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Firefighting foam leaves toxic legacy in Californians’ drinking water

latimes.com

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Re: Firefighting foam leaves toxic legacy in Californians’ drinking water

#81

Post by isthispermanent »

strainer wrote: post #72
isthispermanent wrote: post #44

This kind of reminds of when we dump tons of salt on the roads when winter storms come around the east coast. It solves one problem but what other problems is it causing? It would be incredibly naive to think dumping all these chemicals on the ground wouldn't cause some type of negative externality.

You are confusing different classes of chemical contaminants. Rock salt which is spread on roads consists of a chemical subset of seasalt - which is completely safe to humans as evidenced by healthy coastal communities. The contaminants discussed here are of an entirely different class, they are toxic at trace levels. Sea salt and rock salt are ubiquitous natural materials, if they were toxic at low levels plagues of…

It's not just about humans. Waterways, wildlife, agriculture. The term "Salt the Earth" is shorthand for covering land with enough salt to prevent anything from growing.

Whether it's directly benign to humans is one thing, but the indirect effects are hard to account for.

Re: Firefighting foam leaves toxic legacy in Californians’ drinking water

#82

Post by arrosenberg »

ubertoop wrote: post #54

I grew up approximately 2.5 miles from a major rocket manufacturer. We're talking R&D and manufacturing of jet propulsion and rocket systems since the 80s. They totally polluted the water tables in the area with by-products of rocket fuel and other industrial chemicals used to clean engines. They were fined in the 90s and supposedly worked with local water authorities to setup a filtration system... but decades later…

Pretty common story from industrial and military waste. I had a biochemistry professor from Oklahoma whose hometown was exposed to industrial pollutants and the population had a substantially increased rate of endocrine cancers over decades.

Re: Firefighting foam leaves toxic legacy in Californians’ drinking water

#83

Post by ralphosphorous »

NE Michigan is suffering from the pollution of PFAS as well. Been aware of it for about 9 years now but really only in the past year, maybe two, has the cleanup and awareness gained traction. It's still used in firefighting foam and any area near an Air Force or Army base likely has high risk of exposure to it.

Re: Firefighting foam leaves toxic legacy in Californians’ drinking water

#84

Post by xibalba »

ubertoop wrote: post #54

I grew up approximately 2.5 miles from a major rocket manufacturer. We're talking R&D and manufacturing of jet propulsion and rocket systems since the 80s. They totally polluted the water tables in the area with by-products of rocket fuel and other industrial chemicals used to clean engines. They were fined in the 90s and supposedly worked with local water authorities to setup a filtration system... but decades later…

You aren't, by chance, referring to Rocketdyne and Simi Valley are you? Bc I lived in Simi in the 90s and this is freaking me out.

Re: Firefighting foam leaves toxic legacy in Californians’ drinking water

#85

Post by aledalgrande »

How can people in the US live with this level of poison in the water? I would think that the government would pick up on it and get it fixed. It is an essential element for life. Even before we start talking to damage to the environment.

Re: Firefighting foam leaves toxic legacy in Californians’ drinking water

#86

Post by zippergz »

mschuster91 wrote: post #2

> The Air Force delivered free five-gallon jugs of water to the Mendez home for more than two years. In 2018, it paid to have the house connected to the municipal water system. Ruben Mendez said he now pays $100 a month for water he used to get for free. Sorry, what? 100$ a month for residential water ? Either this guy is running a farm operation or something is seriously broken.

LOOOL I wish my residential water bill (for a normal sized house and very small yard) wasn't $100+, but it has been for MANY years.

Re: Firefighting foam leaves toxic legacy in Californians’ drinking water

#87

Post by ChuckMcM »

The EPA fact sheet on PFAS : https://www.epa.gov/pfas/basic-information-pfas

Can be filtered out of your drinking water with a reverse osmosis filter. If you live in the Bay Area its a useful thing to have, and if you're concerned about your tap water you can send a sample here: https://torrentlab.com/drinking-and-storm-water-quality-test...

Re: Firefighting foam leaves toxic legacy in Californians’ drinking water

#88

Post by JoblessWonder »

Well, I wasn't expecting to see the airport I'm sitting at in the news today...

Slightly related, but there is a big issue with new aircraft hangar fire suppression systems because of the regulation of foam now. Regulators don't want anyone to use foam but there isn't a better solution out there yet.

Re: Firefighting foam leaves toxic legacy in Californians’ drinking water

#90

Post by ubertoop »

xibalba wrote: post #84
ubertoop wrote: post #54

I grew up approximately 2.5 miles from a major rocket manufacturer. We're talking R&D and manufacturing of jet propulsion and rocket systems since the 80s. They totally polluted the water tables in the area with by-products of rocket fuel and other industrial chemicals used to clean engines. They were fined in the 90s and supposedly worked with local water authorities to setup a filtration system... but decades later…

You aren't, by chance, referring to Rocketdyne and Simi Valley are you? Bc I lived in Simi in the 90s and this is freaking me out.

Rocketdyne yes, Simi Valley no.
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