Tap water’s toxic secret
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This week, we’re spotlighting a new Public Health Watch investigation exposing a years-long campaign to cordon manganese off from regulation.
Manganese is a naturally-occurring mineral that becomes dangerous in high concentrations, and it’s often found around former industrial sites. In western Pennsylvania, a legacy of steel manufacturing and coal mining means one small town, fittingly called Industry, has tap water that runs black. Science reporter Natasha Gilbert visited the town and talked with residents organizing to figure out why their water looked and tasted so bad. It turns out they couldn’t do much to hold their water authority accountable—there aren’t state or federal requirements to monitor manganese levels in drinking water. We spoke with Gilbert about Industry’s struggle to clean up its water, the potential health consequences of manganese contamination, and why what Gilbert calls “black water” may be a nationwide problem.
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Happy Labor Day weekend! For a healthy barbeque, just remember to clean that char off your grill.
—Christine