NORTH CENTRE TOWNSHIP, COLUMBIA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — Concerns are being raised about contaminated water in Columbia County. High levels of "forever chemicals" have been detected in private well water between Bloomsburg and Berwick.
It's been a year since those findings, leaving families fearing for their health and future.
The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) confirms groundwater in North Centre Township has dangerous levels of PFAS.
Two moms 28/22 News spoke with are fearful about the effects of the water.
Samantha lives at Brookside Village Mobile Home Park.
She only wants to go by her first name for this report.
Samantha has figured out the exact amount of bottles of water it takes to fill a pot.
"It takes four bottles of water if I want to make spaghetti. See? Perfect amount," Samantha, a victim of water contamination, said.
She has filters attached to her faucets throughout the house and uses tap water for things, like doing the dishes, but never for drinking.
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She says she goes through two cases of water a week.
"I think it's an essential right to every human to have safe drinking water," Samantha explained.
Except, she and many others in her neighborhood do not.
PFAS, a class of manmade chemicals, are slow to break down and stay in the body for long periods of time.
23 of the 55 private wells the DEP sampled were found to have dangerously high levels of PFAS.
Samantha's is one of them.
So is Emily Kapzia's well.
She lives just five minutes away on Short Road.
"We go through moments where we are like we shouldn't do this and we are like we don't even have another choice," Kapzia said.
The Kapzias have not had to buy bottled water.
DEP provides them with containers of drinking water whenever they need it, but she wants a better solution.
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"We are concerned about our home and getting it to a safe drinking level, but more importantly, we're concerned for our health," Kapzia stated.
PFAS are linked to health problems, including cancer, immune system issues, and reproductive problems.
Samantha says she was healthy her whole life until she and her family moved into the mobile home park two years ago.
"We came here and after a few months, we started getting sick every couple weeks. If it flew in the air we caught it. My son started having weird behavioral issues like neuro-developmental," Samantha explained.
She even got her blood tested and the results were shocking.
Chemical contaminants were nearly 40 times higher than an average person.
"I didn't sleep that night," Samantha said.
Both moms say they are doing the best they can, but their families' futures in North Centre Township are unclear.
"I don't think we will ever feel safe about drinking our water again," Kapzia explained.
DEP says arrangements are being finalized for the installation of whole-home filtration systems to mitigate PFAS in these residential water supplies.
