Erin Brockovich’s Response on Facebook to Mount Pleasant/Charleston Water Quality Concerns
Posted on Erin Brockovich Facebook 1 Hour Ago:
“There are more unanswered questions about Mount Pleasant and Charleston, South Carolina’s water quality than there are answers.
First, consumers in Mount Pleasant need to understand… most of the year your drinking water is supplied from the City of Charleston. At peak demands… as much as 50% “can be” produced locally… but many of you get 100% Charleston water everyday of the year. The attached press conference is more than just misleading, its crap… and constantly bragging about pristine ancient water that requires reverse osmosis is just bizarre. Further, the City of Mount Pleasant buys so much water from Charleston… several months out of the year they actually inject the severely contaminated excess surface water into Aquifer Storage and Recapture (ASR) wells.
Charleston claims to do thousands of water quality tests but doesn’t really report very much to you the consumer… the USEPA “suggests” they customize the report for the local source water conditions… Charleston DOES NOT.
Your drinking water system uses chloramine as a disinfectant… a poor choice. In fact your drinking water has confirmed toxic chloramine byproducts in it called nitrosamines (NDMA) as a result of the use of ammonia.
Your source water has many pesticides (Dieldren), herbicides (Atrazine), pfoa/pfos (scotch-guard/Teflon), pharmaceuticals (estrogen/Viagra) and other “unregulated” contaminants in it TODAY. These should have been reported to you… some have health advisories, some have maximum contaminant levels (MCL), like atrazine. The herbicide atrazine… if detected, even below the MCL must be reported… it is not.
The citizens of Mount Pleasant and greater Charleston are entitled to more respect and full disclosure… What have they got to hide? If there are contaminants in your drinking water you have the right to make a choice of what your family consumes and what it does not.”
ABC Article: Mount Pleasant Waterworks responds to concerns about water quality
Charleston Daily
Charleston Daily is a concept in community. Its mission is to promote, assist, and celebrate in everything Charleston, South Carolina. By partnering with businesses, community leaders, volunteers and events, we are spreading the love that is Charleston. As this city continues to grow and prosper, we want to help spread the message to all about how wonderful this community is. Charleston is about the people, community, water, land, history, heritage and the true southern warmth it brings with each and every day.
I am saddened and deeply upset at this information.
As the mother and the owner of childcare centers I am changing all drinking and cooking water to bottled water immediately! We will not be a repeat of the horror in Michigan! Thank you for sharing these important facts!
Kathleen, why not invest in a quality water filter?! Having said that, our Charleston water is nowhere near the “horror” level you imagine.
I do love it that people are drawing attention to how aweful Mount Pleasant life can be. Maybe this stain can end the mystic charm and open some eyes to other wonderful communities in the area.
keeping it real. It is such a struggle to live in Mount Pleasant where the golf carts rule and home prices are regularly over 500K. Struggle is real
5 kids from 2 neighboring subdivisions have rare cancer of the brain stem…
They have 60″ 4k smart tv’s, but their kids are dying. Have a little perspective.
i am an engineer and this is a load of crap! do you even understand why chloramines are in potable water. no…because you are a lawyer and not a chemist or an engineer. this is an insult to all of the people who work tirelessly to atually protect the public as opposed to taking advantage of them and their community for the sake of chasing the next ambulance. very dissapointed!
If you are going to call someone out, why are you hiding who you are – “nunya bidness”? You have no credibility!!! Engineers I believe would also start sentences with capital letters.
believe what you want to meg. it wont hurt my feelings in the least, unlike ms. brockoviches baseless accusations. those accusations denigrate the efforts of the dedicated people who treat and distribute charlestons potable water supply with the primary objective of protecting the safety and well being of the community. that was very poor form…even for a non local lawyer.
Preach it friend! Also ignored is the fact that the employees at CES and MPWW live here and are drinking the same water. Why would they cover anything up? I used to teach a class on taking defensible environmental samples. We showed clips from the movie as examples of what not to do. Poor science, innuendos, scare tactics. She smells money.
I am very disappointed in your comment nunya bidness! your name says it all! You sound so boring!
Kathy you need not to believe everything you read on the internet. This website, and Erin are full of BS, attempting to stir up contraversy. Maybe before accusing water companies, think first of pesticides tracked in on chirldrens feet or countless other reasons. 400,000 people drink Charleston water, and 67,000 people drink Mt. Pleasant water. It’s obviously something else, with location maybe?
Engineer? You are the one who has mo common sense or care about the safety of our children. By the way, do your homework ENGINEER!! She has never been an attorney!!!
Tracy, don’t waste your time on said engineer. They obviously haven’t put in the countless hours of water research that Mrs. Brokovich has. For all we know, they probably assemble parts on to planes and think they know it all. I’m happy to follow Erin’s journey and to know that she cares enough to ask for facts and reports.
This is a great example of creating hysteria without facts. If it’s the water then why is the problem only in Park West? As a scientist and engineer I would suggest that the Park West investigation focus on what’s common for the impacted kids – look at where they play, what’s in their homes, chemical exposures, etc. Better to get an epidemiological study started to ID the source of the problem. That’s where the resources and the focus should be to find the source(s) of this problem. Also, putting your trust in a bottled water producer? Where do they get their water from? Again, we could chase that issue all day and not get the focus where it belongs. We need to look at Dunes West specifically.
Well you make too much sense, sir. We can’t have that around here with all of our conclusion jumping and whatnot.
I questioned the water department before moving here. Due to over hearing builders making statements of bad soil samples found which lead me to google search. That search showed 11 people possible linked illnesses due to water. So I called water dept. I quote from June 2017 water dept,”Our water is tested and very safe to consume.” That was just a few ill people who assume it maybe the water but no evidence has been found. – citizen feeling very concerned. I am PRAYING for community.
