News and Info
WE MANAGED TO STAY CHLORAMINE FREE FOR THREE FULL YEARS!
NOW WE NEED TO FIGHT TO GET IT TAKEN BACK OUT
- We now have over 2600 signatures on petitions.
- We have the support of all but one municipality in the service area for open and fair Legislative Hearings on the health and environmental impacts of chloramine.
- people in 20 states are now reporting accute health effects of chloraminated water.
- Citizen groups in 7 states are fighting the use of chloramine.
- We now have reports of people suffering acute health effects of chloramine in PA.
- We have almost doubled our library of scientific studies indicating that our conclusions about chloramine are correct.
- We have found that Germany has banned chloramine and France
refuses to use chloramine in their countries for drinking water purposes.
- We have found that most European countries DO NOT use chloramine. Those who do use it only occasionally.
- Our research indicates that American Water is the most prolific user of chloramine
and at higher levels of the privately owned water companies in America. They also use higher levels of chloramine than other municipal facilities.
- We have shared our research with all levels of PAWC execs from their chemists, managers and the President. PAWC appeared at 2 municipal meetings to respond to our claims. They did not dispute many of our claims but stated only that as long as the EPA allows them to use chloramine, they will.
- We have received correspondence from wastewater facility operators and filter company execs who confirm that our claims are accurate and our science is sound.
- We have received information from people all over the world, as you can see on the petition site, that people are suffering the effects of chloramine and that the public does not want this compound in their water.
Update: 8/12/2010
PAWC has begun the chloramine process. We are continuing to fight to get it back out. Because PAWC has people notifying them of our actions in advance, we will not be posting our intentions on this website or in bulk emails. We will notify you when we have completed an effort so that you can follow our efforts and know that we are still working hard for your health and safety. There is a new tab on this website called "How to Protect Yourself" It offers suggestions to limit your exposure to chloramine as much as possible.
This effort has been very expensive for us. We have no grants or formal backing. Much of this effort is coming out of our own pockets. If this effort is important to you, PLEASE help support it. If everyone who visits this site sends just $5.00, it would be an enormous relief of the financial burden we are under. Donations can be made on line or send them to 2612 Chestnut Street, Camp Hill, PA 17011. Thank you.
Court Cases:
DEP case: We were denied the right to appeal to the PA Supreme Court on the DEP case. Contrary to what PAWC is publishing, the Environmental Hearing Board and the Commonwealth Court denied our appeals on the issue of timeliness not on merit. They both said that we should have appealed the permit back in 2003 when notice was printed in the PA Bulletin. That case is now closed and done.
PUC case: Again, contrary to what PAWC is publishing, the PUC did NOT rule that chloramine was safe. They ruled that we did not meet our burden of proof that the choice of treatment was unreasonable and imprudent. We failed to meet that burden because we were not permitted to put on evidence of health and environmental impacts of chloramine as the Commission originally told us we could. This case is still on appeal in the Commonwealth Court. We argued the case on March15th. We are awaiting the ruling of the court.
Other Efforts:
We are still fighting in non-legal forums. we are making inroads and meeting with some success. We are now over 2600 people strong. Our on-line petition has 32 countries and 30 states represented! We are seeking Legislative hearings where PAWC will not be able to avoid the hard questions by filing motions to exclude evidence and motions to dismiss. Reps. Grell and DeLozier have forwarded our letters to Representative Bud George, Chair of the Environmental Resources Committee in the House requesting that he consider calling for hearings. Senator Vance continues to ignore our requests. All but one municipality have supported our request for hearings. Those of you who live in Hampden Township, tell your Commissioners you want them to support hearings. Those who live in the other areas of PAWC service, thank your Commissioners for supporting the request for hearings.
I will not go into further detail of our other efforts as this cite is monitored by PAWC. Please know that we are still fighting and making progress. There is still time to stop this, please help us.
Status of chloramine inmplementation:
PAWC announced in early December that they intend to introduce chloramine into the water treatment system on July 12, 2010. This will be 3 years from the date they originally intended to do so. We will continue to fight to this date and beyond to stop chloramine from going into our water. Please continue to tell people, get signatures on petitions, arrange speaking engagements and write to or call your state and local representatives.
If you know anyone who lives in an area where there is chloramine use -
Ask them if they are experiencing any of the fillowing symptims: Skin rashes, Digestive problems, Respiratory problems in the shower, Ulcers in their mouth or lips.
If they have any ot these symptoms, please have them contact
me or enter their symptoms on our petition with just their first name and town.
Does the EPA regulate the disinfection by-products of chloramine?
"In terms of the kinds of health
effects that people are complaining
about, there really haven't been any
studies to really address that issue
in a statistically significant way," said
Lorraine Backer from the Centers for
Disease Control.
--WCAX-TV's broadcast,Sept. 26, 2007
Have health studies been done on chloramine for the symptoms people are reporting?
EPA: We have the authority to implement the safe drinking water act and we do that through our regulations. The regulations now require that water systems control the level of disinfection byproducts
VCE: of chlorine
EPA: of chlorine and any disinfection byproducts
....
VCE: What about byproducts of chloramines?
EPA: We have not regulated those.
--Transcript of discussion between VCE and EPA staff at the meeting held at Vermont's Department of Health on 9/26/07