The water quality in Portsmouth, New Hampshire has been a growing issue since harmful chemicals were found in the water in July of 2008, and it continues to be a concern for many residents and families whose children continue to be exposed to the chemicals after the town only tests the water quality near the airforce base. The City of Portsmouth shut down the water on the base for over two weeks due to the high amounts of chemicals found in the water. In 2015, 3,000 people who worked or attended daycare at Pease Airforce Base had their blood tested for PFAS chemicals. The results came back concluding that the residents had shown higher levels of PFAS, PFOA, and PFHxS compared with the general U.S. population in 2011-2012. PFAS chemicals also known as polyfluoroalkyl substances, are man-made chemicals often put in rugs, paints, polishes, waxes, and cleaning products. The long term health effects of PFAS chemicals are still not known but it has been linked to different types of cancer and developmental issues.
The SeacoastOnline, a newspaper for the seacoast of New Hampshire, states that the problem at Pease Airforce base is caused by the use of Aqueous Film-Forming Foam (AFFF). AFFF is used to distinguish flammable liquids and gases like tars, oils, and gasoline. AFFF was used on the Pease Airforce base for many years to treat the airstrip at Portsmouth International Airport which is located at the old location of the air force base.
AFFF is used by the military and has been a factor in water pollution many times. In 2018, a town north of Seattle found PFAS in the drinking water that was caused by the Navy using AFFF. All that was done to fix the issue in Seattle was giving the residents in the town bottles water to drink. Like the citizens of Portsmouth, people who were affected by the issue felt like the issue was not fixed.
The City of Portsmouth has done nothing to help the community besides insisting that the water is safe without evidence besides the testing that is done only near the airforce base. Many people in the town believe that the issue could be resolved if the city decided to use an Activated Carbon Treatment that could significantly reduce water pollution. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the activated carbon absorbs natural and man-made chemicals through a filtration system and could also be used in a powdered form called granular activated carbon (GAC). The EPA claims that this filtration system can be the most effective system to clean the water of harmful chemicals.
SeacoastOnline says that the state Department of Environmental Sciences (DES) has a standard for PFAS in drinking water significantly below the EPA’s standards. The DES says that the standard of 12 parts of PFAS per trillion is safe for consumption over the course of a lifetime but the EPA claims that the amounts should be less than 10 parts per trillion in order for people who consume the water to be safe for a lifetime. Locals believe that the state should have the same standards as the EPA. The biggest issue with the drinking water is that many don’t feel safe. They don’t believe that the town would make any efforts to fix the water pollution if residents in the town didn’t continually go to the town meetings and demand change for the town to clean the water pollution. Residents of Portsmouth often feel like they are unheard, they feel as though because Portsmouth is a tourist town the city tries to cover up the issues with the water so they don’t lose any business during the summer months. In fact, Laura Witham, a new resident of Portsmouth, said she had no clue that there were any issues with the water until she saw a Facebook post that complained about the water pollution in Portsmouth. Multiple residents of Portsmouth think that if the town talked about the issues more it would be less of a problem and the water pollution would have been solved sooner.
A documentary called “The Devil We Know” is about a local town in West Virginia that has a similar background as Portsmouth regarding chemicals in the water supply. The documentary shows how there was a link to PFAS chemicals in the town in West Virginia’s drinking water that was linked to health issues such as kidney and testicular cancer, developmental issues, thyroid disease, and infertility. This is extremely scary for residents who live in the town who have to use the water on a daily basis. Many people in the town think that the drinking water should no longer be an issue anymore considering the problem was first found eleven years ago. Jay Robinchaud has been a resident of Portsmouth for over ten years and when asked what he thought of the water quality in the town he said “We don’t drink Portsmouth water. We cook with it because its boiled, but I would never drink it from the tap because you never know what’s in it.”