I stopped trusting CWS’ water quality reports when I started having my water tested for my hot tub and the testers would alway say to me after examining the results, “You don’t DRINK this water, do you?” My neighborhood is only 12 years old so it’s not contamination from old pipes. Now I only use reverse osmosis to purify my water for me and my dog.
I grew up on the mean streets of Sullivans Island. We used rain water to drink and was subjected to a sub 8000 sq ft home non ocean front for most of my life. Being in Mt Pleasant has saved my life. More power MTPWW.
Remain militant my brothers!!!!
Are these results from the company that went around to all the neighborhoods placing water test kits at your mailbox then offering you a water filter system? Or are they from actual samples from the facilities? They did the same thing in No. Charleston.
Has anyone looked at the link between the children’s proximity to the golf courses and the cancer/DIPG cases? If it were the water supply, we would expect to see more cases all over Mount Pleasant, but instead, they are localized to Rivertowne, DW and PW, which are all on or near golf courses. Golf courses typically use very large amount of pesticides, weed killers and other chemicals to keep the greens pristine.
More research is needed to get to the heart of the source without jumping to conclusions or wasting time chasing the wrong clues. Start at the common denominator.
I live in MB and we have some of the best golf courses and no problems have ever been mentioned about water or contamination due to chemicals or pesticides. I really think the study needs to be about the kids. Examine all areas and stop pointing fingers. Not just environmental but the entire families involved and see if the kids have any common denominators.
I hope the new tests on Mt. Pleasant water will include mold! 20 years ago I complained to the MP Water Works about the moldy smell and the fact that all the facets in our condo had black, red and yellow mold hanging from them. Even dropping into glasses as we filled them. They sent me a folder stating that MP water met their requirements and the Federal requirements.
We have long since gone to bottled water to drink. The ice maker in the fridge was turned off because of the smell of mold as the ice melted in any drink. Others, not just in our condo area, have had the same complaint around the MP area. We only use MP water to wash dishes, clothes and bath.
Do a little more research it isn’t like all the people are from Mt.Pleasant most are from up north I don’t even go there anymore to many Yankees and they have ruined the low country. Oh and yes I lived there for a lot years, never had a problem with the water.
I’ve lived in Charleston five times. The water there tastes simply awful. I always had to buy bottled water when I lived there.
I need more evidence. To date this reminds me of the vaccine hysteria.
It would be more effective to enlist the professional services of an epidemiological expert than to continue this hysteria. This would allow for study of the individual cases to ID the links that could include all the cases and find some causes. Could it be the golf chemicals, radon, chinese hardwood and drywall in their homes – who knows? But a study would help ID the links. All these comments and opinions on the water taste (yes there is algae in the reservoir this time of year and the water has an off taste, but we don’t need a lawyer to tell us that). If you don’t like the algae taste there are carbon filters available at the store. Unless you filter your bottled water – who knows what’s in it. Too many are willing to point the finger at CWS and MP water when this doesn’t seem to link these cases (again they are isolated to certain subdivisions – not all of the areas served by the public water system.). Let’s get to the bottom of this using the proper methods and see if we can find the cause of this tragic issue for these kids and their parents.
Of course DHEC has already weighed in that there is no cancer cluster and I’m inclined to believe this as well. The number of cancer cases aren’t outside of normal levels and Brockovich is smelling money from a wealthy community. The water is fine but it will get more costly when the lawsuits start up. There’s nothing like manufactured hysteria around children to make a little easy money.
Our family just moved from Boston to Mount Pleasant 3 months ago and are thinking of leaving. I would expect more, being the cost of living is as much as NY or Boston. I can say, the water does taste awful and only use bottled water because of it. Something ain’t right in Denmark and we all know it. The city is building faster than they can handle and the pollutants are everywhere. There is more pollution in Mount Pleasant than in Boston
Oh and fluoride is not good for you, stop putting it in our water CWS!!!! Google it, there is lots of information on it. Think about it…fluoride treatments at the dentist are limited, and why do they tell you to use a small amount of toothpaste when brushing and don’t swallow it. Many countries have banned adding this toxin to water, why are we always so far behind other countries on stuff like this?!??
I lived on the IOP and the water was awful. Worked in Mt. Pleasant and the water was awful. This was over 25 years ago. I have visited many times and it never got better. I find it amusing that people are just now complaining…
Check the playground? Built over any dump? Or any leftover military stuff? Husband thought of this. He says dunes West was not developed till later for a reason. ???
We live in a polluted society with people using roundup on their yards, excessive mosquito sprays and etc. so to not think your water and air are somewhat contaminated is ignorance.To the person who commented about cancer is just in that area , it is all over. Why are cancer rates so high? There are a lot of things that can be covered up. As far as the people drinking water that work at the water plants, they may be just as ignorant. I would not follow the sheep just because they are drinking it.
What is the water source? Is it groundwater, rainwater, etc. Where does it come from?
I love mount pleasant always have and always will but but don’t drink the water it tastes bad always has.
I think we can tap the brakes on the excessive hysteria (not many of those cases, but there are a few). I happen to support Ms. Brockovich and the attention she may be able to muster when she does her best work. I have to say that the almighty aquifer bit was a little much coming from the Mt. Pleasant officials–it was a little scant on facts. I also have to say that I’ve read consecutive years of Charleston water reports, and my James Island water requires little or no filtration and is probably the best water supply I’ve used regularly in 45+ years on the planet. Let’s keep our eye on the ball here: 12 cases in Mt. P and 300 nationwide?? It’s something in the immediate environment, and in these cases, I think the water gets a temporary pass because people have been drinking off of these two water sources for many, many years, and the science that I do know says the the chances that it’s the water are slim.