Cancer-Causing Contaminants Fill Out Peters Water, Study Shows

PETERS TOWNSHIP, PA - Carcinogens and contaminants were found in the system of township water supplier Pennsylvania American Water Co., a study released Wednesday revealed. The study by the independent nonprofit organization the Environmental Working Group did not indicate the company violated Environmental Protection Agency regulations or standards.

But what’s legal isn’t necessarily safe when it comes to most any water system’s supply, according to Nneka Leiba, director of Healthy Living Science at the EWG. “There are chemicals that have been linked to cancer, for example, that are found above health-based limits, or health guidelines, in the water of more than 250 million Americans,” Leiba said.

EWG, in conjunction with outside scientists, assessed health-based guidelines for hundreds of chemicals found in our water across the country and compared them to the legal limits. The law often permits utilities to allow these dangerous chemicals to pollute our waters.

Pennsylvania American took issue with EMG’s findings

“We have reviewed the Environmental Working Group’s report and have identified some inconsistencies between the information in the report and the results in our files,” Pennsylvania American spokesman Terry Maenza said. “Without seeing the underlying data and related calculations, we are not able to comment on specific aspects of the report.”

Those specifics indicated there were five carcinogens and 11 other contaminants detected in 2015 for which annual utility averages exceeded an EWG-selected health guideline established by a federal or state public health authority; or chemicals detected under the EPA's Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule program in 2013 to 2015, for which annual utility averages exceeded a health guideline established by a federal or state public health authority.

The carcinogens:

• Bromodichloromethane (linked to harm to child and fetuses, as well as reproductive difficulties. The Department of Health and Human Services has determined that bromodichloromethane is reasonably an­ticipated to be a human carcinogen)

• Chloroform (linked to cancer and fetal development issues)

• Chromium (linked to cancer, liver damage and productive system damages)

• Dibromochloromethane (linked to cancer and harm to fetuses)

• Total trihalomethanes (linked to bladder cancer, skin cancer and fetal development issues)

The contaminants included 1.4 Dioxane, Bromochloromethane, Bromform, Chlorate, Chromium, Fluoride, Haloacetic acids, Molybdenum, Nitrate, Nitrite and Strontium.

Maenza said that Pennsylvania American delivers water that meets or surpasses all Environmental Protection Agency standards. The EWG also noted that for the latest quarter assessed by the EPA (January to March 2017), tap water provided by Pennsylvania American in compliance with federal health-based drinking water standards.

Maenza said Pennsylvania American strives to ensure its customers have easy access to water quality data and publishes an annual water quality report available online.

Pennsylvania American, a subsidiary of American Water, is the largest investor-owned water utility in the state and provides water and/or wastewater services to approximately 2.3 million people. American Water, founded in 1886, is the largest and most geographically diverse publicly-traded water and wastewater utility company in the country.

Reporting by Cody Fenwick/Patch national staff.

Photo: USEPA Environmental-Protection-Agency.