Teflon Chemical Found In Spring Water

Bottled water provided to southeast Ohioans whose tap water contained a chemical used to make Teflon has tested positive for the same chemical, according to several tests.

DuPont hired three companies to provide bottled water to customers in one of the six districts in Ohio and West Virginia where drinking water contains C8.

The bottled water will be provided until filters are installed at the Little Hocking Water Association, in Washington County, Ohio. Tests have shown that customers in that district had 80 times more C8 in the blood than the general population.

More than 1,000 residents in the district received bottled water from Marietta-based Crystal Spring Water.

When Little Hocking officials decided to test the bottled water to assess the accuracy of C8 testing methods, they found traces of the chemical in the Crystal Spring bottles.

Crystal Spring owner Gary Matheny said he conducted two tests after hearing of the results and found C8 as well.

Matheny said the company has started giving residents treated water and is installing a filter to remove C8 from the spring water the company uses.

"We've been using that well for 84 years and we'e never had a problem with it until now," Matheny told The Marietta Times, adding that the filter should be in place by the end of next week. "We don't know how it got there — at levels this low it may be something as simple as Teflon tape on a fitting — but we are exploring every avenue and we are taking the necessary steps to remove it."

The bottled water showed C8 levels at 13 to 17 parts per trillion. The well supply that provides the residents' tap water contained 3,500 parts per trillion to 7,200 parts per trillion.

The Marietta Times, on its website, says the chemical has never been regulated by the federal Environmental Protection Agency, but an interim "safe" level recognized by Ohio and West Virginia environmental officials is 150 parts per billion.

DuPont, which says C8 poses no human health threat, has agreed to update its plants as part of a settlement of a 2001 class-action lawsuit. Residents claimed the chemical, released from the company's plant near Parkersburg, W.Va., contaminated drinking water.

DuPont also is funding a health screening and study for up to 80,000 residents who receive their drinking water from the six districts.