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Michigan Water Emergency
Residents of another Michigan community have found themselves without safe drinking water. Frighteningly, another Michigan water emergency was announced after a carcinogenic (cancer-causing) toxin was detected.
Traces of the carcinogen PFAS 20 times over the safe levels were detected in Parchment’s water supply, Michigan Live reported. Parchment is a suburb of Kalamazoo. Some unincorporated neighborhoods in Cooper Township were also affected.
Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFAS) is an ingredient in fabric softeners. Disturbingly, PFAS is so dangerous it was banned in the European Union in 2006. Confusingly, PFAS is also known as PFOA. High levels of two other toxins; polyfluoroalkyl and PFOS, were also detected.
Revealingly, studies have linked high levels of PFAS to cancer. Testicular, thyroid, kidney, prostate, bladder, and ovarian cancer might be caused by PFAS.
Carcinogen Found in Drinking Water
The Michigan water emergency was declared after state officials detected high levels of PFAS.
The safe level of PFAS recommended by the EPA is 70 parts per trillion. Officials reportedly detected a PFAS level of 1,587 parts per trillion in Parchment’s municipal water supply.
Therefore, residents were told to stop drinking tap water after the tests last week. Not surprisingly, officials began distributing bottled water at Parchment High School.
“State and local officials and members of the community have been working in full partnership to ensure people in the area have safe water in the short, medium and long-term,” Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley (R) assured citizens.
The Town without Water
In an effort to rid the water of toxins, officials are flushing out the Parchment water system. Once the system has been flushed out, it will be connected to the Kalamazoo County water supply.
Disturbingly, news reports did not say how long it would take to connect the systems. An immediate connection would expose all the users of Kalamazoo water to high levels of PFAS. Therefore, the Parchment system has to be flushed before connectivity is established.
The Michigan Water emergency and distributions of bottled water will continue until the systems are connected. To alleviate thirst, officials have distributed 7,000 cases of bottled water to Parchment residents.
Source of Carcinogen Unknown
Disturbingly, the source of the PFAS in Parchment’s water supply is unknown. The town gets its water from three wells that have been shut down.
Not even people with private wells are safe from PFAS. Michigan Live reported that private wells within one mile of Parchment’s well are being tested for carcinogens.
Parchment is known as “The Paper City” because of a paper mill that operated there in the early 20th Century. News stories did not say if that factory was the source of the contamination.
Poisoned City
The Parchment PFAS is the latest Michigan water crisis to make headlines. In 2016 the entire water supply in Flint, a city of 97,386 people, was declared unsafe for human consumption.
Frighteningly, state officials knew Flint’s water was dangerous but allowed citizens to drink it for two years, author Anna Clark alleged. Clark’s allegations are found in a new book called The Poisoned City: Flint’s Water and the American Urban Tragedy.
Worst of all, Clark alleges that water systems all over the United States are bad as that in Flint. The latest Michigan water emergency indicates that Clark’s allegations are well-founded.
Therefore all Americans need to provide an Off-Grid source of safe drinking water for their households. Going Off-Grid might be the only way to ensure your family has enough water to drink.
