PFAS In The Water: Activists’ warning — and the government’s response
The issue isn’t that nothing’s being done — it’s that *something* isn’t being done.
OREGON, Ohio — Farming is a HUGE part of the economy here in Ohio, providing jobs and an income for folks across the state. But activists warn that the negative impact factory farming has on Lake Erie can’t be understated.
PFAS: they’re what can be described simply as man-made chemicals that are the result of industry. Industry that can include agriculture, which requires the disposal of gallons upon gallons of water. And in that water, oftentimes, are PFAS that seep into lakes and streams and even groundwater. And according to the Ohio EPA, if that didn’t already say it, PFAS are “very mobile”
To understand PFAS, according to the CDC, we have to go back to the 1940s. They’ve been used to make nonstick cookware, water-repellent clothing, stain resistant fabrics and carpets, some cosmetics and firefighting foams, and products that resist grease, water, and oil.
One concern about them is that they are very long-lasting and are not easily broken down by sunlight or other natural processes, so they can remain in the environment for years.
Now if your community doesn’t properly address PFAS in its water source, you’ve likely encountered them in your drinking water, as this issue isn’t confined to just Lake Erie, a member of the Great Lakes, which NOAA says account for 21% of the world’s freshwater. Over 30 million people rely on the Great Lakes for drinking water: 10 percent of the U.S. population and 30 percent of the Canadian population.
Here in Northwest Ohio, lots of testing and increased water scrutiny has occurred since the August 2014 Toledo Water Crisis, when the toxins of a harmful summer algal bloom in Lake Erie forced half a million of us to rely on bottled water.
The city says to prevent similar issues in the future, staff test and monitor drinking water quality 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In addition, since June 24th of 2021, water at the Collins Park Water Treatment Plant has also been treated with ozone, which is used for disinfection and oxidation.
Now back to PFAS. We already covered what they are, but let’s dive deeper into the concern.
Factory farming operations are the main source of the issues we’re seeing in the lake. Phosphorus is one of the central PFAS of concern. This fertilizer, a chemical that shares multiple uses, is also found in the lake as runoff of plant farming.
So what is the state doing to keep its citizens healthy? In an action plan released in December 2019, the state listed six objectives.
Objective 1: Gather sampling data from public water systems statewide to determine if PFAS are present in drinking water.
Objective 2: Assist private water system owners with guidelines and resources to identify and respond to potential PFAS contamination.
Objective 3: Establish action levels for drinking water in Ohio to aid in appropriately responding to PFAS contamination for the protection of public health.
Objective 4: Work with Ohio communities to identify resources to assist their public water systems in implementing preventative and long-term measures to reduce PFAS-related risks.
Objective 5: Develop and distribute educational information to the public to increase awareness and understanding of PFAS-related compounds and relative risk of exposure to PFAS through drinking water and other exposure pathways.
Objective 6: Continue ongoing engagement to ensure this action plan for Ohio is adapted as the scientific body of knowledge expands and the regulatory framework progresses at the national level.
But activists note that this plan, and Governor Mike DeWine’s H2Ohio initiative, which goes hard in the paint on wetlands and preventing water contamination, have not directly addressed those factory farming operations, also known as CAFOs (Confined Animal Feeding Operations).
“The main problem is that they’re neglecting to study something that’s very important to the state of our phosphorus that is going into the lake. It’s dissolved reactive phosphorus that’s mainly associated with CAFOs that contain animal feeding operations that are not being tested by the Ohio EPA, department of agriculture.”
Cecilia Johnson is with the Lake Erie Advocates.
“So there’s a big question mark: why?”
She says that one possible answer to that question is the needs of business interests being put ahead of the needs of people here in Northwest Ohio, adding that in the Western Lake Erie Watershed alone, there are 25 millions animals confined in 800 factory farms — with 50 added since 2014.
“There’s a recent article in The New Yorker magazine that speaks to phosphorus and they very specifically spoke to Toledo’s issues — not even questioning with the primary concern is,” Johnson said.
“Lake Erie’s troubles can be traced to concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, that dot the Maumee River watershed, in northwestern Ohio. Millions of cows and pigs in these CAFOs spend their days converting phosphorus-fertilized soy and corn into phosphorus-laden manure, much of which washes out of the operations and into the water. In Egan’s words, the Maumee now functions “like a syringe” that pumps thousands of tons of phosphorus a year into Lake Erie’s westernmost reaches,” a section of the article, Phosphorus Saved Our Way of Life — and Now Threatens to End It, reads.
“You know, as an animal lover, as I think many people are, my initial emotional response is very much for the sake of the animals,” Johnson said.
I talked to Governor DeWine back in November 2019, the same year he launched the H2Ohio initiative. Here’s what he told me at the time:
“We build up this phosphorus and it’s in the soil in these farms, so we’re not going to be able to fix this problem overnight, but we think we have a plan that we can measure the results every year, see where we are, and hopefully move forward.”
Johnson tells me that following a recent EPA forum, she was invited by a factory farmer to walk her through how they operate. She acknowledges that many of these farmers also don’t appreciate the negative impact it has, but are forced to compete against the much larger corporations. She adds that officials with the City of Toledo have been very involved and supportive of her group’s activism, but says that in order to get those in Columbus moving on legislation, it’s going to take the voices of people right here in this community.
“I think the more of many generations that speak, you know, for wanting to protect this for our children and grandchildren,” Johnson said. “I think we have to be able to answer our children and their questions with what are we doing.”
