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United States Science

Nearly Half of People in the US Have Toxic PFAS in Their Drinking Water (scientificamerican.com) 48

An anonymous reader shares a report: New data recently released by the Environmental Protection Agency indicate that more than 158 million people across the U.S. have drinking water contaminated by toxic "forever chemicals," scientifically known as perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).

"Drinking water is a major source of PFAS exposure. The sheer number of contaminated sites shows that these chemicals are likely present in most of the U.S. water supply," said David Andrews, deputy director of investigations and a senior scientist at the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a nonprofit advocacy organization, in a recent press release.

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Nearly Half of People in the US Have Toxic PFAS in Their Drinking Water

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  • How much does a given person take in from their municipal water supply in an average year, and is this a dangerous amount for them?

    Same question, but substitute from all sources.

  • by v1 ( 525388 )

    you should read up on just how much DHM (dihydrogen monoxide) is in public water nationwide.

  • That these chemicals are driving people crazy
    • I'm not sure if it was these chemicals or leaded gasoline. Right wing extremism has increased exactly with the prevalence of leaded gasoline with a 20 year delay.
      • Once looked up the correlation between intelligence (Probably was IQ, but it has been a while) and voting. There was a definite trend there. Less intelligence, more right oriented. Not sure if extreme left and extreme right was included, probably not.
        Society is getting toxic because our environment is getting toxic? Too simple probably. Nazi Germany happened before leaded gas. Probably adds a few grams to the legt/right balance though.
        • You have to be ignorant to believe most of what a Republican says. They've spent, at least my whole lifetime, turning away anyone with sense. This process has turned Republican voters into concentrated, organized idiocy. Talk to me like an idiot, and I'm not likely to associate with you... unless, maybe, I'm an idiot.

          I feel like we should have a new, party-neutral word for this concentrated, distilled group of retards, wherever they appear in the world and in history. Like we had "the peasantry" and "the bo

    • by e3m4n ( 947977 )

      Its in your freaking non-stick pans dimwit.

  • by YetAnotherDrew ( 664604 ) on Friday March 28, 2025 @05:27PM (#65266339)
    Please don't leave us out. What exactly is in our water?
  • Water is Wet (Score:4, Informative)

    by Kisai ( 213879 ) on Friday March 28, 2025 @05:32PM (#65266357)

    It needs to be pointed out:

    Where is PFAS in drinking water coming from?
    - PVC does not contain PFAS
    - Copper pipe does not contain PFAS (but contains lead solder which can leech into water)
    - Boiling water in damaged teflon/non-stick pots/pans leeches PFAS from them.

    Reverse Osmosis at the tap can remove PFAS from water. Ultaviolet treatments can remove PFAS from water.

    But most of the contamination in humans is almost a certainty from using teflon cookware for the last 40 years.

    • Re:Water is Wet (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Shane A Leslie ( 923938 ) on Friday March 28, 2025 @05:45PM (#65266389) Homepage Journal

      A simple 5 gallon stainless steel pot still run during the evening while doing other domestic labour can easily supply the drinking and cooking water for a small family.

      I bought one for making hobby booze after jokingly stating that I could 'drink for free off the fruit my kids let go to waste'. Did a run to have distilled water to drinkn with the oaked shine I made - basically the simplest whiskey - and found that I liked the distilled water ice cubes and for drinking. I've been doing a boil of a gallon or two a day for making coffee, tea, sodastream, and cooking.

      Cheap, easy to do, and avoids all the pollution that would come from using store bought bottles water. I'm on a hydroelectric grid so my distillated water habit is carbon neutral and I avoid most of the stuff that does get through my municipal water supply. The down side is I also lose the fluoride.

    • by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      Where is PFAS in drinking water coming from?

      Pollution, in the end. PFAS chemicals last forever, so they can come from the environment around them. Plenty of PFAS has been used and dumped around, where it's picked up by the water and makes its way to the reservoirs.

      Many places don't employ reverse osmosis systems to clean their water - they may have freshwater lakes they draw water from, which is basically clean so only minor amounts of treatment is needed. Thus any PFAS that have accumulated in the environm

    • by e3m4n ( 947977 )

      Yep. Even the hexclad gordon ramsay hawks has either PFAS or PTFE. I found a similar product on amazon called Snowclad that claims to be free of them. They are actually really nice pans at a fraction of the cost. Like any pan there is an initial cleaning and seasoning process. Also another line of hybrid cookware called Hells Kitchen claims to be free of them.

  • by ebunga ( 95613 ) on Friday March 28, 2025 @05:35PM (#65266369)

    Mandrake, have you never wondered why I drink only distilled water or rainwater? And only pure grain alcohol?

  • by wakeboarder ( 2695839 ) on Friday March 28, 2025 @05:39PM (#65266377)

    Has arsenic in it also, they know how much this is and it needs to be kept under 10ppb. Tell me what the level for PFAS is that's going to kill me or make me sick.

  • That is what makes it taste so good. Mmmmmmmm. PFASssssssss.
  • 1) Politicize it

    2) Deny there's an issue

    3) Defund the reporting agencies

    4) Don't tell anyone the wealthy will import their water

  • by Luscious868 ( 679143 ) on Friday March 28, 2025 @05:53PM (#65266409)
    Donald and Elon sure as hell don't. The EPA? Who needs it? Let's all move to the Donald diet of McDonald's cheeseburgers. Make America Great Again .... Again ... because for whatever reason Donald failed in his first attempt ....
  • Many of them have been shown to traverse the blood/brain barrier, and actually never decompose. Plastic brains for all. Surely not a problem.

  • Further studies have shown that it is chock full of DHMO.
  • Think I'm good ! But then my wife buys plastic bottles of water. That's on her.....lolol
  • How many people have injected themselves with micro bits of metals, including aluminum, titanium, copper, iron, chromium, lead, mercury sulfide, cadmium, chromium oxide and cobalt, by getting a tattoo?
  • Isnt water a forever chemical? I mean were drinking the same h2o the dinosaurs drank.

  • RFKjr assures us we can chelate out PFAS with doses of Vitamin A and rectal boluses of power crystals.

  • So what? The dose make the poison, and if we are not told the concentration of this stuff we cannot fairly judge whether there is anything to worry about or not.

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