CPR Report Fuels Legislation that Would Create a Well Safety Program in Maryland
Last week, I joined Maryland Del. Vaughn Stewart (D-Montgomery County) and State Sen. Katie Fry Hester (D-Carroll and Howard counties) to discuss pollution threats to the state’s drinking water and legislation that, if enacted, would create a private well safety program in Maryland.
The quality of drinking water holds personal significance for both legislators. Stewart grew up in a small Alabama town where a Monsanto chemical factory knowingly dumped toxic polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) chemicals in the local water supply. He has since developed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma — a cancer associated with PCB exposure — twice.
Hester has also confronted this issue. When she moved to Ellicott City a few years ago, she discovered that hazardous levels of radon, a naturally occurring radioactive gas associated with lung cancer, were leaching into her home’s well water. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency does not regulate radon, so homeowners like her bear responsibility for testing their water and addressing contamination.
Nitrates in Maryland drinking water
Our January 25 conversation focused on a different contaminant: nitrates. Last year, my colleague Katlyn Schmitt and I assessed the extent of nitrate contamination in drinking water on Maryland’s Lower Eastern Shore. Our findings were published in …
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