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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
imageHeat-damaged plastic pipes can continue to leach chemicals into water over time.Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

When 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...

Read more: Plastic pipes are polluting drinking water systems after wildfires – it's a risk in urban fires, too

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