By Elizabeth Zach, RCAC staff writer
Paradise, California residents, who fled last November’s Camp Fire have slowly been returning to the area, but officials are warning of a still contaminated water supply.
The fire may have contaminated more than 170 miles of water pipelines with cancer-causing benzene and other harmful chemicals.
Some residents who have determined to return to their homes have bought their own water tanks, but these are costly and uninsured. Much of Paradise’s population before the fire was elderly and low-income.
“That’s not protecting public health,” Andrew Whelton, a civil engineer who advises the U.S. military on how to restore water infrastructure after disasters, told National Public Radio. “That’s not what we’re supposed to be doing with a population that has gone under trauma like this; we’re supposed to help them.”
To read more, go here: https://www.npr.org/2019/04/16/713430751/paradise-calif-water-is-contaminated-but-residents-are-moving-back-anyway?mc_cid=8109bd5ded&mc_eid=ca994af90e
