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Group Brings Attention to Arsenic in Drinking Water
In April 2000, the residents of the Town of Pines, Indiana, began to notice that their water tasted unusual, so they reported it to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM). Incredibly, the State of Indiana knew since the 1980's that the nearby coal ash dump was leaking arsenic and other contaminants into the creeks and groundwater. Over the years, more than one million tons of coal combustion waste from NIPSCO coal-fired power plants was dumped into a nearby landfill. There were also many streets, driveways and low areas in the Town of Pines that were filled with coal combustion waste.
Taking the matter into their own hands, the residents of the Town of Pines formed the P.I.N.E.S. citizen group, People In Need of Environmental Safety. Their efforts resulted in NIPSCO and landfill owner, under the direction of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), to investigate and fund a cleanup, provide PINES with funding to hire an independent hydrologist to review their investigative findings, and provide some homeowners with bottled water or municipal water from nearby Michigan City. Currently they are in the investigative phase.
The funds provided to PINES for an independent hydrologist's assessment limits how the hydrologist can use them. To untie the hands of their hydrologist and find out the true breadth of the problem, PINES is currently looking for funding not associated with NIPSCO to use.
For more information or if you would like to make a donation, contact Larry Silvestri at silvestri@ameritich.net
.Freshwater Future builds effective community-based citizen action to protect and restore the water quality of the Great Lakes basin. We work toward this goal by providing financial assistance, communications and networking assistance and technical assistance to citizens and grassroots watershed groups throughout the Great Lakes basin. Through these efforts we work with over 1,800 grassroots watershed groups and citizens to protect and restore the rivers, lakes and wetlands in their communities. Freshwater Future, Inc. is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization.
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