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Some Well Owners Feel Vindicated By Epidemiologist's Resignation

Duke Energy's G.G. Allen Steam Station on Lake Wylie in Gaston County.
Aaron Hartley
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https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Duke Energy's G.G. Allen Steam Station on Lake Wylie in Gaston County.
Duke Energy's G.G. Allen Steam Station on Lake Wylie in Gaston County.
Aaron Hartley
Duke Energy's G.G. Allen Steam Station on Lake Wylie in Gaston County.

Some well owners near coal plants say the resignation of North Carolina’s epidemiologist confirms what they’ve been saying for months: their water is not safe to drink.

Amy Brown lives in Belmont near the Allen Steam Station.

"My water was contaminated in 2015, on that date when we found out and it's still contaminated today," Brown says.

"There is nothing changed."

Brown is referring to the date last year when the state said her water was not safe to drink. When she got another letter in March saying the water was now safe, she says she didn’t believe it. Her family has continued using bottled water provided by Duke Energy for drinking and cooking.

State epidemiologist Dr. Megan Davies resigned Tuesday, saying "I cannot work for a department and an administration that deliberately misleads the public." Dr. Davies says state leaders are pushing a false narrative in criticizing a scientist from her department who helped with well water screening and recommendations.

Copyright 2016 WFAE

Michael Tomsic became a full-time reporter for WFAE in August 2012. Before that, he reported for the station as a freelancer and intern while he finished his senior year at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Heââ
Michael Tomsic
Michael Tomsic covers health care, voting rights, NASCAR, peach-shaped water towers and everything in between. He drivesWFAE'shealth care coverage through a partnership with NPR and Kaiser Health News. He became a full-time reporter forWFAEin August 2012. Before that, he reported for the station as a freelancer and intern while he finished his senior year at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He interned with Weekends on All Things Considered in Washington, D.C., where he contributed to the show’s cover stories, produced interviews withNasand BranfordMarsalis, and reported a story about a surge of college graduates joining the military. AtUNC, he was the managing editor of the student radio newscast, Carolina Connection. He got his start in public radio as an intern withWHQRin Wilmington, N.C., where he grew up.
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