Anthony, Texas named on list by EPA of not meeting stands for the amount of PFAS chemicals in their public water system. (Credit: KFOX14/CBS4)
ANTHONY, Texas (KFOX14/CBS4) — Anthony, Texas was among a list of 49 Texas public water utility systems that do not meet the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standard for the amount of "forever chemicals" in drinking water.
Earlier in April, the EPA set a standard limiting five "forever chemicals" in people's drinking water.
These "forever chemicals" are known as PFAS, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances.
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They are nicknamed "forever chemicals" because they don't break down and can live forever in water, soil, and even human blood.
These chemicals cannot be seen but are used in household products such as nonstick cookware to household cleaning products.
There are more than 12,000 PFAS however the EPA set a standard limiting five of them from drinking water.
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When this limit was set, 49 Texas public water utilities were notified that they did not meet the new standard.
CBS4 reached out to the public works department for Anthony, Texas, a town that was listed as one of the 49 not meeting the EPA's standard.
Anthony's Mayor Anthony Turner spoke with CBS4 and stated,
There's absolutely nothing wrong with our water. Our water and public works department worked diligently to make sure that everything is within standards by TCEQ [Texas Commission on Environmental Quality], by EPA.
Turner said he was notified of the issue at the beginning of January and met with city engineers on what they could do to address the issue.
City engineers hired a third-party company to test the water from Anthony Water Utility.
The hired was Eurofins Scientific, an environmental testing company based in Sacramento, California.
The first round of testing revealed that there were zero PFAS in Anthony's water.
"When it was done for these forever chemicals, it came out numbers returned to us at zero. So then we said okay, that's great," stated Turner.
After receiving the first results from the tests, Turner said he wanted to make sure that it wasn't wrong so he ordered another round.
"We went with a second round of testing. And again, it was returned to us with zero," stated Turner.
CBS4 asked Turner if he could share the documents to prove that the test results did come back clear.
However, he said that he would have to check with Eurofins Scientific first to see if he could share the documents per their agreement.
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CBS4 asked local Anthony residents how they felt about the EPA naming their town as not meeting the drinking water standard and how they felt about the Mayor claiming the results were wrong and there were some conflicting feelings.
"The water has chemicals, so it's good to know because people have newborns or people that are sick and can't be drinking certain water," shared Tammy Gonzalez.
Gonzalez demanded more proof from the city that they're water is clean, "if it's clear, we need to see it and we need to see it on paper.”
Another resident, who wanted to stay anonymous, shared that she is fine with the state of water since she has lived in Anthony for the past 60 years.
"Well, since I've lived here, all those years of my life, I feel like I'm comfortable with it...as far as more proof that it's unhealthy. I have never had health issues in any way.”
CBS4 will provide updates on whether or not Turner provides proof of the test results.
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