By Hal Walter
WRITERS ON THE RANGE
November 8, 2010
http://www.hcn.org/issues/42.19/theres-something-in-the-water?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+hcn%2Fmost-recent+%28High+Country+News+-+Most+Recent%29
When Hal Walter and his family settled down in the Wet Mountains of Colorado, the last thing they were expecting was for their "Rocky Mountain Spring Water" to by heavily contaminated by e. coli and total coliform bacteria, and later lead and nitrate-nitrite.
Note: The family had to drill their own well to have water source since there are no aquifers in that area.
Mr. Walter and his wife decided to test the water they were using out of the well because as more time passed more medical issues rose; Mrs. Walters was diagnosed with hypothyroidism, Harrison (his son) was diagnosed with autism, and he was also diagnosed with attention-deficit disorder (ADHD). When the results were seen, the report stated the water was said to be "unsafe for human consumption, or even bathing" and considered to be "very dangerous". This wasn't a huge surprise to the Walters as past samples had returned and also came back with negative results. The only attention grabbing part was that they couldn't use the water any longer because of the e. coli and total coliform bacteria. In un-contaminating the water Mr. Walter had to carefully measure bleach, pour it down the well, wash the well with water for the hose, open all the household plumbing, and wait till the chlorine scent no longer lingered (over 24 hours).
They sent back another sample to make sure the water was pure and the results came back positive finally! But the Walters wanted to be extra careful and only purchased purified water from nearby health food stores. Which is good because as more information was sent back the family, the worse the results became. The lead levels were two times as high as EPA requirements-- the leading cause of hypothyroidism, autism and ADHD-- and overwhelming amounts of nitrate-nitrite.
These results led Mr. Walters to wonder about the other people consuming the heavily contaminated water and the very few people who actually tested their water supply frequently. It also led Mr. Walters to think that whenever the water sample is taken its only a "snapshot" of whatever is present in the water at that time. He ends the article saying to be aware of what's in your water and treat it accordingly.
I think it's unfair that the Walters had to go through being diagnosed with three different diseases to find out on their own that their well water was heavily contaminated. The EPA should have made special rounds to all the self-drilled wells in the Wet Mountains and told the owners how to measure the contaminant level on their own and the limits for the different contaminants. Furthermore, the EPA also should have told well users what to do if the limits were exceed and which contaminants caused the most danger to humans. This reminded me of how surprised I was when we tested the water samples we brought in from home and there was an abundance of chlorine in my water sample. This was obviously on a much smaller danger scale though.
Here are some questions in response to the article summarized above:
1. What would you have done in the same situation? Would you have gone through all that trouble of getting more accurate results or simply using a different and cleaner water source?
2. If you were on the board for the EPA, how would you warn, and in the future protect people in danger of being contaminated by the water they use and consume?
3. Using your knowledge from the experiments we did in class and the background information we know about different contaminants, how could you tell if the water you used was contaminated without sending it to a research facility or EPA testing lab?
This is obviously not fair to the family and those other people drinking that same water because everyone requires water to live, and not just anywater, CLEAN water. It is important to be able to have water without running out to the store just so take a few sips out of a bottle and i know that i would not want to do that on a regular basis. It is also not fair that nobody regulated the water and they had to have some devistating news of sicknesses brought upon them before they realized that something is most definatly wrong.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of my cousin, because he moved to india for a year for a "study abroad" type of thing at his school and of corse he knew he would have to make some changes to his life in order to do so. Unthinkingly he of corse drank the water that was there and got sick. Although i dont think it was from contamination but from just a sudden change in the water quality. I still felt bad that he got sick because he was going to be spending a while there.
If i were in that situation i probably would have gotten some testing done but even if the samples came back clean, i would still be too scared to drink the water after what happened to my family members. In that case i would probably only drink regulated water or bottled water.
I agree that it was very bad for their Walter's family water to be so contaminated, and it was permitted to be that way for so long that it eventually gave the family members 3 different diseases before action was taken. Not only is it disappointing but it's also scary to think that the EPA doesn't fully regulate the water in every area. As apart of their job, they're suppose to test the water and make sure it's safe; however works in that area I believe deserves to be heavily fined or fired, because people are now suffering from their laziness/mistakes. I never realized that lead contamination had a connection to ADHD, Autism or hypothyroidism (heck, I didn't even know what hypothyroidsim was until I read it in the article and google it!) It surprises me that there's a connection there between the diseases, but at the same time I'm a little suspicious. Though the article claims lead contamination is a leading source in those 3 diseases, I have my doubts that the husband's supposed ADHD and his son's autism is linked to the water contamination. Isn't it just more likely the husband could have been stressed around that time, and therefore was more likely to test higher in having a low attention span? Second of all, autism in boys first of all is much more likely than girls, so the son's chances were already raised, but even more so he could have just developed it some other way over time, couldn't he? How old is he anyway? It's more likely to develop when they're young then older, from what I'm aware of. No one quite fully understands what causes autism yet anyway, so I'm a bit skeptical that the lead contamination can be directly linked to these 2 diseases, but I don't have any doubts with the wife's disease and lead contamination (seems pretty solid.)
ReplyDeletePersonally, I don't really classify ADHD as a disease... It just seems like people with ADHD are overtly excited/hyper active, and have low attention spans. When my cousin was 5, he was diagnosed with ADHD. My Aunt and Uncle didn't believe it was really a disease though after researching into it, and decided against putting him on medications which would help sedate his "condition." My cousin's 17 now, going into his last year of high school next year, and is a fully capable young adult with no sysmptons what-so-ever of having ADHD. To me, ADHD just seems like a phase that most kids outgrow. Just look at my cousin. He's very relaxed and at the top of his class.
1. If I were in the same situation, I would definetely go through drastic measures to have my water cleaned. After finding people in my family were negatively affected by it (including myself), I would definitely take legal measures to make sure some one would pay us for the damaged that had been caused, as we shouldn't be in a position of being in any harm from simply drinking water.
This family probably should have gotten the water tested first before they started using it so much. If you just built a well so many things could go wrong but it could have been avoided if they had just tested it first. I mean they probably didn't thing about testing it but they should have researched about the dangers if water contamination. But also in my opinion the EPA should be required to test all water even if it is in a well in the mountains. Yet since it was not a regulation for the EPA to check the water all the blame goes on the family and the EPA should learn from this and check all well water also.
ReplyDeleteWhat this reminds me of is how I think we get water from a well at my grand mom's mountain house. She always ways the water is so clean and always tastes good. It does taste fresh but I don't think any tested it yet and maybe it would be good to do that. It seems like clean water so I am guessing that is why it has never gotten checked. Although maybe it has gotten checked but it should be good to check it every year.
1. If I were in this same situation and I noticed there was something that didn't seem normal about the water. I would go get bottled water and have the EPA check my water for containments. Also I would attempt to make sure the EPA checked all well water to try to help other people with the same problem.