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As Above So Below
High levels of toxic chemicals found in Cambridgeshire water supply
Water from a supply containing high levels of toxic chemicals has been pumped into the homes of more than 1,000 people, the Guardian can reveal.
Cambridge Water has admitted it removed a supply containing four times the regulatory limit of perfluorooctane sulphonate (PFOS), which was being blended with other supplies to provide water to the homes of customers in south Cambridgeshire, in June last year. But the 1,080 customers living in Stapleford and Great Shelford were never informed that they had been exposed. The company has not revealed how long the water had been tainted.
PFOS is a man-made chemical that has been associated with increased cholesterol, low birthweight and suppressed immune response. The chemical was widely used in firefighting foams from the late 1960s until the early 2000s in large quantities at airfields and firefighting training centres.
Dubbed “forever chemicals” because they are designed never to break down in the environment, the substances can percolate through the ground for years, reaching drinking water aquifers.
The aquifer supplying the affected houses, close to Duxford airfield, was found to have PFOS levels at almost 400 nanograms per litre (ng/l) of water – four times the Drinking Water Inspectorate’s limit.
Cambridge Water said it removed the contaminated water from its supply in June and the exposure was under investigation. It admitted it had not told the community, but said it had blended the water with that from other sources before it reached households.
It said it was “unable to guarantee a blend below 100ng/l for our customers at all times and … previous samples taken from the same area have shown PFOS levels below 100ng/l”.
(More on the link)
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Water from a supply containing high levels of toxic chemicals has been pumped into the homes of more than 1,000 people, the Guardian can reveal.
Cambridge Water has admitted it removed a supply containing four times the regulatory limit of perfluorooctane sulphonate (PFOS), which was being blended with other supplies to provide water to the homes of customers in south Cambridgeshire, in June last year. But the 1,080 customers living in Stapleford and Great Shelford were never informed that they had been exposed. The company has not revealed how long the water had been tainted.
PFOS is a man-made chemical that has been associated with increased cholesterol, low birthweight and suppressed immune response. The chemical was widely used in firefighting foams from the late 1960s until the early 2000s in large quantities at airfields and firefighting training centres.
Dubbed “forever chemicals” because they are designed never to break down in the environment, the substances can percolate through the ground for years, reaching drinking water aquifers.
The aquifer supplying the affected houses, close to Duxford airfield, was found to have PFOS levels at almost 400 nanograms per litre (ng/l) of water – four times the Drinking Water Inspectorate’s limit.
Cambridge Water said it removed the contaminated water from its supply in June and the exposure was under investigation. It admitted it had not told the community, but said it had blended the water with that from other sources before it reached households.
It said it was “unable to guarantee a blend below 100ng/l for our customers at all times and … previous samples taken from the same area have shown PFOS levels below 100ng/l”.
(More on the link)
.