EPA: Traces of contaminant found in 3 Colorado water systems

Army veteran and current railroad company mechanic Chris Pandolfi sits with his sons, left to right, Joe, 11, Patrick, 4, and Nick, 5, at the home he shares with his wife and their five children, in the community of Security-Widefield, south of Colorado Springs, Colo., Friday Feb. 5, 2016. Compounds called PFOS and PFOA, once used in non-stick cookware coatings, firefighting foam and other materials, were detected in utilities that serve about 69,000 people in the city of Fountain and the adjacent unincorporated Security-Widefield, the federal Environmental Protection Agency said. “I don’t know what the short-term effects are or the long-term effects,” says Pandolfi. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) Army veteran and current railroad company mechanic Chris Pandolfi sits with his sons, left to right, Joe, 11, Patrick, 4, and Nick, 5, at the home he shares with his wife and their five children, in the community of Security-Widefield, south of Colorado Springs, Colo., Friday Feb. 5, 2016. Compounds called PFOS and PFOA, once used in non-stick cookware coatings, firefighting foam and other materials, were detected in utilities that serve about 69,000 people in the city of Fountain and the adjacent unincorporated Security-Widefield, the federal Environmental Protection Agency said. “I don’t know what the short-term effects are or the long-term effects,” says Pandolfi. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

By Associated Press February 5, 2016 4 min read

DENVER (AP) – Traces of widely used and potentially harmful chemicals have shown up in three drinking water systems in Colorado, prompting officials to shut down three wells and start looking for the source.

Two compounds once used in nonstick cookware coatings, firefighting foam and other materials were detected in utilities serving about 69,000 people in the city of Fountain and an unincorporated community called Security-Widefield, the federal Environmental Protection Agency said. The communities sit side-by-side on the southern edge of Colorado Springs.

State officials say no health problems in Colorado have been linked to the compounds, called PFOS and PFOA.

Officials at the communities’ water districts said the chemicals would be far below the maximums suggested by the EPA by the time they arrived at anyone’s faucet. All three are conducting additional tests to determine the levels at the faucet.

The findings come amid heightened concern about the safety of drinking water because of the crisis in Flint, Michigan, where the water system contains high lead levels. Authorities say corrosive water released the lead from Flint’s pipelines.