Don’t Drink the Water in South Florida
Unless You’re in Highland Beach
By Pat Elder
June 28, 2022
Highland Beach, FL Photo – Realtor.com
Test results from nine cities in south Florida show the tap water is unsafe to drink due to the presence of PFAS. Drinking water in towns along the Atlantic coast contain high levels of carcinogenic per-and poly fluoroalkyl substances, except for the town of Highland Beach which had none of the toxins in its water.
Per fluoro octanoic acid (PFOA) is one of the most lethal substances ever developed and there’s a lot of it in Delray Beach’s water. The concentrations of this cancer-causing substance in the town’s water are 8,225 times higher than the EPA’s lifetime health advisory. That’s from a water sample I collected at Tropic Isle Harbor on February 20, 2022. I used a Cyclopure test kit. The town also had levels of PFOS in the drinking water at levels that are 5,800 times over the EPA’s lifetime health advisory, (LHA). You can call it demagoguery, Delray.
Official Florida is ignoring these findings, although Delray Beach authorities have released results from its Public Drinking Well #8 showing levels of PFOA 5,000 times over the federal limit. Could someone maybe do something about this? Are there any grownups in the room?
On June 15, the EPA lowered its advisory level for PFOA from 70 parts per trillion (ppt) to .004 ppt in drinking water and it lowered PFOS from 70 ppt to .02 ppt. This action has caused the public to scrutinize the water it is drinking - and it’s bad in South Florida.
Below, see the name of the town, the concentration of PFOS in parts per trillion, (ppt), followed by how many times the level exceeds federal guidelines. The same data is repeated for PFOA. Total PFAS is the sum of all 55 PFAS compounds tested. The tests were conducted during the last week of April, 2022.
Our tests were conducted using Cyclopure test kits. Cyclopure developed its test kit under a grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) to provide a convenient, affordable and accurate kit for PFAS.
The EPA says PFOA causes:
Reproductive effects such as decreased fertility or increased high blood pressure in pregnant women.
Developmental effects or delays in children, including low birth weight, accelerated puberty, bone variations, or behavioral changes.
Increased risk of some cancers, including prostate, kidney, and testicular cancers.
Reduced ability of the body’s immune system to fight infections, including reduced vaccine response.
Interference with the body’s natural hormones.
Increased cholesterol levels and/or risk of obesity.
The EPA announcement has sent shock waves across the country, especially in California and several New England states where they tend to take things like carcinogenic drinking water more seriously than Florida.
Apparently, someone in Highland Beach is doing the right thing for all those retirees living in nice oceanfront condos and homes along the intercoastal waterway. It is possible to keep these chemicals out of drinking water, even in ghastly Florida where Governor Ron DeSantis rules with an iron fist and couldn’t give a damn!
Consider this garbage from the state:
Vision: To be the Healthiest State in the Nation
The state of Florida wages a misinformation campaign to convince its residents that PFAS is not much of a concern in the state’s drinking water while many throughout the state continue to drink poisonous water. The following are examples of a vicious psychological campaign being practiced by the Florida Department of Health to the detriment of public health:
“Studies about health effects of PFAS exposure in humans and animals have not reached clear conclusions.” False.
“There is currently no consistent scientific evidence that PFOS and PFOA cause cancer in humans.” False.
“Correlations between exposure to PFAS and health effects have been inconsistent.” False.
While garden fruits and vegetables should be considered when evaluating the risk to exposure of PFAS, no data are currently available for Florida to evaluate possible risks. False.
Watering a lawn with non-edible plants and grass poses little risk. False.
The story in Delray Beach, Florida is deeply concerning.
Public Well #8 in Delray Beach ought to be shut down. From the chart above, it had 72 ppt of PFOS (3,600 times over the advisory) and 20 ppt of PFOA. (5,000 times over the advisory). Many of their wells ought to be shut down and they need to do a better job filtering their water before serving it to an aging and vulnerable public.
The EPA is saying that no amount of exposure to PFOA and PFOS in drinking water is safe. Floridians have been drinking poisoned water for a generation or longer – and continue to do so. Of course, the EPA is spineless because it stops short of actually regulating the chemicals. Instead, it advises states to take the chemicals out of the drinking water and that’s a disaster when it comes to a state like Florida where the Department of Health is highly politicized.
Earlier this year, Joseph A. Ladapo became the state’s new Surgeon General, a position that doubles as secretary of the Florida Department of Health. DeSantis brought in Ladapo from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, where he was a professor and doctor. A former supervisor at UCLA said in an interview conducted as part of the Senate confirmation process that he would not recommend him as Florida’s surgeon general.
During the confirmation process, all of the Democrats walked out of a Senate Committee on Health Policy hearing to protest Ladapo. They said he failed to directly answer a host of policy questions. Ladapo is merely an empty suit ready to say yes to anything DeSantis requests. Health? Florida is the healthiest state in the nation
In March, 2022, Rob Long, Chair the Palm Beach Soil & Water Conservation District reached out to me. He thanked me for publishing an article on Delray’s water contamination and he acknowledged the “very serious” threat posed by PFAS.
I also spoke to Mike Caruso (R) who represents Delray Beach in the Florida House of Representatives. Caruso (R) expressed his concern about the levels of PFAS I had reported in Delray and promised he would write a letter to Gov. DeSantis, citing the full scope of the contamination. He said he would send out a press release detailing his letter. That was March 18th and since then I haven’t heard from him.
The mayor of the town never responded to me. Three city council members and the head of Public Works said the water was safe.
The South Florida Sun Sentinel and the Palm Beach Post expressed interest in the story but never followed up.
I can understand it.
The news is devastating, and it strikes at the very soul of south Florida. The ice in your pina colada in a café on trendy Atlantic Avenue in Delray causes cancer. The seafood is likely much worse.
If you have a ton of money, get in touch! We can have a team of scientists from the University of Florida re-test all of these places using Eurofins and Pace Analytical and several other highly acclaimed testing services to prove our point that people are swigging carcinogens.
Even if you don’t have a ton of money, get in touch. Maybe we can conspire to protect human health.
The town of Delray Beach has disclosed that it draws water from a well used for drinking water that is 5,000 times over what the United States government says is healthy. That’s the bottom line.