drinking water

In 2017, the Tubbs Fire in Santa Rosa, California, exposed a new threat to public health: Wildfires can contaminate drinking water with toxic chemicals which federally mandated testing is not designed to catch. Into that regulatory void has stepped Andrew Whelton, an engineering professor at Purdue University who has made it his personal mission to help water utilities recover after devastating fires.

The state found harmful PFAS in the treated drinking water at more than two dozen small water utilities in Indiana. Among other things, exposure to the human-made chemicals has been linked to kidney cancer, problems with the immune system and developmental issues in children.

PFOS and PFOA are two types of the group of industrial chemicals called PFAS. PFAS have been linked to cancer, problems with the immune system, and developmental issues in children.

Four public drinking water wells in Goshen are contaminated with 1,2-dichloroethane -- an industrial chemical used to make things like PVC pipes and remove grease. It's also a byproduct of chemicals used in dry cleaning.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency is considering making rules for more than 60 different contaminants in drinking water that aren’t regulated right now.

Failing septic systems can leak wastewater into local streams and lakes. It can also get into drinking water wells and make people sick.

Kids with lead poisoning can have trouble learning, behavioral issues, and poor kidney function. Its especially harmful to children under the age of 6.

The chemicals are found in so many of our everyday products that they even end up in our wastewater.

Water left to sit in pipes can get contaminated with toxic heavy metals and bacteria -- like the kind that causes Legionnaires disease, another illness that affects the lungs.

The bill would require all schools that havent tested for lead at least once since 2016 to do so within the next two years.