State Health Department: A solution to the water contaminates is on its way

Hundreds of people packed into a town hall Thursday night to discuss contaminates in local drinking water.

The panel told customers the goal is to have a temporary solution in place in the next 100 days to stop customers’ exposure to the contaminates.

The Environmental Protection Agency, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, the El Paso County Healthy Department and the water districts for Security, Widefield and Fountain fielded questions from concerned customers.

The meeting staged at Mesa Ridge High School drew in so many people, the overflow area was nearly full before the meeting started.

In January, EPA tests found perfluorinated compounds in the drinking water in Security, Widefield and Fountain. The contaminated water came from Widefield Aquifer; the aquifer supplies hundreds of millions of gallons of water to the state.

There are 60,000 people in the area of concern but only 10,000 of those people are actually exposed to PFCs from time to time.

PFCs are found in Teflon, Scotchgard and firefighting foam. PFCs don’t degrade and stick around in the environment for a long time. Their presence in drinking water is coming to light now because testing has finally been developed to test for them. PFCs are contaminating drinking water across the country, including in areas in California, Alabama and Minnesota.

The contaminates may come from firefighting foam on Peterson Air Force Base. The base is dedicating $4.3 million to a rapid response measure. Some of that money will go to large-scale filters that will be installed to help local drinking water and other money will go toward the investigation.

According to a commander at the meeting, contractors arrived at Peterson Air Force Base on Thursday. The contractors will drill holes into the ground and study the soil to pinpoint the source of the contaminates. A preliminary assessment is done, but a full report won’t be complete until March 2017.

Firefighting foam was used at Peterson Air Force Base from the 1970s to the 1990s. Now, that foam is only used in emergency cases. Peterson is replacing its current stock of firefighting foam with new synthetic foam that is approved by the EPA.

In May, the EPA lowered its health advisory so all of Security’s water districts are out of compliance. During Thursday’s meeting, however, an EPA spokesperson assured customers that “health advisories are not a public health emergency.”

Fountain Water District has switched over to strictly using surface water that is not contaminated with PFCs. Surface water comes from mountain runoff and streams. Security and Widefield are blending surface water with contaminated groundwater to limit exposure. The districts cannot keep up with demand, however, if they only use surface water which means that at certain times, some customers are exposed to PFCs in their water.

A spokesperson with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said at times, water might exceed the PFC levels laid out in the health advisory, but that is worst-case scenario.

The department spokesperson said people, especially pregnant women, people to plan to become pregnant and bottle-fed infants, “should consider other sources of drinking water.”

The department said it is OK to cook with the water, unless the water remains in the finished dish, as with soup and rice. PFCs do not easily enter the body through the skin so it is OK to bathe and shower with the water. Also, very little water remains in finished laundry or dishes that have been washed. The department said it’s OK to use the water while brushing your teeth because most of that water is spit out.

Contaminates may be absorbed into vegetables growing in gardens but CDPHE said there is still not a lot of science behind it.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment spokesperson said there hasn’t been much research done on the impact of PFCs on pets, but cautioned people they likely has the same impact they do on humans.

You can get your blood tested for PFCs by your local physician, but a department spokesperson said it’s not recommended.

The El Paso County Health Department is running tests on private wells. It’s tested 47 wells so far and received results from 37 of the tests. So far, 26 of the 37 wells are over the health advisory level for PFCs. The county is offering free testings for anyone with a private well in the affected area.

The panel was asked repeatedly who will pay for customers’ bottled water until contaminates are out of the water. The panel said it’s working on coming up with a solution to help customers with those costs.

Free filling stations will open next month for westside Widefield Water District customers. Customers can get 10 gallons of free water a week.

This interactive map allows you to see how your specific neighborhood is affected: colorado.gov/cdphe/PFCs

If you live in the contamination zone and use a private well, you can call this number to set up free testing through the county: 719-575-8602