Firefighting foam leaves toxic legacy in Californians’ drinking water

Post by jgust » Tue, Oct 08, 2019, 11:10 PM UTC

nate wrote: post #40

jen_h wrote: post #25

Filter your water if you live anywhere near an airport or military base anywhere, it's not just California. In Satellite Beach, Florida, the contamination from Patrick AFB was discovered after a group of Satellite Beach High alumni realized they all developed cancer around the same time and decided to start digging. [ https://pfasproject.com/2018/08/08/satellite-beach-florida-f... ] They dumped everything in a trench…

I'd also just filter/test your water everywhere :( I'm in Chicago, and my daughter and I decided to test some public water fountains near the city zoo for lead. Thought it would be an interesting way to expose her to more science. I also had a suspicion of water fountains I've been finding now "capped" and no longer working. One of the fountains we tested with a home test kit from Home Depot came up positive for lead…

Post by s0rce » Tue, Oct 08, 2019, 11:30 PM UTC

masklinn wrote: post #99

s0rce wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That might kill the algae but likely won't destroy most of the toxins in the water that the algae produce. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanotoxin

Do the toxins get carried on along with distillation as well? That's ridiculously energy-intensive and you'd probably have to re-mineralise it before storage or consumption to be on the safe side. Cooking might actually be the worst issue here, low-mineralisation cooking water would leech minerals out, leading to lower nutrient intake (unless yo keep the cooking water for drinking).

Post by nate » Wed, Oct 09, 2019, 1:53 AM UTC

jgust wrote: post #131

nate wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd also just filter/test your water everywhere :( I'm in Chicago, and my daughter and I decided to test some public water fountains near the city zoo for lead. Thought it would be an interesting way to expose her to more science. I also had a suspicion of water fountains I've been finding now "capped" and no longer working. One of the fountains we tested with a home test kit from Home Depot came up positive for lead…

FWIW I witnessed a tweaker perched on top of one those public water fountains on the LFT, washing his bottom. I'd need to be nearly dead from dehydration to drink from one at this point.

Post by LeifCarrotson » Wed, Oct 09, 2019, 3:24 AM UTC

rsync wrote: post #108

LeifCarrotson wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, you can't test for PFAS with consumer kit, it's dangerous at 70 parts-per-trillion levels and is tricky to handle without contamination. The test itself is expensive, too. I'm in the part of Rockford, Michigan contaminated by Wolverine/Hush Puppies/Caterpillar shoe leather tannery scraps, and they've paid Rose & Westra GZA to send techs to my house every 6 months. A friend just outside the supposedly affected are…

"In my case, however, a pair of 48"x10" granular activated carbon filters ..." Are those backwashing filters with a head unit that contains a pump ? What level (micron) of filtration does just that unit achieve ? Just curious ...

Post by DrScump » Wed, Oct 09, 2019, 10:10 AM UTC

semerda wrote: post #136

EPA Superfund sites --- ok I did not know about this until this thread... omg! I just recently found out the Shoreline Park in Mountain View used to be a landfill for most of bay area and SF. Today it is open to enjoy like it's some natural bird sanctuary.. yet there are pipes underground extracting methane 24x7 and I think I found a methane release valve last weekend right next to a jogging path... Can anyone confir…