Elizabeth Montiel, Campus Carrier staff writer
Eric Zuniga, Campus Carrier staff writer
Georgia ranked 13th nationwide for the number of toxic substances released into waterways, with industrial facilities dumping over 5 million pounds of toxins in 2020, according to a report released last month by Environment America. The report also ranked Georgia 7th in the country for the amount of cancer-causing toxins dumped into water and 10th for the amount of toxins with developmental effects dumped.
The report used data released by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which tracks the release of over 800 toxic substances into the environment. While a large portion of the pollution came from traditional sources like runoff and factory waste, the report also raised new concerns about polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, which are used in a variety of consumer products. Zack Taylor, associate professor of environmental science and studies, said that PFAS chemicals’ resistance to breakdown makes them highly polluting.
“The reason they’re so problematic here is because they’re the stuff that makes stain-resistant carpets stain-resistant. They’re the stuff that makes your Teflon pan non-stick,” Taylor said. “The reason they’re non-sticky is also the reason they don’t break down. They’re these chemicals that, once they get in systems, there’s nothing out there to metabolize them or break them down. They get in the food chain, and they get into us, and they just stay there.”
An EPA report released in June of this year suggested that negative health effects can occur even at PFAS concentrations that are near zero. According to Taylor, the effects of PFAS on human health are not fully understood and are just beginning to be researched.
“The jury is still out, really, on all this stuff,” Taylor said. “I had a group of students a few years ago look into why different states had set up different amounts of acceptable levels for PFAS, and there weren’t really any great reasons. I don’t think people have realized this is a problem long enough to have good data on that.”
Concerns about PFAS contamination have been growing in Floyd County, with the city of Rome suing multiple Dalton-based carpeting manufacturers alleging that the companies knowingly disposed of PFAS toxins into local waterways. While the city has switched its water source from the Etowah River to the Oostanaula River as a temporary solution, the cost of a new water treatment system to handle the problem has been estimated at $3 million. Taylor said that this cost may be passed on to customers in the form of higher water bills.
“Rome, right now, is doing a lot of extra things at the water filter plant. They’re doing things at the water treatment plant they don’t normally do, and they’re building on to the plant to take this stuff out,” Taylor said. “I figure the average person’s water bill will go up a couple hundred bucks a year at least over the next few years to pay for all this.”
According to Taylor, another factor affecting water quality is agricultural runoff resulting from overuse of fertilizer. When nutrient-rich fertilizer runs off into water sources, blooms of algae can grow uncontrollably, oftentimes with disastrous consequences for ecosystems.
“Sometimes the algae can bloom so quickly and then it dies, and then bacteria come in to digest it and take up all the oxygen, which is bad for your fish. And depending on the type of algae that blooms, it’s actually toxic to people and animals,” Taylor said.
Poor water quality can have serious effects on human health, with many of industrial toxins, including PFAS, having carcinogenic, developmental or reproductive effects. Tamie Jovanelly, associate professor of geology, said that poor water quality can also facilitate the spread of harmful infectious diseases.
“This is one of my biggest concerns locally, using our river systems even for recreation,” Jovanelly said. “Especially after a rainfall, the E-coli levels just skyrocket. Even if you’re canoeing or floating or paddle-boarding or even swimming in that water, you can get really sick with things like giardia, which is treatable and will pass, but is still something pretty nasty that you wouldn’t think a developed country would have to deal with.”
Taylor said that efforts to improve water quality should be focused on creating plans for the safe disposal of toxins like PFAS and promoting the use of renewable materials.
“In that case, there wasn’t even a good plan for cradle to grave, but ideally we should be going cradle to cradle,” Taylor said. “The way the laws work right now is you’re not really required to come up with a good plan to dispose of what you create. Ideally, you shouldn’t be making anything that you can’t dispose of easily or better yet reuse. We don’t really do that; we just use it and hope it works out.”
Berry does not rely on the Floyd County water system, instead sourcing its water from the Possum Trot Reservoir, a man-made lake located on the Mountain Campus inside a wildlife management area. Jovanelly said that water plant supervisor Chris Peterson is committed to ensuring the safety of Berry’s water.
“Chris Peterson up at the water treatment plant has been up there for thirty years,” Jovanelly said. “He’s an expert and continually goes through different types of training to make sure that our water quality is fantastic on campus.”
According to Jovanelly, Berry’s water goes through rigorous testing to verify its quality.
“Berry puts out a yearly water quality report, and it shows just that,” Jovanelly said. “And [Peterson] is not just collecting samples in-house. He has to send samples to off-campus labs, and then that data has to go to the EPA. There’s a really big check and balance of our water on campus.”