The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved nearly $21M to address "emerging contaminants" in Mississippians' drinking water. Emerging contaminants are chemicals from medications, personal care items, cleaning supplies and other that cause harm to aquatic animals that could eventually make its way up the food chain to people. Many rural underserved American communities are "suffering from exposure to PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, aka "Forever Chemicals') and other harmful contaminants in their drinking water,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a news release. The $20,992,000 allocated to Mississippi will be available to communities as grants from the Emerging Contaminants in Small or Disadvantaged Communities Grant Program. (Hattiesburg American 02/14/23) EPA: Mississippi gets $21M for contaminants in rural water systems (clarionledger.com)
BACKGROUND: PFAS are a group of manufactured ("man-made") chemicals that have been used in industry and products since the 1940s. Manufacturing processes and treatment sites release PFAS into the air, soil, and water. There have been 41,828 industrial and municipal sites identified in the U.S. that suspected of using PFAS. Among those facilities are petroleum stations, printers. Plus, plastics, resin, paint, semiconductor, metal products and electrical components manufacturing. In addition, military bases (385) and airports are major contributors to PFAS contamination, mostly from training and testing exercises using firefighting foam.
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