Songbird Farm in Maine was once brimming with life and potential, but now, it stands as a mere shell of its former self. Adam Nordell and his wife Johanna purchased the 44-acre farm in 2014 with dreams of cultivating organic produce and raising a family. Little did they know, their idyllic land was infested with toxic chemicals called PFAS.
He said the toxins at Songbird Farm were traced to sludge, the residual waste from wastewater treatment, which had been used as fertilizer in the 1990s. "Living with the exposure is terrifying," Nordell said."I feel like I have a poorly wired time bomb inside of me." Climatologist Dan Brown painted a grim picture, showing a stretch of river in Detroit where fish are too contaminated to eat.
For the first time, the EPA is proposing strict regulations to limit PFAS in drinking water. The recommended levels are more than 90% lower than previous standards.