The Widefield Aquifer serves as a cautionary water pollution tale for Southern Colorado and beyond. It supplies drinking water to over 80,000 people in Widefield, Fountain, and Security, or Southern El Paso County. The first documented case of water pollution in the Widefield Aquifer occurred in 1982. Since then, humans have contaminated it incessantly. This topic should matter to everyone. Polluted water can cause disease and death in all living organisms.
U.S. Geological Surveyors Patrick Edelmann and Doug Cain explain that the Widefield Aquifer gets its water from five major contributors: precipitation and irrigation return flow, underflow from tributary alluvium, underflow from Fountain Creek, artificial recharge ponds on the Pinello Ranch, and septic systems and sewage lagoons. Of the five, Fountain Creek contributes the most pollution. It feeds chemically laced water straight into the aquifer.
Perfluorinated Chemicals (PFCs) pollute the Widefield Aquifer more than any other contaminant. They cannot be broken down in water, removed by boiling water, or removed through a normal filtration device. PFCs are not new, but researchers are just beginning to see how severely they can affect all living organisms. They infiltrate water systems through chemicals in makeup, fire extinguishant used by military bases, paints, and other new products.
Believe it or not, no current government restrictions exist that define how much a person or company can add into the water. People and organizations knowingly or unknowingly put chemicals in the water without a second thought. This means that many living organisms in Fountain, Widefield, and Security consume polluted water daily. Several different diseases link to PFCs. The Colorado State Government must pass regulations and encourage additional steps to keep the Widefield Aquifer clean. We must task officials to ensure the safety of all living organisms that drink from this vital source.
The PFCs found in the aquifer affect most Southern El Paso County citizens. Everyone drinks water regularly, cooks with it, showers, etc. Preliminary studies link PFCs to a host of terrible problems. PFCs likely cause developmental damage of the fetus, low birth weight, and accelerated puberty. They might also be responsible for distorted bones, kidney and testicular cancer, liver tissue damage, and cholesterol changes.
When people wash PFCs off their bodies or bleach their bathtubs, they put chemicals into the water supply. If this continues, more families will suffer birth disability rates. Some people will die, and others will be sterile. Polluted water affects some more than others. The Colorado State Census found that in Southern El Paso County the poverty rate is 11.3%. The approximate population in Southern El Paso County is 80,000 people. This means over 9,000 people are more affected by PFCs in the water because people who live in poverty do not have access to excess funds. These people can’t afford bottled water.
Yet the county does not plan on giving out free water. Security water and sanitation district manager Roy Heald claimed, “We have no more money here.” The U.S. government, state government, and military bases have not contributed any money either to help people who cannot afford to buy bottled water. Therefore, people living under the poverty line, including pregnant women, children, and the elderly, face greater risk from polluted water and disease.
All living organisms suffer from polluted water consumption. If PFCs are not good for humans, they are also not good for animals. An abundance of natural wildlife lives near Fountain Creek and the Widefield Aquifer. Deer, snakes, ticks, raccoons, skunks, and bugs drink water from the closest natural resource: Fountain Creek. Likewise, fish live in this pollution until they swim out of the affected area. Then, they spread the contaminants further.
Current research indicates that animals suffer horrible effects from PFCs. Animal studies show that some PFCs disrupt normal endocrine activity. They also reduce immune function and damage the liver and pancreas. They can even cause developmental problems in rodent offspring exposed in the womb. This means that if all the animals surrounding these locations drink the polluted water, their offspring will either die or be born deformed or with organs that don’t work. The outcome of this is that the animals in this environment will become extinct, and it will disrupt the entire food chain and animal environment.
PFC absorption also contaminates plant life. Polluted water feeds Southern El Paso County crops. Debbie Kelly, a reporter from The Gazette, notes, “Laboratory studies show that PFCs in soil-water can be taken up by edible plants.” Once the plants absorb the PFCs, they remain in the plant forever and are passed on to life forms that eat it. PFCs pollute people’s food. In time, most living organisms in Southern Colorado might face an accelerated chance of developing a disease because of double exposer to the pollution.
The prevalence of PFCs in the water also causes economic unrest, potentially closing businesses. Venetucci Farms sits just outside of Fountain, Colorado. They lost a bulk amount of their vegetables due to the polluted Widefield Aquifer. PFCs contaminated the water used to grow the vegetables. Now, the city has suspended their lease agreement to the water wells, so they have no access to water to grow any crops until the issue is resolved. As James Kelly notes, “The Security Water and Sanitation Districts notified the foundation last month that it is suspending its annual lease agreement of four wells on the 190-acre property because of water contamination problems from toxic Air Force firefighting foam.”
Without water, the farm can’t grow anything, and with it, they might grow unsafe produce. They don’t want buyers to consume harmful chemicals. The business will have to find another way to get water to their crops so they do not go bankrupt. If they decide to ship in water, they will do so at a much higher price than what they paid to lease the wells. Due to these unfortunate circumstances, Venetucci Farms faces an unknown future. Many other agricultural companies will meet the same fate if the problem persists.
Many products contain PFCs that get washed into the water supply at the Widefield Aquifer. Surprisingly, many unsuspected products contain PFCs. As one study shows, “PFCs may be used to keep food from sticking to cookware, to make sofas and carpets resistant to stains, to make clothes and mattresses more waterproof, and may also be used in some food packaging, as well as in some firefighting materials.” The major cause of the pollution at the Widefield Aquifer is firefighting extinguishants. During fires at the Air Force Academy, firefighters used toxic firefighting foam chemicals to extinguish the fires. The men using the chemicals wore hazardous material (hazmat) suits to stay safe from the chemicals. In fact, a recent Gazette article discusses research showing “how perfluorinated compounds found in military firefighting foam could be nearly six times more toxic than current advisories, Environmental Protection Agency emails show.”
