Plastic pipes are polluting drinking water systems after wildfires – it's a risk in urban fires, too
- Written by Andrew J. Whelton, Associate Professor of Civil, Environmental & Ecological Engineering, Purdue University
Heat-damaged plastic pipes can continue to leach chemicals into water over time.Darrian Traynor/Getty ImagesWhen wildfires swept through the hills near Santa Cruz, California, in 2020, they released toxic chemicals into the water supplies of at least two communities. One sample found benzene, a carcinogen, at 40 times the state’s drinking...