Small towns and rural areas across South Carolina have unsafe drinking water because of decisions and mistakes by "poorly staffed and lightly regulated" small utilities, according to a series from The State in Columbia. The newspaper found the problems, some ongoing for more than 20 years, while reviewing public records from the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.
Among the problems the paper found: "Disease-carrying bacteria, cancer-causing chemicals, toxic nitrates and brain-damaging metals," Sammy Fretwell reports. "State inspectors report seeing fire ants and roaches on public wells, vulture droppings coating the ground below water tanks and cracked wells that allow bacteria into water systems."
Small utilities are cited for violations far more than their metropolitan counterparts. Since 2012, about 88 percent of DHEC enforcement cases have been against small utilities, and "small systems also have run into trouble with DHEC more than twice as many times as large utilities for failing to maintain equipment, such as water tanks and pipes, records show," Fretwell reports.
South Carolina isn't the only state dealing with rural drinking-water problems. A 2016 report from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency "said small water systems across the country violate safe-drinking standards more often than big utilities. Failing equipment and pipes can lead to poor water quality and 'pose significant public health risks in customers,'" Fretwell reports. That tracks with a recent six-month investigation into the lack of clean, reliable drinking water in Eastern Kentucky.
Among the problems the paper found: "Disease-carrying bacteria, cancer-causing chemicals, toxic nitrates and brain-damaging metals," Sammy Fretwell reports. "State inspectors report seeing fire ants and roaches on public wells, vulture droppings coating the ground below water tanks and cracked wells that allow bacteria into water systems."
Small utilities are cited for violations far more than their metropolitan counterparts. Since 2012, about 88 percent of DHEC enforcement cases have been against small utilities, and "small systems also have run into trouble with DHEC more than twice as many times as large utilities for failing to maintain equipment, such as water tanks and pipes, records show," Fretwell reports.
South Carolina isn't the only state dealing with rural drinking-water problems. A 2016 report from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency "said small water systems across the country violate safe-drinking standards more often than big utilities. Failing equipment and pipes can lead to poor water quality and 'pose significant public health risks in customers,'" Fretwell reports. That tracks with a recent six-month investigation into the lack of clean, reliable drinking water in Eastern Kentucky.
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