Citizens uneasy over EPA report that says C8

Marietta Times, Brad Bauer
Published June 29, 2005

Water quality readings come in the mail at the Sandra Strauss home about as often as water bills do. That's because the 63-year-old Vincent resident is one of the 4,000 Little Hocking Water Association customers who are more concerned than ever about a chemical used by DuPont that pollutes their water system. An independent review board issued a preliminary report to the U.S. EPA earlier this week indicating the chemical found in Strauss' water system could cause cancer. "I'm not as concerned about it for me as I am for my children and grandchildren who have been exposed for all of their lives," she said. Strauss said she moved into the Little Hocking Water Association district about 11 years ago. In a draft report released Monday, the majority of the members on an EPA scientific advisory board concluded that C8 is "likely" to be carcinogenic to humans, and that the EPA should conduct cancer risk assessments for a variety of tumors found in mice and rats after they were exposed to the chemical. The people with the highest concentrations of the chemical in their water are the customers of the Little Hocking Water Association, which serves most of western Washington County. Little Hocking Water Association General Manager Bob Griffin said his office received calls from concerned water customers since the report was issued. "The report is not definitive, just saying the EPA needs to take a harder look," Griffin said. "It just reinforces our position that this chemical and any related chemicals do not belong in our water system." Last year the water association issued a warning to customers to use the water at their own risk, because the effects of C8 exposure to humans is largely unknown. Concern about C8 in the area has been high since a 2001 class-action suit filed in West Virginia alleged DuPont knowingly allowed C8, which is a component used during the production of Teflon, to be discharged into local water supplies from its Washington Works plant. That case was settled earlier this year for $107 million.. Griffin said part of the settlement included DuPont installing filters to the water association's lines to remove all C8 before it is sent out to customers. "We're expecting the preliminary design drawings anytime now," Griffin said. Once the design is approved, Griffin said it would be a matter of months before the filters are installed. It is welcomed news to water customers who still don't know if there are real risks associated with drinking or using their water. "We've been using bottled water since we first learned about all of this," said Donna Deem, 44, of Little Hocking. "You just don't know what is going to come of all of this ... That's what is so scary." In addition to the lawsuit, last July, the U.S. EPA determined DuPont failed, for more than 20 years, to report information as required concerning information the company had learned about C8. The EPA alleged DuPont failed to report that C8 had passed from pregnant workers to their unborn fetuses, had been detected in local water supplies as early as the mid-1980s and that the company had information the chemical was in water supplies at a greater level than guidelines indicated would be without any effect to members of the community. DuPont set aside $15 million to settle the EPA allegations, but an agreement has not been reached. DuPont officials declined to comment on the report, but told the Associated Press in a prepared statement that human health and toxicology studies suggest that C8 exposure does not cause cancer in humans and does not pose a health risk to the general public.