[SEMCO] 4/5 Talk: "Emerging Contaminants: Is the Cape's Water Safe?"

[Chris Powicki]

EMERGING CONTAMINANTS: IS THE CAPE'S WATER SAFE? 

Thursday, April 5, 630 - 8 pm
Brewster Ladies' Library
1822 Main Street/Route 6A 

Sierra Club Cape Cod Group and Brewster Community Network are sponsoring
a forum on APRIL 5 AT BREWSTER LADIES' LIBRARY focused on potential
threats to local water quality caused by emerging contaminants such as
pharmaceuticals, personal care products, flame retardants, and plastic
additives. Scheduled to run from 6:30 TO 8 PM, the forum is FREE AND
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC AND IS OF INTEREST TO CITIZENS, PRIVATE WELL OWNERS,
AND LOCAL WATER AND HEALTH OFFICIALS THROUGHOUT THE REGION. 

Featured speaker is Dr. Laurel Schaider, research scientist from Silent
Spring Institute (SSI) with a PhD in environmental engineering from the
University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Schaider leads SSI's research
program on Cape Cod, including an ongoing study of potential human
exposures and health effects associated with environmental releases of
highly fluorinated compounds (PFAS/PFOS), particularly firefighting
foams that have impacted public water supply wells in Barnstable. Her
prior SSI work includes a ground-breaking study, with results published
in the peer-reviewed literature, indicating the presence of emerging
contaminants in private wells in seven Cape towns and identifying septic
systems as the most likely source. 

AT THE APRIL 5 FORUM, Dr. Schaider will summarize current understanding
and ongoing research relating to emerging contaminants in the Cape's
water. She then will be joined by local water quality professionals -
including Paul Anderson of the Brewster Water Department and Mary
Chaffee of the Brewster Board of Health - for a panel discussion and Q&A
focusing on the following questions: 

What do standard water quality reports and tests tell us about the
safety of the Cape's public and private water supplies? 
Are existing protection and treatment strategies sufficient for dealing
with emerging contaminants?
What can we do to better protect ourselves and the Cape's precious
waters -- individually, as a community, as a region? 

_SIERRA CLUB CAPE COD GROUP brings together citizens for local action
consistent with state and national campaigns. For more information visit
https://www.sierraclub.org/massachusetts/cape-cod-group._ 

_BREWSTER COMMUNITY NETWORK is "Brewster residents dedicated to sharing
our resources, information, and contacts so that, in collaboration with
town officials and the greater community, we are better able to maintain
the character of our town and quality of our lives." For more
information, visit www.brewstercommunitynetwork.org [1]._ 

 

Links:
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[1] http://www.brewstercommunitynetwork.org
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