Green Drinks: Alicia and Kevin Stump: Unregulated Drinking Water Contaminants

The Safe Drinking Water Act regulates the amount of organic and inorganic chemicals in public water systems to levels that are considered safe for human consumption.  The Clean Water Act regulates the amount of  organic and inorganic chemicals that can be discharged to rivers and lakes from municipal and industrial wastewater treatment plants to levels that are considered safe for the environment.

Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CECs) is a category of  unregulated contaminants that can often be detected in the discharge of treated wastewater.at trace to low levels. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) monitors CEC levels in rivers and lakes downstream of municipal and industrial wastewater discharges as well as in treated municipal drinking water.  The EPA will regulate CECs such as PFAS (a.k.a., forever chemicals) and pharmaceuticals (e.g., hormones, antibiotics) when they are determined to be present in public drinking water at levels considered to be potentially hazardous to human health.

Join us as environmental consultant, Ted Volskay explains the key aspects and the importance of the Safe Drinking Water Act, Clean Water Act, and Contaminants of Emerging Concern. Ted will also identify common sources of CECs and explain and give an update on the EPAs regulation of six PFAS compounds in drinking water and the recent partial rollback of these regulations. Ted will also provide recent municipal water quality reports pertaining to PFAS for the cities of Hendersonville (NC), Greenville (SC), Charlotte (NC), and Rock Hill (SC). Finally, he’ll offer practical ways to minimize exposure to PFAS in home drinking water.

Ted Volskay has been a member of the legal women voters of Greenville County, South Carolina for 30 years and he has served in a number of roles, including board secretary, interim president, and chair of the legal women voters of South Carolina environmental work group. Ted received his B.S. in chemistry from the University of South Florida in 1981. After graduating, he joined the Navy and served as an officer on the James Monroe until 1986. Upon completion of his service in the Navy, he attended Clemson University where he earned a M.S. degree in environmental systems engineering in 1988. Since graduating from Clemson, he has been working as an environmental consultant. He is currently an environmental consultant for the Air Force. Upon reading the United Nations government panel on climate change 2022 report, Ted was inspired to return to academia, at the University of South Florida to continue his studies at the Patel College of Global Sustainability in 2023. He graduated earlier this year with the M.S. in global sustainability with a concentration on sustainable water management.

5:30 p.m.: Grab and drink and network with like-minded locals.

6:00 p.m.: Enjoy the presentation and learn something new!

Hendersonville Green Drinks is presented by Conserving Carolina, MountainTrue and The Local Table curated by Stump Farms. Come to Green Drinks to learn more about current environmental issues, have relevant discussions, and meet with like-minded people. This is a monthly event and everyone is welcome. You don’t have to drink at Green Drinks, just come and listen. The Local Table offers beverages and a limited food menu will be available.

Contact Pam Torlina, pam@conservingcarolina.org, with questions or for more information.