the folks in Delaware and N.J. are very nervous over their drinking water

[ensho]

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20100725/NEWS02/7250361/1007/Delaware-s-drinking-water-at-risk


Special Report: Delaware Drinking Water at Risk

What you haven't been told about chemicals polluting the aquifer that serves Del., Md., N.J.


Tainted groundwater is spreading across thousands of acres in northern Delaware and has reached the Potomac Aquifer, which supplies drinking water to people across much of Delaware, Maryland and New Jersey.

In some areas of the upper Potomac near Delaware City and New Castle, concentrations of benzene, vinyl chloride and chlorinated benzenes are so high that exposure poses an immediate health threat. Elevated levels of these industrial byproducts significantly increase the risks of cancer. Sustained exposure could kill.

Northern Delaware is home to some of the worst chemical dumping grounds in America, a legacy of broken promises and corporate misdeeds. Regulators working for Delaware and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have long claimed that the deep clay layers above the aquifer protected it from the foul waters discharged by chemical and petroleum manufacturers.

Those assurances have proved false.

-snip of details-
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and

http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=1379


RADIOACTIVE WELLS POSE BIGGER RISKS IN NEW JERSEY

Hundreds of Thousands Exposed Daily to Rad Levels Many Times over Safety Limits


Radioactivity levels in state drinking water wells are much higher than previously known and at-risk wells cover a bigger slice of the Garden State, according to agency documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Despite significant adverse public health implications of the findings, the state has not taken steps to alert or protect affected populations.

-snip-

A February 2009 DWQI report estimated that more than 211,000 people are exposed to an individual cancer risk which is 600 times the acceptable risk level. DWQI recommended that the state adopt a drinking water MCL for radon 222 but it was not acted upon and no follow-up action is scheduled.

-snip of details-
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this is terrible news

[Angry Dragon]

1. Why should anyone be surprised??

We now live in a country that values wealth more than lives.
If one has to destroy the environment to make money it is okay.

[Ichingcarpenter]

2. I wonder if the cause is related to Gas Fracking in Pennsylvania?

Shale Fracking Puts Upper Delaware At Top Of Endangered Rivers List

The Upper Delaware River, the drinking water source for 17 million people across New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania is the most endangered river in the US, due to risks from shale fracking for natural gas, according to the latest rankings by American Rivers.

The environmental group says the natural gas extraction process poisons groundwater and creates toxic pollution.

American Rivers called on the Delaware River Basin Commission to ban any shale fracking in the Upper Delaware watershed until a thorough study of impacts is completed and the pollution potential of shale fracking is fully documented and assessed.


http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/20419



The Chemicals you mention are the same ones thatt happen in Gas Fracking.


See this thread'
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8812037

[H2O Man]

9. Yes.

It is.

[mike r]

3. Better Living Through Chemistry

courtesy of DuPont et al.

[blueworld]

4. I covered this years ago as a reporter in NJ

I shouldn't be surprised nothing has been done. I made so many calls to NJDEP, the press office officially stalled me every chance they got until I used a "sneak attack" to get them to return my calls. They just kept raising the "safety levels" for the chemicals in question to make it harder for municipalities to actually do anything. Check the comparative "acceptable" levels with other states.

In my own small town, underground water (in Karst topography) was so polluted with benzene, 5 wells still managed to be "condemned" - no mean feat. Three of the folks in that area had lymphoma, what a coincidence. The contaminated area was immediately next to a large river & a school. I spent my own money driving to official offices, filing FOIAs & copying reams of documents so I could write legitimately about the huge problem. Hear the crickets?

God bless you for your attempts.

[ensho]

6. and hugs to you for trying

nt

[ensho]

5. what are the people in the States doing to get clean drinking water?

buying bottled?

are there home filters to stop the chems. and pharmas.?

nothing stops the radiation so that drinking water is ruined forever. what are the people doing?

are the people in the States even paying attention?

talking heads are always saying jobs are in the medical field. guess so!

[jdlh8894]

10. How do you get fresh H20 in the "Conch Republic"?

Not being nasty, but you are surrounded by salt water,and as far as I know,there are no rivers there.

[ensho]

12. our water comes from the mainland via pipe , then into our water

company.

before the pipe people had storage tanks for rain water and there were some wells.

[Bitwit1234]

7. Maybe they should bottle it and send it to Christie.

[H2O Man]

8. Thank you

for this. It's harsh. But real.

Recommended.

[vanbean]

11. Someone needs to go to prison in Gasland.