"Health Officials Clashed Over Well-Water Letters, Testimony Shows"

"As [North Carolina] state regulators prepare to release risk assessments of Duke Energy coals ash waste impoundments this week, a state health official divulged that some health officials opposed the state’s reversal of warning that drinking wells near the waste posed health risks.

Megan Davies, the state epidemiologist and epidemiology section chief in the Department of Health and Human Services, in sworn testimony also disclosed that politics, not just health-risk assessments, played a role in the March DHHS decision to back off from do-not-drink advisories for the wells.

The physician divulged too that she had reservations about the accuracy of the first line in the state’s safe-to-drink letters sent to well owners. It said: “We have reviewed the do not drink usage recommendation because we have determined your water is as safe to drink as water in most cities and towns across the state and country.”"

Catherine Clabby reports for North Carolina Health News May 17, 2016.