Monday, April 18, 2016

Not just Flint: USA Today identifies 13 Nebraska water systems which have had excessive lead contamination

On March 11, 2016, USA Today published a database reporting story which revealed that in the last four years, 2000 water systems in all 50 states have had excessive levels of lead contamination. The EPA's limit is 15 parts per billion, but the agency says there is no safe level for lead exposure. Below are 13 examples of excessive lead contamination in Nebraska. USA Today's complete report is here.
 
Public Water SupplyCountySample Measure#Exceedances
DAKOTA CITY, CITY OFDakota17ppb-19ppb2
LAKE ALLURE SUBDIVISION - ASHLANDSaunders65.18ppb-79.32ppb2
GIBBON, CITY OFBuffalo19ppb1
TEKAMAH, CITY OFBurt15.9ppb1
DWIGHT, VILLAGE OFButler45.43ppb1
GLENVIL, VILLAGE OFClay35ppb1
HICKMAN, CITY OFLancaster54.5ppb1
GOEHNER, VILLAGE OFSeward35.6ppb1
MOUNT MICHAEL HIGH SCHOOLDouglas23.5ppb1
THE IAMS COMPANY - AURORA PLANTHamilton53.6ppb1
ARMY NATIONAL GUARD CATS - MEADSaunders26.7ppb1
BAYER CROP-SCIENCE WHEAT BREED'G STATIONSeward20.1ppb1
JEFFERSON CO DIST 300 - TRI-COUNTYJefferson15.9ppb1


UPDATE: M.U.D.'s bizarre, confusing twitter responses to AKSARBENT's post:

First, there was this:
 

Obviously, water systems near Lincoln and other parts of Nebraska distant from Omaha are not part of M.U.D. But contrary to M.U.D.'s false insinuation that they are private, several are, in fact, public.

Then there was this:


Well, M.U.D. does serve Douglas County, even if Mt. Michael's has its own, private well.

We think what M.U.D. was trying to say was:

"We would like to clarify that although M.U.D. provides water throughout Douglas County, Mt. Michael uses a private water supply which does not come from M.U.D. We think your "Public Water Supply" column title might lead to some confusion."

That would have been a valid criticism of USA Today's labeling (which AKSARBENT used) and would have avoided further confusing the issue.
     If M.U.D. doesn't know how to get around twitter's 140-characters tweet limit by making a screencap of a paragraph in Microsoft Word, AKSARBENT would be happy to demonstrate, provided whoever runs their twitter account is be willing to take a remedial course in business English taught by someone who could foster some attention to clarity in the utility's social media statements.


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