September 18, 2018
The women at the Nebraska Correctional Center for Women in York have been complaining for at least a couple of years about the appearance, taste and what they believe are negative effects of water they drink, shower in and use for laundry at the prison.
They say they have had skin rashes, thinning hair, toenails fall out, and medical symptoms such as nausea and diarrhea. And they believe it's from the water.
They say the water is tannish, not clear.
And they describe the rashes as redness, bumps and something looking like chemical burns, said Assistant Ombudsman Anthony Kay, who's worked on the issue the past two years.
Problems began in the water tower that supplies the prison using groundwater, he said. The Department of Corrections renovated the 200,000-gallon tank, including adding a mixer to help with settlement and movement of the water.
When water levels tested high in copper, the department also installed a reverse-osmosis unit in the equipment supplying water to the nursery, the room used to tend to the babies born in the prison, Kay said.
