COLUMBUS, Ind. — Fish caught in rivers in Bartholomew County contain significantly higher levels of toxic “forever chemicals” linked to cancer and other illnesses than samples of water from a municipal well that city officials recently shut down.
Routine testing of fish in the Driftwood River and East Fork White River in Bartholomew County over the past several years has found concentrations of PFOS at levels that far exceed current federal health guidelines and proposed limits for drinking water, according to results that state regulators reported to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
PFOS — or perfluorooctanesulfonic acid — belongs to a cluster of industrial chemicals called PFAS that are associated with a variety of serious health conditions and have been used in products ranging from cookware to carpets and firefighting foams and consumer products since the 1940s, according to the EPA.
Research suggests exposure to certain levels of PFAS can lead to reproductive effects in humans, developmental delays, increased risks for certain cancers, elevated cholesterol levels and weakening of the immune system, according to the EPA.
The chemicals are sometimes called “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down naturally in the environment — or do so slowly — and can remain in a person’s blood indefinitely. U.S. manufacturers have voluntarily phased out compounds such as PFAS, though there still are a limited number of ongoing uses for them.
Testing by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management has found PFOS in tissue samples of seven species of fish in two Bartholomew County rivers since 2017, when state regulators added the chemical to the list of substances they test for, federal records show.
Samples of a smallmouth bass taken in 2017 near the intersection of Lowell Road and County Road 325W contained concentrations of PFOS as high as 15,600 parts per trillion, according to the EPA.
That same year, samples of fish taken from East Fork White River just north of the bridge on East County Road 800S contained PFOS concentrations as high as high as 13,100 parts per trillion.
This past September, samples of four species of fish taken from East Fork White River not far from where 2017 samples were collected, were found to contain PFOS concentrations ranging from 12,000 parts per trillion in smallmouth bass to 590 parts per trillion in channel catfish.
Since 2017, testing by IDEM in Bartholomew County rivers also has detected PFOS in longear sunfish, smallmouth buffalo, freshwater drum, spotted bass and rock bass.
For the complete story and more photos, see Saturday’s Republic.
