Janine Hall never thought she’d have to keep her children from drinking tap water.
“Mentally, it takes a toll on you, because you're now worried about … exposing your children to … contaminated water,” Hall said Monday.
IF YOU GO
WHAT: Penn State Extension’s forum on PFAS
WHEN: 6:30-9 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 28
WHERE: Central Columbia Middle School, 4777 Old Berwick Road, Bloomsburg
DETAILS: The event is free and open to the public. Residents are asked to register for the meeting for planning purposes.
The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) found last April that stretches of land in Bloomsburg, South and North Centre townships are contaminated with perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), commonly known as forever chemicals. PFAS contamination from groundwater in Columbia County was found in residents’ well systems and poses risks to the community’s health.
Hall and residents from around Columbia County will look to Penn State Extension for answers on how to protect themselves from PFAS at a Penn State Extension forum on Thursday, Aug. 28 in Bloomsburg.
Penn State Extension is researching PFAS contamination across the state separately from DEP.
Hall lives on Short Road in Bloomsburg. She and her husband have since been tested for PFAS and she said they both have levels several hundred times higher than state or federal regulations.
DEP is in the process of installing filtration systems in affected residents’ homes and is providing bottled water as it investigates possible sources of contamination.
The agency held an informational meeting in March about its investigation. A spokesperson acknowledged receiving a reporter's questions about that process for this article, but was not able to provided detailed answers in time for publication.
Faith Kibuye, water resources specialist with Penn State Extension, said she hopes the forum provides a science-based resource on how to manage PFAS exposure.
Residents are encouraged to ask questions. Kibuye said Penn State staff want to hear residents' concerns on PFAS to help guide the extension’s ongoing research into forever chemicals.
PFAS found in biosolids, ‘sewage sludge’ and fertilizer
PFAS are human-made chemicals that break down slowly and can stay in the human body and the environment for long periods of time. The chemicals are in everyday products like pesticides, cleaning supplies and packaging.
Scientists still don’t know much about their effects on the body, but they have been linked to several kinds of cancer. Pennsylvania started regulating PFAS in 2023.
But the agency has not confirmed whether the sludge, which is a byproduct of wastewater treatment, is the definitive cause. DEP also is testing a former electroplating operation in the area for contamination.
'They couldn't brush their teeth with our tap water'
Hall said her family’s lives were changed by PFAS exposure. Her family moved to their Bloomsburg home nine years ago and Hall said she now has to worry about her children's health in ways she didn’t know was possible.
“We bought this land thinking it was a great place to raise a family … that it was safe,” she said.
Instead, the Halls had to get rid of their flock of chickens, as they couldn’t harvest contaminated eggs. Hall also had to explain to her three children — two eight-year-old boys and a six-year-old girl — that their tap water was unsafe.
“They didn't quite understand,” Hall said. “They couldn't brush their teeth with our tap water … which is just insane.”
DEP installed a filtration system in the Halls’ house in May and the family is waiting to hear if their levels have improved. In December, their levels were found at about 1,000 parts per trillion. By May, that number increased to 1,135 parts per trillion.
Hall said the hardest part in dealing with PFAS was when she explained to her children that they needed to get rid of their chickens, but the family is trying to move forward.
“You never expect to have to do that, but I will say they adjusted, and we figured it out as a family. We started a new garden [and] we got new chickens. We've really just tried to … teach them that we can move on from this in the best way we can,” Hall said.
PFAS and property values
Hall’s concerns over PFAS also have not disappeared. Despite the water filter, her land is still contaminated. She and her husband have thought about moving.
“But at the end of the day, we thought this was like our forever home. So we're not planning on moving. We're just trying to make the best of it. But I can't say that down the road that isn't a possibility,” Hall said.
She’s far from the only resident to be concerned about her property’s value.
Lorie Shadle, a South Centre Township resident, has lived on Hidlay Church Road for 42 years. She worries how PFAS will affect her ability to sell her property. She plans to leave her home for her children, but said she doesn’t want to saddle them with additional expenses down the line.
The Shadles are on the DEP’s list to receive a filtration system, but Shadle said she is concerned about disclosing to potential buyers that their land is contaminated with PFAS. She said they need to include that their property has PFAS on their deed to receive DEP’s filtration system.
Shadle also said she has not drunk water from her tap in 15 years because it seemed off to her. She assumed it smelled odd because it had extra minerals, not that it could be possibly contaminated.
“I grew up with well water and it was excellent … Comparing my well water [here] to the well water that I grew up on maybe six miles away from here, it was totally different,” Shadle said. “I was like, ‘Gee, why [does] ours smell different and taste different than what I grew up on?’”
