Water Contaminants Can Impact Child Health. Here’s How to Remove Them

(StatePoint) Clean, safe drinking water is essential for human health, especially for children, who are particularly vulnerable to certain contaminants. Local, state and federal policy has had some success in helping clean up drinking water supplies, but there are new reports of emerging contaminants linked to child development. Here’s what to know about some of the most common water contaminants linked to child health, along with information about how to filter them:

• PFAS: According to Environmental Working Group scientists, the presence of Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl

Reparations

continued from page 2 city council member who is on the task force. She spoke at a “listening session” in San Diego Saturday.

Who would get reparations?

The task force documents discuss two kinds of reparations: those arising from particular instances of discrimination or harm that require an individual to file a claim, and those that involve distributing money or benefits to all eligible Black Californians for racial harm the entire community experienced.

A recent example of an individual claim was Bruce’s Beach, a beachfront property and resort that the city of Manhattan Beach seized from a Black family nearly 100 years ago. Recently, partly because of the task force, government leaders returned the land deed to descendants of the Bruce family, who re-sold it to Los Angeles County for $20 million.

It is one of the few times a Black family was restored property taken by a local government.

Eligibility for reparations substances (PFAS) in American drinking water is much wider spread than previously thought.

Contamination of drinking water or ground water has been detected at almost 1,400 sites in 49 states. This large class of chemicals -- which includes perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) -- is added to a range of products and packaging. They are collectively referred to as “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down easily and can last thousands of years. They can also build up in the human body. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the blood of nearly all Americans is contaminated with PFAS. A new medical research study recently reported PFAS is altering hormonal and metabolic pathways needed for child growth and development. became widely reported on in 2016. However, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that there are between 6 to 10 million lead service lines still use in the country. When pipes that contain lead corrode, lead can enter drinking water. Harmful to everyone, even minimal exposure can have a significant impact on children, and has been linked to nervous system damage, impaired hearing, learning disabilities and impaired blood cell function..

• Lead: The effects of lead contamination in water have become more well known since the crisis in Flint, Mich.

• Microplastics: Microplastics are fragments of plastic pollution, which are harmful to water ecosystems and unhealthy to consume. Microplastics are found in both tap and bottled water and in a 2022 study, were noted to be found in human blood. While the health effects of microplastics are still largely unknown, they are emerging as a common drinking water contaminant to be aware of.

Some Solutions

To learn about the contam- inants found in your drinking water, you can access the Environmental Working Group’s Tap Water Database. No matter what you learn, it’s a good idea to filter your water. continues to be a controversy.

Many home water filters only filter certain contaminants. It’s important to look for a water filter that removes chemicals including PFAS, heavy metals including lead, and that provides broader protection against emerging contaminants such as microplastics. One option is the pitcher filters and dispenser filters offered by LifeStraw, which remove not only lead, PFAS and microplastics, but also bacteria, parasites and a variety of emerging contaminants, including pharmaceuticals.

When it comes to child health, PFAS and lead contamination in drinking water is a concerning problem at the local and national level. Fortunately, household solutions exist to make water safer for individuals and families.

The task force in March 2022 voted to limit potential compensation to descendants of free and enslaved Black people who were in the United States in the 19th century. The group narrowly rejected a proposal to include all Black people, including recent immigrants, regardless of lineage.

Everyone in the eligible class should be compensated, the task force report says, even if they can’t prove they suffered a specific harm.

“The State of California created laws and policies discriminating against and subjugating free and enslaved African Americans and their descendants,” the report says. “In doing so, these discriminatory policies made no distinctions between these individuals; the compensatory remedy must do the same.”

The final report, much like the task force’s previous interim report, lays out the history of systemic racism and ongoing injustices in California.

Costs Of Racial Damage

The latest batch of documents also urges that eligible people be compensated in cash, sooner rather than later. The records instruct the Legislature to begin with “down payments” rather than waiting for full loss calculations.

The final report suggests dollar figures for certain categories of racial damage:

• For mass incarceration and the over-policing of Black communities, it estimates a loss per person of $115,260, or $2,352 for each year they lived in California from 1971 to 2020, corresponding to the national War on Drugs.

• For housing discrimination, it offers two methods of loss calculation. One method based on gaps between Black and white “housing wealth” would peg losses at $145,847 per person. The other method, based on governments’ “redlining” history, including discriminatory lending and zoning, would calculate Black residents’ losses at $148,099 per person — or $3,366 for each year they lived in California from 1933 to 1977.

• For injustices and discrimination in health, it estimates $13,619 per person for each year lived in California, or $966,921 total for someone living about 71 years — the average life expectancy of Black residents in California in 2021.

The reparations program would be overseen by a new state agency that would determine eligibility and distribute funds, the report says. The agency also would be responsible for helping individuals document and provide evidence for specific injustices.

Eligible Black residents should not expect cash payments anytime soon. The state Legislature and Newsom will decide whether any reparations are paid, and it’s unclear what they will do with the task force recommendations.

“This is the time where we really need the voice of the public,” said Khansa T. Jones-Muhammad, also known as Friday

Jones, a member of Los Angeles’ reparations advisory commission. “This is the time to get your churches together. This is the time to get your school boards together.”

Jones made the comments during the listening session in San Diego.

NON-CASH REPARATIONS

Some task force members have been dismayed at the amount of attention paid to the dollar figures under discussion. The final report provides dozens of policy recommendations aimed at preventing further discrimination and harm against Black residents.

“The biggest fight is implementation of all these recommendations, “ Montgomery Steppe said. “After the task force issues its final report, those recommendations need strong support in California’s Legislature and the government. It will take all hands on deck to ensure we push for a policy change from our state legislature.”