Poisoned well water: Sandy’s story

In 2016, Sandy Wynn-Stelt and her husband Joel were getting ready to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary when he started having stomach problems.

They found out he had stage four liver cancer. Joel died three weeks later.

The following year, Sandy found out that her drinking water was contaminated with extremely high levels of PFAS, toxic ‘forever’ chemicals known to cause cancer.

Sandy’s town of Belmont, Michigan is far from the only community to be hit hard by PFAS contamination. Sandy is now part of the National PFAS Contamination Coalition—a coalition we co-coordinate with community leaders in 16 states across the country—to fight for change nationwide.

Right now, we have a chance to make PFAS a priority for the incoming administration. We have a plan for how to end this contamination crisis, and President-elect Biden will soon have the power to put that plan into action.

And the time for action is now.

“People are being contaminated by this and have no idea. We don’t have time to wait.”
-Sandy Wynn-Stelt

We’re calling for a national standard of 1ppt for total PFAS to keep our drinking water safe. At some points, Sandy’s well has tested as high as 80,000 ppt.

This tragedy was completely preventable. But unless we do something about it, people like Sandy and Joel will be unknowingly drinking poisoned water today, tomorrow, and for years into the future.

We can end the PFAS contamination crisis. Thanks for taking action.