disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world 4 points 22 hours ago

The good news is they won’t be as much of a concern as the lead, mercury, arsenic, and many other environmental toxin regulations that will be repealed so we can turn the US into the unregulated child labor factory utopia that US businesses so desperately need to move to domestic production while maintaining profits.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 2 points 20 hours ago

Don't forget Trump's favorite construction material, asbestos.

[-] DigitalNirvana@lemm.ee 9 points 1 day ago

Point of use filtration.

[-] disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world 14 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)
[-] Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io 6 points 23 hours ago

When you said "only the most expensive", I got concerned. Then I went to the website (https://cyclopure.com/product-category/store/), and see the countertop Purefast cartridge is $40-45. So I wonder what you are actually finding problematic here?

From your first link. second paragraph: "“These $45 filters can provide up to 65 gallons of PFAS-free water, replacing 700 single-use water bottles,” said CycloPure chief executive officer Frank Cassou. The cartridges will be available in early April 2022."

[-] disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world 20 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

$45 for 65 gallons? That lasts one person 4-6 weeks depending on their weight. That’s not even counting using filtered water for cooking, tea, coffee, etc.

A regular Brita filter 3-pack only costs $15. The PFA rated filters are nine times more expensive by comparison.

[-] Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io 1 points 21 hours ago

Agreed, they are more expensive. Are they the most expensive? No. Do you have a better short term alternative? One option would be to use distillation. It would be lovely to remove PFAS entirely from the planet, but that isn't happening in the short term, unless you are aware of something I'm not. Please share? I'm just trying to find ways to reduce the toxic load for myself and others. Thanks!

Here is EWG's article on the topic, which gives similar recommendations: https://www.ewg.org/research/getting-forever-chemicals-out-drinking-water-ewgs-guide-pfas-water-filters

[-] disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world 9 points 21 hours ago

Oh, I’m not discounting their need or efficacy.

I think is absolutely criminal that we are paying to filter out the chemicals and not 3M and DuPont.

[-] Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io 2 points 20 hours ago

No argument there. This crap should not be in our environment at all. How do we get 3M, DuPont, etc to pay for our filters?

[-] disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world 1 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

We don’t. Not with the incoming Republican government. They don’t believe in regulating businesses.

[-] Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io 1 points 18 hours ago

Cool, well I could just give up, but that's not my style. So point of use filtration for now, and keep working on solving the larger problems piece by piece.

[-] disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world 2 points 18 hours ago

Sure, if you can afford it. It’s more important to avoid premade foods wrapped in water-resistant paper or plastics until all companies have removed PFAs from their packaging. There’s a far higher chance of ingesting PFAs from package leeching.

https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-industry-actions-end-sales-pfas-used-us-food-packaging

[-] WoodScientist@lemmy.world 2 points 18 hours ago

I propose the opposite. Specifically, I propose we use the Burns omni-net. It sweeps the sea clean!

[-] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 5 points 23 hours ago

Lifestraw removes PFAS. AND lead!

[-] pearsaltchocolatebar@discuss.online 6 points 23 hours ago

You'd be an idiot for using a lifestraw for all of your hydration when you can buy a pitcher that does the exact same thing.

[-] fern@lemmy.autism.place 4 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

Pitcher is easier to spill when I'm being hunted.

Also lifestraw is reusable, unlike many other systems.

[-] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 2 points 16 hours ago

Ughh. Being hunted is the worst.

[-] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 2 points 21 hours ago

You mean my Lifestraw pitcher?

this post was submitted on 13 Nov 2024
161 points (100.0% liked)

News

23284 readers
3035 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil

Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.

2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.

Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.

3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.

Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.

4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.

Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.

5. Only recent news is allowed.

Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.

6. All posts must be news articles.

No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.

7. No duplicate posts.

If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.

8. Misinformation is prohibited.

Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.

9. No link shorteners.

The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.

10. Don't copy entire article in your post body

For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
rjc@lemmy.world
Thekingoflorda@lemmy.world
dezmd@lemmy.world
Tenthrow@lemmy.world
JonsJava@lemmy.world
gedaliyah@lemmy.world
Blackbeard@lemmy.world
little_cow@lemmy.world
jeffw@lemmy.world
enu@lemmy.world