While there is a concern from many residents in the town, there are some people that think that Portsmouth has done as much as it can to stop the crisis. Lily Zwick, a college student and resident of Portsmouth said, “The issue was a huge problem in Portsmouth a few years ago, but not anymore. They have done all sorts of treatments to make sure the water is safe and the tests now prove it is much safer” The tests done in the area do indicate the water is safer but it still has unsafe chemicals in the water. Zwick says claims that people in the area, “act like the situation is similar to Flint, but it’s not even close. The city is already working to fix the issue.” The water crisis in Flint Michigan started six years before the Portsmouth water issue and they both have continued with little to no help from their city. Flint was exposed to high levels of lead after the city decided to try to cut the cost of having it go through a well, and unknowingly gave lead poisoning to the people in their town. Since 2014 twelve people in Flint have died from water pollution even though there has been an outcry of support to give Flint access to clean drinking water. Many people in Portsmouth believe that the issue will turn out to be as severe as the issue in Flint, and it is a topic regularly up for debate at the Seacoast Science Center’ in Portsmouth, where you can learn about more about the water issues. The ‘Seacoast Science Center’ claims that the water issue is extremely unhealthy for people, but it has nowhere the severity of Flint Michigan. In Flint, the water is so polluted that residents have not been able to drink the water for up to six years now and can’t even shower with the water in their town which is not even comparable to the Portsmouth issue with the drinking water.
Parents in the area are the most concerned about the water crisis. Their fear is that their children will get sick from drinking the tap water at the schools. Parents in the town even started an organization called ‘Testing For Pease’, which is a group of parents whose children drank the water at Pease Airforce Base daycare. They want something to be done about the Airforce base and has gone to the state to argue that the base should be fined for unknowingly putting the chemicals within the water. Nothing has been done to punish Pease Airforce base for the water pollution and there won’t be because the state claims that they didn’t know the chemicals were being placed in the water. The organization also is fighting for frequent testing not only on the Airforce Base but in the entire city in order for residents to feel safe in the city.
In Portsmouth High School it is well known that drinking the water from the fountain is not a good idea. Claire McCafferty, a senior at Portsmouth High School, claims, “I would never drink the water at the high school. It always tastes like metal and looks cloudy.” Last year the senior gift given to the school was a filtered water fountain that fills up your water in an effort to reduce waste. The students have asked that the school put the filters in all of the fountains but when interviewed by NECN Stephen Zadravec, who is the superintendent of Portsmouth schools, he said, “We follow the recommendations of the city’s Water Division when it comes to the water coming into our schools. All tests done are well below the established advisory level in the parts per trillion. At this point, there is no recommendation to install filters.”
Many residents in Portsmouth know how dangerous the water is and choose to drink bottled water instead. There is no filter system you can buy that can properly filter out PFAS chemicals. The city of Portsmouth suggests doing a lead and copper test every couple of years and addresses the concern on their website which has the new regulations that are put in place by the state of New Hampshire that look to protect residents and make sure the water is free of chemicals.
In the Spring of 2019, the city started the reconstruction of a treatment system in the water that will try to filter out chemicals using Granular Carbon cells in a series of treatments, according to SeacoastOnline. This Granular Carbon water treatment will get rid of most of the pollution in the water and will remove the chlorine smell and taste that many people complain about. The treatment, however, will not get rid of iron or nitrate that could be in the water. This will finally make the water less polluted after eleven years of waiting. This system is the first big step that Portsmouth has made to clean the water and help prevent the issue from getting worse. Water will also be tested throughout the town and the airforce base has agreed to reduce the use of AFFF chemicals. The project will not finish until the Spring of 2021, which will be thirteen years after the issue was first found.
Work Cited
Robinchaud, Jay. Personal interview. 27 November 2019
Zwick, Lily. Personal Interview. 27 November 2019
Witham, Laura. Personal Interview. 29 November 2019
McCafferty Claire. Personal Interview 2nd December 2019
“Environmental Health- Minnesota Dept. of Health.” Environmental Health: Minnesota Dept. of Health, http://www.health.state.mn.us/communities/environment/hazardous/topics/gac.html.
Lerner, Sharon. “The U.S. Military Is Spending Millions to Replace Toxic Firefighting Foam with Toxic Firefighting Foam.” The Intercept, 10 Feb. 2018, theintercept.com/2018/02/10/firefighting-foam-afff-pfos-pfoa-epa/.
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Pope, Kristen. “Activist: Portsmouth, NH Needs Water Filters.” NECN, NECN, 20 Mar. 2018, www.necn.com/news/new-england/Some-in-Portsmouth-NH-Raise-Concerns-About-Drinking-Water-477445873.html.
Bellware, Kim. “There May Have Been Dozens More Deaths Linked to the Flint Water Crisis than Previously Known.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 12 Sept. 2019, http://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/09/12/there-may-have-been-dozens-more-deaths-linked-flint-water-crisis-than-previously-disclosed/.
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