How many times did you rely on clean water this morning? Did you take a shower or wash your face? Maybe you made coffee or tea … then brushed your teeth. Perhaps you downed big gulps of H-2-O during an early morning workout.

Each time we turn on a faucet, we trust that our drinking water is pure and safe, as we’ve come to expect. But do we really know what’s in our water … and what ‘acceptable’ levels of impurities are allowed? Some of those impurities are called ‘Per-fluorinated and poly-fluorinated substances,’ also known as PFAS. They also have the daunting moniker of ‘forever chemicals.

To learn more about forever chemicals, last December we asked Tim Wheeler, associate editor and senior writer of the Bay Journal, to break it down for us. Plus, we’ ask Will Baker about his four decades leading the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. He stepped down at the end of 2021.

Links: Links: Forever chemicals in MD and PA drinking water, Forever chemicals and fish consumption warning, Contamination at Naval Research Laboratory, Have your water tested.

Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his [email protected] 410-235-1472