Emerging Contaminants: Is the Cape’s Water Safe?

Thursday, April 5, 630 – 8 pm
Brewster Ladies’ Library
1822 Main Street/Route 6A

Sierra Club Cape Cod Group and Brewster Community Network are sponsoring a forum on April 5 at Brewster Ladies’ Library focused on potential threats to local water quality caused by emerging contaminants such as pharmaceuticals, personal care products, flame retardants, and plastic additives. Scheduled to run from 6:30 to 8 pm, the forum is free and open to the public and is of interest to citizens, private well owners, and local water and health officials throughout the region.

Featured speaker is Dr. Laurel Schaider, research scientist from Silent Spring Institute (SSI) with a PhD in environmental engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Schaider leads SSI’s research program on Cape Cod, including an ongoing study of potential human exposures and health effects associated with environmental releases of highly fluorinated compounds (PFAS/PFOS), particularly firefighting foams that have impacted public water supply wells in Barnstable. Her prior SSI work includes a ground-breaking study, with results published in the peer-reviewed literature, indicating the presence of emerging contaminants in private wells in seven Cape towns and identifying septic systems as the most likely source.

At the April 5 forum, Dr. Schaider will summarize current understanding and ongoing research relating to emerging contaminants in the Cape’s water. She will be joined by local water quality professionals, including Paul Anderson, superintendent of the Brewster Water Department, for a panel discussion and Q&A focusing on the following questions:

• What do standard water quality reports and tests tell us about the safety of the Cape’s public and private water supplies?
• Are existing protection and treatment strategies sufficient for dealing with emerging contaminants?
  What can we do to better protect ourselves and the Cape’s precious waters – individually, as a community, as a region?

Sierra Club Cape Cod Group brings together citizens for local action consistent with state and national campaigns. For more information visit https://www.sierraclub.org/massachusetts/cape-cod-group.

Brewster Community Network is “Brewster residents dedicated to sharing our resources, information, and contacts so that, in collaboration with town officials and the greater community, we are better able to maintain the character of our town and quality of our lives.” For more information, visit www.brewstercommunitynetwork.org.