PAW PAW -
For decades, a company sprayed waste water onto fields in Michigan's Van Buren County. Now nearby residents must use bottled water while they watch their real estate values drop: their water is contaminated.
And it could take years before the water is clean again.
While most people brush their teeth using the tap and get a glass of water by turning on the faucet, these families in Paw Paw Township can't. Their plight has gotten the attention of Erin Brockavich and her staff, who have been fighting water contamination now for years. Still, change for these people could also take years.
The source of the contamination is the area's biggest employer: Coca Cola North America, according to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. At the time the DEQ approved the company's permit to dump waste water, state officials did not know the chemicals in the water would remove oxygen from the soil and let chemicals seep into the ground water.
Dan Krauth's video report is Part 1 of FOX 17's Special Report. He visited some of the people living with the water contamination day to day.
In Part 2 of the special report, FOX 17's Carl Apple will report on a similar problem in Fennville, less than an hour away.
And it could take years before the water is clean again.
While most people brush their teeth using the tap and get a glass of water by turning on the faucet, these families in Paw Paw Township can't. Their plight has gotten the attention of Erin Brockavich and her staff, who have been fighting water contamination now for years. Still, change for these people could also take years.
The source of the contamination is the area's biggest employer: Coca Cola North America, according to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. At the time the DEQ approved the company's permit to dump waste water, state officials did not know the chemicals in the water would remove oxygen from the soil and let chemicals seep into the ground water.
Dan Krauth's video report is Part 1 of FOX 17's Special Report. He visited some of the people living with the water contamination day to day.
In Part 2 of the special report, FOX 17's Carl Apple will report on a similar problem in Fennville, less than an hour away.
