Don't drink the water!

N.C. neighbors aghast to learn drinking water contaminated for years

By Charlotte Huffman
WNCN/News-17

WAKE FOREST, N.C. -- A Wake Forest community is in an uproar after learning the state of North Carolina knew a resident’s water had been contaminated with toxic chemicals and failed to alert other residents for more than six years.

“It makes me feel horrible,” homeowner Michele Hamilton said of unknowingly giving the toxic water to her kids. “They’re the most important things to me.”

The EPA called families in the community this past summer, saying their water is contaminated with a cancer-causing chemical called trichloroethylene, or TCE, and to not drink, bathe or cook with the water.

Gerald LeBlanc, the head of N.C. State University’s Department of Environmental and molecular toxicology, said TCE is a chemical that cleaning industries have used for years to remove grease. It is cheap, highly effective – and very toxic.

“Based upon animal studies, we know that it has the ability to do harm,” LeBlanc said.

LeBlanc said TCE “has been known to cause cancer” specifically leukemia, breast cancer, lung cancer, and there are symptoms associated with TCE exposure that are like Parkinson’s disease. Read more>>