The City of Tucson gets federal money to help get rid of PFAs in water supply

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Linda Shosie flipped through pages of her daughter Tiana’s autopsy. She died back in 2007.

“She liked to stick up for her brothers and sisters. Yeah, she was pretty tough,” Shosie said. “She could barely walk, but she was looking for a job because she just liked to work.”

Her daughter had kidney nephritis and lupus. Shosie feels like those health conditions are linked to PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals”, which the Environmental Protection Agency says are linked to certain cancers and illnesses.

“It’s just really hard because I don’t think nobody….she shouldn’t have had to suffer like that,” she sad.

Her death was what motivated Shosie to create the Environmental Justice Task Force. She’s traveled to Washington D.C. to speak with the EPA, Arizona senators, and other officials about PFAS’s negative impact on people’s health.

“I did all this for my daughter,” she said.

However, Shosie feels like her daughter is not the only one in her family to have health issues linked to the so-called “forever chemicals”. She said her son and granddaughter also have health issues which could be linked to them.

She sat in her living room, examining the bills and expenses she has had to pay for her husband’s prostate cancer. His cancer is something she also feels like could be linked to the harmful chemicals.

“Over 12 thousand dollars they charged him, for just to remove the prostate,” she explained.

Officials did find the harmful chemical TCE in water on the south side where the family used to live. She also has proof from a doctor that another one of her family members had issues that could be linked to the environment.

Tucson Water said parts of Tucson Water’s groundwater supply have been impacted by PFAS, but said they have been proactive by testing water quality early. They said they’ve often distributed water from areas that are not impacted to replace water from wells that are not in service.

Congressman Juan Ciscomani helped the City of Tucson get over 2 million dollars from the federal government to keep PFAS out of our groundwater.

Tucson Water said some of the money is going to new technology to help Tucson’s central well field.

They said they’re using money from from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to design a new treatment facility. They say that’s going to treat water from three separate wells and serve the northwest portion of their service area.

“It’s going to help them provide people in Arizona, in Tucson, with cleaner water, safe water,” Shosie said.

This week the EPA visited Marana and said Marana and Tucson are both ahead of their newest regulations.

Shosie said officials should continue to look into the harmful chemicals.

“I didn’t want nobody else to have to live through the pain, the turmoil, the emotional turmoil that my daughter and our family has had to deal with,” she said.