Imagine, then, what these chemicals do to a water supply. Moreover, the economy will suffer because crops will not grow, and the land will become useless due to contamination. In short, this problem impacts every aspect of life and business in Southern El Paso County. If regulations are not passed to control PFCs in the Widefield Aquifer, there could be mass extinctions, changed migration patterns, economic failure, price increases, raises in health disorders, infant deaths, and many more negative consequences.
Finely suggests blending unpolluted water from the Pueblo Reservoir in with the polluted water in Southern El Paso County. This system lowers the PFC to water ratio because pure water is mixed in. Even though this strategy makes the water “better” to drink, it also pollutes more water. Mixing unpolluted water with polluted water doesn’t remove the chemicals from the water. It just lowers the chemical concentration. Instead of making the water “ok” to drink, the state government needs to find a resolution to clean the water and prevent the pollution from happening again. The population must not accept this solution because it lessens but doesn’t fix the problem.
Southern El Paso County citizens should feel safe drinking water from their sinks again. Yet the city and government must take several different steps in order to solve this crisis. Legislators should pass regulations in the state senate. These regulations would stop the military and private companies from dumping PFCs into the water supply at the aquifer. Currently, the Air Force feels that it can dump waste wherever it chooses. “At this point, this is a nonregulated substance,” says Peterson environmental chief Fred Brooks. One regulation could disallow everyone from dumping any PFC-related substances in the water. This would hold environmental abusers responsible for their actions. Leveling fines or jail time would affect the companies’ bottom lines, and they would find alternative waste-disposal strategies.
Toxic chemical extinguishants seep into the soil and waterways at an alarming rate. This must stop. The military bases need to switch to an alternative solution. Some extinguisher foams don’t include PFCs. These foams are referred to as Class “A” foams, as opposed to Class “B” foams. The Class A foams work differently. Specifically, a detergent-like “surfactant” in the Class A foam makes the firefighting water “wetter” and more able to penetrate combustible material.
These foams are similar. However, Class A soaks up carbon while Class B repels it. Firefighters need more Class A foam to put out a large fire, so Class A costs more. Many link pollution in the Widefield Aquifer to greed and money. The pollution of the aquifer would not have happened had the military spent extra money on fire extinguishant. This resolution could easily prevent this pollution from happening in the future.
Some ambitious alternatives exist for cleaning up the polluted water. For instance, a separate treatment plant to clean all PFCs from the Widefield Aquifer and, in turn, the drinking water, might work. One specialist claims that “treatment plants could be built or upgraded to remove perfluorinated chemicals using advanced membrane or carbon filtering systems.” This step would be more of a cleanup versus a preventative measure. It would help to remove the chemicals that are already there and resolve the messes that have already happened.
These treatment plants would not break down the chemicals. Instead, they would remove the chemicals, and the chemicals would be considered hazardous. Subsequently, they would need to destroy the hazardous chemicals properly to avoid another major environmental crisis. Doing so could be a viable option to saving the Widefield Aquifer. Then, the government could spend the funds they have on working towards a resolution for their citizens.
Another strategy promises great results, but at a high cost. Simply put, the water people use in restrooms and various sinks swirls down a sewage drain. That drainwater goes to the treatment sewage plant that “cleans” and treats the water. Then, people reuse the water. Instead of this, maybe the polluted water should only be used for waste. The way the water is stored would allow it to remain untainted. By separating water sources, society would be able to keep clean water and polluted water separated. However, this process costs trillions of dollars. The state government must look at how much money it would spend in implementing this solution.
The federal government could, in the best of all possible worlds, remove PFCs from all products. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) can ban all forms of PFCs. Water Online’s Peter Chawaga notes, “Groups like EWG (Environmental Working Group) argue that contaminants should never have been allowed to enter water supplies in the first place and that their presence, no matter how trace, unnecessarily puts consumers at risk.” At the beginning of 2018, the government banned PFCs in food packaging products. This is the first step to removing them from the world entirely, and, in turn, stopping pollution of the waterways. Removing the PFCs from products helps to stop pollution in the waterways because it removes the contaminant.
Therefore, trash that accidently makes its way into the water source won’t create further damage. No PFCs will contaminate the product, and the next step would simply consist of removing the garbage. This step benefits consumers and the environment. Unfortunately, companies don’t want to pay millions of dollars to reinvent their products with different ingredients. They would have to experiment and possibly spend more money on organic ingredients. Regardless, if industry leaders remove PFCs from all products, the Widefield Aquifer will function safely.
Without water, living organisms cannot survive. An abundant water supply makes Earth a special planet. We must reevaluate the way we look at the environment and the water supply. A person can only survive one week without drinking water, after all. The Colorado State Government must create legislation to protect the water supply from pollutants such as PFCs. We will face dire environmental consequences if we refuse to change. The government can monitor corporate behavior, protect its citizens, and prevent ruinous land policies. Why not take a stand against polluted water and demand respect for natural resources? Humans deserve a good quality of life for generations to come.
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Alecia Martz lives in Colorado Springs with her husband Scott and daughter Alana. She has two guinea pigs and two dogs. She plans to take a Bachelor’s Degree in social work.
