Source: WCBS 880
Schumer Calls On EPA To Set Federal Drinking Water Standards
Posted: February 4, 2019
Originally Published: February 4, 2019
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Sen. Chuck Schumer on Monday called on the Environmental Protection Agency to make sure drinking water is at safe standards.
During a visit to Long Island, Schumer said it’s vital that the EPA set federal drinking water standards for the cancer-causing chemicals PFOS and PFOA that have been turning up in private wells and public water systems in Suffolk County.
“I met with the nominee for EPA and I asked him to put out these regulations and he said he's not sure he would do it. Today, we are announcing we're going to try to hold up his nomination unless he does this and, if that doesn't work, pass legislation requiring the federal government put out standards about PFOA’s and PFOS’s,” Schumer said.
He notes that the chemicals can be toxic and that there is no current standard for them. They are often found in laundry detergent and firefighting foam.
The chemicals have been plaguing Long Island was months and lawmakers have addressed concerns of toxic drinking water in the past.
Adrienne Esposito, of the Citizens Campaign for the Environment, also tells WCBS 880’s Sophia Hall that it can be quite simple to remove the chemicals from drinking water.
“The PFOA’s and PFOS’s can be filtered out with carbon filters,” she said.
Though, the trouble lies in the fact that many private wells and many public water systems do not yet have carbon filtration systems installed.
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