"In Whitted, testing has confirmed the water is contaminated with arsenic and PFAS/PFOS. An effort to connect the residents to the local water system has moved slowly."
"WHITTED, Fla.—When Ann Jones runs her kitchen faucet, the water flows clear only some of the time. Sometimes the water is brown. Fill a pitcher, and the water is the color of iced tea.
Jones, 81, is a gentle woman who has lived most of her life in this unincorporated historically Black community of 52 residents southeast of Orlando. She can recall, as a teen, glimpsing the Ku Klux Klan burn crosses not far from her childhood home, as her family drove past.
Through the years the community has held firmly to its heritage and the close bonds its neighbors share, even as the outer bounds of metro Orlando have crept closer. Recently several new developments have sprung up around the outskirts of the tiny neighborhood, all of them connected to the local water system and offering clean drinking water flowing from their taps.
In Whitted, residents rely on well water, and testing they requested from the Florida Department of Health has confirmed at least some of the wells are contaminated with arsenic and PFAS/PFOS, so-called “forever” chemicals associated with cancer, cardiovascular disease, developmental problems in children and infants, diabetes, immune system disruption and neurological damage. A $2.3 million effort to connect the community to the local water system has moved slowly since the funding was announced in 2024, an issue Osceola County Commissioner Ricky Booth, who represents Whitted, acknowledged."
