Every Maine Family Deserves Safe Water

At the Clean Water Rally at the Maine State House organized earlier this month by our friends at Maine Conservation Voters, I spoke alongside other advocates for clean and safe water about the urgent need for our legislators enact policies that will ensure all Maine families have access to safe drinking water.

How would you feel as a mother learning that you have, unknowingly, been giving your children arsenic—a poison—when you hand them a glass of tap water? How are you supposed to know that the water coming from your own backyard is poisoned with toxic chemicals?

This situation is, sadly, the reality for too many Mainers today. Arsenic is present naturally in some Maine bedrocks, and easily leaches into well water. While the Legislature passed two laws with strong bipartisan support in 2017 that provide a good start to make sure everyone in Maine has safe water, we still have a lot of work to do.

“Nobody should worry about not having access to safe water.”

Right now thousands of families across Maine are unprotected from poison in their drinking water, and this is not fair. Every family in Maine deserves access to safe drinking water. And this means: education, testing, and treatment.

With big elections coming up in November, now is a crucial time to speak to candidates about the silent epidemic of arsenic-contaminated well water in Maine. I urge all concerned Mainers to talk to candidates about this important issue in the coming months, and to ask candidates to commit to making sure every person in Maine has safe water in their homes.

Because nobody should worry about not having access to safe water.

Do you support our work fighting for safe drinking water for all Maine families? Become a Hero for Health and help sustain our safe water work today.