the water we’re delivering to
our customers is safe,” Steglitz
said. “We’ve been piloting new
technology, a new granular
activated carbon media in our
filters, and we’ve been finding
it to be successful at removing
two of the PFAS compounds,
PFOS and PFOA, that are part
of the EPA’s health advisory.
Because we’ve been piloting
it and it’s been successful, we
decided to put it in all of our
filters.”
Laura Rubin, vice chair of
the University of Michigan
School for Environment and
Sustainability advisory board
and
executive
director
of
the Huron River Watershed
Council, said it was difficult to
accurately gauge the level of the
threat because it is a new issue.
“We’re still in the process
of
identifying
where
the sources are and how
pervasive they are throughout
the watershed,” Rubin said.
“Regularly, there are new issues
that come up that we need to
address. I would say a lot of our
work is continual monitoring,
continual work with our local
government … we need better
science and understanding on
what current levels are okay for
human health.”
Additionally,
Rubin
expressed
frustration
with
the DEQ, which she believes
is not doing enough to help
the situation. Rubin said it is
important for Michigan to be a
leader in water safety because
of its industrial past.
“Right now, the DEQ has
been underfunded for a couple
years and also been undermined
by many of the current policies
and practices, and especially
at the EPA level there’s been a
rollback of oversight and rules
and regulations, so we would
love to see more (regulations),”
Rubin said. “Like many other
states, it (Michigan) has a
heavy
manufacturing
base,
and because we have more
manufacturing here, we have
more chemicals and pollutants
that have been released into
the environment and into the
groundwater and the rivers.”
Public
Health
student
Alextia Armstrong, a member
of the Environmental Health
Student Association, interned
at Ann Arbor’s treatment plant
and is confident the discharged
water is safe.
“In my opinion, students
should worry about PFAS as
much as they worry about every
other emerging pollutant in any
of our resources/environment,”
Armstrong wrote in an email
to The Daily. “Seeing how hard
its (AAWTP’s) staff worked
every day to provide a quality
source of drinking water to
many
households
in
Ann
Arbor/Townships,
I
believe
that students shouldn’t be
too worried about AAWTP’s
ability to come up with and
implement effective solutions
to this problem. My only
recommendation for students
to stay safe is to become
educated.”
While the situation in
Ann Arbor might be under
control, State Rep. Yousef
Rabhi, D-Ann Arbor, believes
the problem is statewide and
changes are needed. Earlier in
September, Rabhi led a group
of legislators who penned a
letter to Gov. Rick Snyder (R)
calling on the state to address
high PFAS levels.
“The
first
piece
of
legislation I introduced was
a bill that, if it had passed,
would have made companies
that polluted pay to clean up
the damages,” Rabhi said. “In
Ann Arbor, the town council
created a solution, but it was
expensive, and that money
still came from the taxpayers.
Taxpayers shouldn’t have to
pay to clean up a mess they
didn’t make.”
Rabhi also stressed far-
reaching
effects
of
clean
drinking water are not always
fully considered. He felt it was
unjust many communities in
Michigan do not have access
to clean drinking water, while
the state’s contract with Nestlé
Waters North America pumps
576,000 gallons of water per
day from Michigan for $200 a
year.
“In Michigan, we’ve had
schools that have had to be
closed
down
because
they
didn’t have clean water,” Rabhi
said. “Clean water doesn’t just
impact drinking, when this
happens it impacts education
and our public schools … and
while all this is happening,
Nestlé is allowed to take
water, basically for free, from
Michigan. I introduced a bill
that would tax Nestlé just a
small amount, a few cents per
gallon, which would go towards
funding our public schools.
Republicans in Lansing didn’t
pass it.”
Universally,
most
agree
concrete standards for the
acceptable amount of various
chemicals within the water are
needed. Steglitz believes there
will be regulations sometime
in the future, though preferably
from a federal, not state, level.
“I
think
it’s
clear
that
something needs to happen
related to these chemicals,”
Steglitz said. “Our preference
would be the federal government
and the EPA take the lead on this,
because there are states that are
already legislating maximum
contaminant limits for these
compounds, and they’re all doing
it differently … The problem
with all states taking their own
initiative is it’s really difficult to
message to customers: Why are
these chemicals more dangerous
in one state than another state?
We would prefer that they (the
federal government) use science
to develop a standard that they
can apply across the board, and
then we can all follow that.”
2 — Thursday, October 18, 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
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