Experts, residents share concerns about ‘forever chemicals’ found in South Bend’s drinking water

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) — There’s a concerning level of chemicals in South Bend’s drinking water.

Those contaminants are called “forever chemicals,” or PFAS, and studies show they’re not being fully filtered out of our water here in South Bend.

There are thousands of these PFAS chemicals that are present not only in our drinking water, but in our food, our soil and even in the materials in our home.

The long-term exposure to these chemicals can pose a serious threat to our health.

Research is still underway to determine the dangers of PFAS. These are chemicals that have remained in our environment for thousands of years, and that’s why the name “forever chemicals” has been coined.

But long-term exposure could have led to serious health issues for people and even pets.

And right now, the Environmental Protection Agency reports South Bend is 1.3 times the level it should be.

“And at that level, very small amounts have been shown to cause adverse health effects. And so, these adverse health effects include some types of cancer,” says Graham Peaslee, Professor Emeritus at the University of Notre Dame. “There shouldn’t be any PFAS in our water, it shouldn’t be there at all. The fact that we’ve had it for so many years, it’s in everybody’s blood.”

Drinking water is our biggest source of exposure to PFAS, followed by our food.

Peaslee says the only way to fully get it out of our system is to stop using PFAS.

But with these high levels, some South Bend residents are concerned about what this means for the health of everyone in their household.

“Well, the first thing I did was look up, ‘Hey, can my Brita filter handle this,’ and it said, ‘No, it can’t it,’” says Teresa Brown. “(It) was just a pretty flat out answer that no, Brita is not set up to handle this, this is what you need. And it recommended the Reverse Osmosis. But I don’t know, I don’t know what our next step is going to be.”

Reverse Osmosis filters cost anywhere between hundreds and thousands of dollars, which is not nearly as affordable as at-home water filters most people use.

But City of South Bend Spokesperson Allison Zeithammer sent WNDU 16 News Now a statement about its plans to tackle this issue.

Although South Bend is already working to remove these chemicals from our drinking water, Peaslee predicts this endeavor to be one of the most costly cleanups that South Bend and frankly the nation will face.

The statement from the city also mentions the reduced use of wells that have high levels of PFAS.

Copyright 2025 WNDU. All rights reserved.