High concentrations of PFA’s found in Pueblo private wells

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) - A report from the Pueblo Department of Public Health and Environment (PDPHE) shows that certain private wells in Pueblo in two different zip codes are well above the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) standards for safe drinking water, typically enforced in city water supplies.

According to a recent report, residents within the zipcodes 81006 and 81008 showed 64.12 parts per trillion (PPT) and 145.24 PPT of PFAs contamination, respectively.

According to the EPA, the maximum level of PFAs that should be found in drinking water is around 38 ppt, when all types of PFAs are accounted for. Unfortunately, the county's report does not delineate which chemicals tested higher than others.

When KRDO13 Investigates asked for a more thorough breakdown of the report showing the contaminants, PDPHE said they didn't have them.

When KRDO13 Investigates asked what the County was planning on doing to notify residents about the high levels of PFAs found in certain zip code areas, they said they had planned on posting on social media and pushing it out through news media but had not notified residents directly.

According to the department, the testing had been funded through a grant that ran out in July, meaning they did not have the funding to further test wells in the areas that had shown areas of higher concentrations of PFAs.

"Our grant ended in July,  so we're not taking any more volunteers to do that free water well water testing," Megan Crawford said. "If there's another grant that does come out from this that PDPHE signs up for because there's a huge interest in it -- obviously, there is -- then we'll look into getting that grant in testing."

Any questions about water well testing should be forwarded to PDPHE.