The fight for safe drinking water – Will Madison officials pay attention to the science on PFAS?
Isthmus – January 9, 2020
https://isthmus.com/news/cover-story/the-fight-for-safe-drinking-water/
Maria Powell used to believe that science would prevail.
She co-founded the Midwest Environmental Justice Organization in 2005, hoping to draw attention to the danger pollution poses to humans…
PFAS have been making headlines in Madison for more than a year, thanks in large part to Powell. She’s been consistently raising the alarm, and often is one of the few people holding city, utility and state entities to account…
…It’s known that fire fighting foam used at Truax and burn pits at Dane County Regional Airport are a source of PFAS contamination, and other sources are possible…
…[Maria] empathizes with the working class families living at Truax Apartments, a public housing development near the U.S. Air Force Reserve base, where a PFAS-laden firefighting foam has been used in practice exercises for at least 50 years.
Powell also worries about Hmong residents, who regularly eat panfish they catch in Starkweather Creek. In October, the DNR discovered foam in the creek near the Olbrich Park boat launch. The foam turned out to have a PFAS concentration of 87,516 ppt, while water in the creek tested at 507.5 ppt…