SEBRING, OH. (WOWO): Lead contamination in the drinking water in Flint, Michigan has dominated the news, but now a small community in Ohio is dealing with a similar problem.
The situation in Sebring is similar to Flint, where the public was uninformed for months about toxins detected in the drinking water supply.
Attorney Albert Ettinger, who has worked for decades on water quality policy, explains that the Safe Drinking Water Act requires testing of public water supplies, but sometimes nobody’s watching.
“The public is taking for granted that everybody’s doing their job,” Ettinger says. “The data is supposed to be collected. It’s just not always done, and we’re not seeing the staffing and enforcement that’s necessary to make sure it gets done.”
The Ohio EPA is requesting a criminal investigation into Sebring’s water superintendent, claiming he submitted falsified reports about high levels of lead discovered in some homes last year. Health officials say five children in Sebring have tested positive for high levels of lead.
