I-Team: Regulators could have detected forever chemicals

By Johnny EdwardsPublished December 19, 2024 The FOX 5 I-Team reported last week how independent testing, ordered by the Southern Environmental Law Center, found forever chemicals at unsafe levels in several wells in the low-income community, not far from a former DuPont carpet fibers plant. The discovery prompted the city to connect 15 homes to public water lines, to stop the poisoning. Forever chemicals have been linked to liver damage, thyroid problems, reproductive problems and various forms of cancer. The Brief: * Residents living off Pittard Road in Athens, a low-income community near a former DuPont plant, learned this year they’ve been drinking well water contaminated with forever chemicals, or PFAS. * For decades, government experts told residents their water was fine, apparently based on 2003 well tests that didn’t check for forever chemicals, because they weren’t on regulators’ radar then. * A dismissive 2006 report on the neighborhood by the Atlanta-based Agency for Toxic Chemicals and Disease Registry (ATSDR) may have shut down further investigation. * The truth could have been found much sooner: A PFAS expert says testing as early as 2009 could have confirmed the presence of forever chemicals. ATHENS, Ga. - An Athens neighborhood’s long search for the truth about contaminated well water didn’t have to take so long. FULL STORY: https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/pfas-expert-regulators-could-have-detected-forever-chemicals-athens-wells-15-years-ago