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Crestwood, Illinois
The story of a local Mom
Crestwood, Illinois
Location
Crestwood
 11,200 People
 Mainly Polish,
English, German,
Irish and Italian
Neighborhood
 Median Village
income is $45,000
Cancer Rates
 Out of a population
of 11,200 people,
400 become sick
with some type of
cancer between
1980 and 2005.
 The majority of the
cancers are related
to the Kidney
 According to the
State Cancer
Profile’s calculated
by the organization
www. cancer.gov,
between 1980 to
2005 the cancer rate
in Illinois was 200
cases per 10,000
people.
No Average Mom!
 Tricia Krause is fighting
against the town of
Crestwood, claiming
its water made her family
ill.
 The single mom of 3 has
2 kids with health
problems and a small
business to run.
 Her son had leukemia
and her daughter had a
brain tumor.
 Whistle Blowers
May 2009 –Update
The Illinois EPA
discovered that a
contaminated
emergency back-up
water supply well
was being used
illegally by
supplementing the
treated Lake
Michigan water that
Crestwood provides
to its residents.
What Happened
 From 1986 to 2007,
Crestwood used water from
its contaminated groundwater
well to supplement the Lake
Michigan source water
without informing the Illinois
EPA or its water customers.
 Since the well was not
believed to be in use, no
routine samples of that well
were taken; federal Safe
Drinking Water Act
regulations do not require
sampling of wells that are not
in use.
 In April of 1998, a consultant
investigating a nearby
drycleaner solvent release
reported results from two
samples collected from the
Crestwood well.
The Concern with Dry
Cleaning Solvents
 They are called
perchloroethylene (perc/
PCE).
 People exposed to high levels
of perc may experience
dizziness, fatigue, headaches,
confusion, nausea, and skin,
lung, eye and mucous
membrane irritation.
 Repeated exposure to high
levels can also irritate the
skin, eyes, nose and mouth,
and can cause liver damage
and respiratory failure.
Dry Cleaning Solvents
Continued

Perc has been shown to cause cancer in rats and mice when they
swallow or inhale it.
 As with all health effects, the potential for an increased risk of
cancer depends on several factors including how much perc
exposure there is, how often the exposure occurs, and how long it
lasts. Also important is the way the exposure occurs, as well as
the individual's overall state of health, age, lifestyle, and family
traits.
 In 1995, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC),
convened a panel of internationally regarded experts which
concluded that perc is "probably carcinogenic to humans," based
on limited evidence of carcinogenicity in humans and sufficient
evidence in animals.
What exactly does this
mean?
 For nearly two
decades, the Mayor
and other village
officials hid from
regulators and
residents the fact
that they were
drinking water
contaminated with
perc!
 The Story Breaks
Indictments

U.S. Attorney Patrick
Fitzgerald said in his
statement to the news
media:
 “The indictment alleges
that for 20 years,
Crestwood officials
purposely hid the fact that
they commingled well
water with Lake Michigan
water and, by doing so,
avoided complying with
state and federal
environmental regulations.
As a result, Crestwood’s
water customers were
exposed to well water that
was not adequately tested
 Felonies are filed
 Civil Lawsuits are currently
being filed
 ALSO: it should be noted
that both the US EPA and
Illinois EPA agree that the
levels of Perc in the water
at no time was a health risk
to the people drinking the
water.
Ms Krause Today
 Her children are now
adults and living
cancer free
 Ms Krause now runs
the Children’s
Cancer Cluster
Foundation
 http://statecancerprof
iles.cancer.gov/
 This website is very
powerful and you
should check it out.
You can find out an
awful lot about the
rates of cancer.
Cancer Clusters
 A disease cluster is
the occurrence of a
greater than
expected number of
cases of a particular
disease within a
group of people, a
geographic area, or a
period of time.
Breast cancer Cluster Maps
Environmental “Causes”
 It is very difficult to prove
that any environmental
factor has played a role
in cancer cluster.
 The EPA and Village
Officials both claim that
the levels of Perc
contamination were not
high enough to cause an
issue.
 http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=J42CLZH1NlE
 What do you think?
How do we make sure this
never happens again
 The Village of
Crestwood is now
very open.
 Here is there Village
website
 New Law