Muscatine Mobile Home Park Has State’s Highest Level of Forever Chemicals

This is one area you do not want to find yourself among the highest-ranked, and yet a mobile home park in Muscatine finds itself there. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has been testing the drinking water across the state for "PFAs", and Muscatine's Kammerer Mobile Home Park has shown the highest concentration of them.

The highest concentration of PFAs

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), PFAs are also known as "forever chemicals". They are "widely used, long-lasting chemicals, components of which break down very slowly over time." They are bad because they have been linked to harmful health effects in humans and animals. They are also rather commonly found in many different consumer, commercial, and industrial products.

That makes it difficult to study and assess their harmful health effects but to the best extent it could, the DNR discovered that Kammerer, which is located outside Muscatine in a low-lying area near the Mississippi River, has the highest level of PFAs in the state. In short, they are toxic chemicals that do not go away or take a very long time to do so.

If you have any non-stick or stain-resistant items in your home, chances are they are made with some "forever chemicals". They can then get in the drinking water when those products are used, washed, and residue spills onto the ground or into lakes and rivers.

How bad is it for Kammerer?

According to the Gazette

that water had a combined concentration of the two most-studied PFAS of 29 parts per trillion

It may have fallen under the radar with residents because it doesn't exceed the federal safety threshold and thus didn't need to legally be brought to residents' attention by public notification.

Kammerer's level came in at 29 which is less than half of the currently accepted federal threshold of 70 parts per trillion. Experts say that number was set in 2016 as a "lifetime advisory" and is most likely to be leveled downward but right now, it's what most states follow.

A handy PFA fact sheet from the DNR can be found here.