Maria wakes up at 5:30 AM in her small Fayetteville apartment. She starts her day by getting her four-year-old son, Diego, ready for daycare before she clocks in at the diner. She fills his cup with tap water, just like she's done every morning, but she has no idea that this simple act might be slowly poisoning her child. The water from Maria's faucet contains PFAS, man-made chemicals that never really go away. Scientists have found over 12,000 kinds of PFAS, and they're in the blood of 97% of Americans.
A Chemours plant upstream had been dumping PFAS into the water for years. The EPA has now found PFAS at hundreds of sites nationwide, sometimes at levels far higher than what's considered safe. For years, the nearby Air Force base used firefighting foam filled with PFAS. That foam soaked into the ground and made its way into the well water.
The cruelest part? None of this was an accident. In corporate offices back in the 1970s, while Maria's mother was still pregnant with her, executives at companies like DuPont and 3M already knew PFAS were dangerous. Internal memos showed rising cancer rates in their workers. Studies linked PFAS to birth complications and major organ damage. They knew, and they kept quiet. For decades.
In 2023, 3M agreed to a $10.3 billion settlement. Other companies are being held accountable too. The money is helping clean up water in some towns. Communities of color are far more likely to live near contaminated sites, and low-income neighborhoods are hit hardest.