"Cancer-Linked Contaminants in Lansdale Drinking Water: Report”
If you’re a follower of the Lansdale Patch on Facebook or Twitter, you may have seen the above article posted recently. You may have even clicked on it due to the terrifying nature of the headline. Cancer and the water system is a scary pairing, and we all need to panic…right?
Not so fast.
The article in question was based on information drawn from a national survey done by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), an activist organization seeking to raise standards for water purification, among many other clean-living initiatives. Though the group does indeed have a loyal following, a few seconds of research also shows that they have an equal—if not greater—share of detractors, many of whom take issue with the groups use of scare tactics and pseudoscience.
The EWG group's ultra-stringent standards may or may not have their merit; however, one fundamental rule of journalism certainly does:
When you write a story like this, present all sides.
Instead of responsible reporting, Patch went the click-bait, no verification route. They willfully and unethically published a one-sided story based on information provided by an agenda-driven group with an ambiguous reputation. Absent was any mention of attempting to contact the North Penn Water Authority, let alone securing their point of view prior to publishing.
Patch knew it would scare you, and it worked.
In fact, it worked so well, that public outcry reached a fever pitch on Thursday afternoon, forcing the NPWA to release their own statement.
The statement reads, in full:
North Penn Water Authority stands behind the water it provides to its nearly 35,000 customers every day in Lansdale and throughout its service area. North Penn Water Authority (NPWA) water is safe to drink. NPWA water meets or exceeds all state and federal drinking water standards, which are the strictest standards in the country and more stringent than the safety standards set for bottled water. NPWA gets 90-percent of its water from Forest Park Water Treatment Plant, a state-of-the-art treatment facility that uses the most advanced water treatment technology available, called membrane filtration.
A recent report released by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), an activist organization, compiles public data that is submitted to the EPA by water systems across the United States. The report claims that federal and state drinking water regulations are not safe based on the group’s opinion, and not scientific based facts and studies.
"North Penn Water Authority water is 100-percent safe to drink,” said Tony Bellitto, executive director of North Penn Water Authority. "Guidelines set by EPA and PA DEP are scientifically proven to be safe. EWG’s recommended health guidelines are not scientifically proven and are not backed by regulatory agencies. EWG at one time sold water filters on their website, making it in their own self-interest to use these headlines to grab the public’s attention. The bottom line is that NPWA stands behind the product that we provide to our customers and we welcome any customers who have questions or concerns to call us.”
Customers who have further questions about their drinking water can call North Penn Water Authority at 215-855-3617 to obtain a Consumer Confidence Report (CCR), otherwise known as a Drinking Water Quality Report. NPWA releases the Drinking Water Quality Report each year to customers. The report can also be found on the website at www.npwa.org/water-quality-reports.
NPWA is composed of a dedicated, professional workforce that is committed to providing customers with a safe, reliable and economical water supply. Because of this commitment, the Authority continually invests into the infrastructure and technology needed to meet this critical mission.
A few hours after the statement was released, the editor at Patch copied and pasted portions of the statement into the existing article—oddly, without an update, annotation or editor’s note—but the damage had already been done.
"Articles like the one posted by Patch are wildly irresponsible,” said Lansdale Mayor Garry Herbert, who stated that he had received calls and emails from residents concerned by the Patch report. "You would think that a news organization would research an issue before trying to create widespread panic about our water supply. The truth of the matter is that the water provided by the NPWA is clean and safe for consumption, as they stated in their public release.”
Indeed, even the original Patch article stated that the water tested below the legal limits set by the government, but "Your Water is Perfectly Fine, Nothing to See Here” doesn’t have the same click appeal as mentioning cancer in a headline.
"All this article has managed to do is confuse residents through shoddy reporting of baseless claims about our water supply,” said Herbert. "Sadly, reporting like this only damages the trust in the press, and muddies the water if a real concern with our water supply ever occurs.”
This isn’t the first time that Patch has caused issues for local officials. Several months back, 6ABC ran a report on a missing teenage female, but the article misidentified "Lansdowne" as "Lansdale." Patch aggregated the article and ran it with the error, causing a flurry of phone calls to the Lansdale Borough Police Department about a girl who was last seen 20 miles away.
At the time, Lansdale Borough Police Chief Michael Trail expressed his frustration with the situation, as the error could have simply been avoided by looking up the street and realizing it did not exist.
Nothing to see then, and nothing to see now.
TL;DR – Your water is perfectly fine.
See also:
Council Approves Bids for Lansdale Skatepark, Work to Begin Next Month
Workforce Shortages, Poor Pay And Benefits Cited As Primary Concerns At Lansdale Post Office
Officials Break Ground at White’s Road Rain Garden
State Rep. Malagari Becomes Brewer For A Day
Drug Addiction Forum To Be Held Tuesday Night, Organizers Reflect On Ongoing Epidemic
