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Last Updated: Dec 27th, 2006 - 19:07:47 |
260 contaminants (including 160 unregulated) are present in the tap water of 42 states in the US, according to a report released on Dec. 20 by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a reputed environmental organization.
The report, "A National Assessment of Tap Water Quality" is a result of the EWG's 2.5 year investigation of water suppliers' tests of the treated tap water serving 23,000 communities across the country.
An analysis of more than 22 million tap water quality tests (most were required under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act) found 260 pollutants (140 are unregulated). EWG acquired tap water testing data from state water offices.
Of the 260 contaminants, 114 were controlled under the maximum contaminant levels (enforceable health limits) set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Five were non-enforceable. The remaining 141 chemicals without any regulation contaminate tap water served to 195 million people in 42 states.
EWG said the data they presented is an underestimate of the scope of exposure to unregulated contaminants in the nation's tap water. 23 percent of the 39,751 water systems did not file tests on unregulated contaminants. Some contaminants were found in hundreds of communities. Some were found at a high enough level to raise health concern.
Among the 141 unregulated contaminants, 40 were present in tap water served to at least one million, while 20 were present in one system, only one time. 19 unregulated contaminants above health-based limits were served to at least 10,000 people.
EWG found the EPA failed to enforce testing that would reveal the pollutants in tap water supplies and to set health-based limits for those found in tap water. The EPA missed three mandatory Safety Drinking Water Act deadlines to set standards for unregulated contaminants.
"The Agency's own scientists have identified 600 chemicals in tap water formed as by-products of disinfection; tracked some 220 million pounds of 650 industrial chemicals discharged to rivers and streams each year; and spearheaded research on emerging contaminants after the U.S. Geological Survey found 82 unregulated pharmaceuticals and personal care product chemicals in rivers and streams across the country that provide drinking water for millions of Americans," EWG states.
"All told, EPA has set safety standards for fewer than 20 percent of the many hundreds of chemicals that it has identified in tap water."
The group found only five percent of six billion dollars granted to states under the Clean Water Act State Revolving Fund, was allotted to mitigate polluted runoff from farms and urban and sprawl areas, which together accounts for 60 percent of water pollution.
Among the 141 unregulated contaminants, 52 are associated with cancer, 41 with reproductive toxicity, 36 with abnormal development and 16 with damaging immune system. In spite of the potential health risks, presence of these chemicals in tap water is legal, no matter how high their concentration.
For 65 unregulated contaminants, the government has not recommended unenforceable health-based limits in tap water. For 46 of these chemicals, no health information is available in government and academic references.
"Altogether, the unregulated chemicals that pollute public tap water supplies include the gasoline additive MTBE; the rocket fuel component perchlorate; at least 15 chemical by-products of water disinfection; four industrial plasticizers called phthalates linked to birth defects and reproductive toxicity; 78 chemicals used in industrial and consumer products; and 20 chemical pollutants from gasoline, coal, and other fuel combustion," the EWG says.
The contaminants that raise high health concern include trihalomethanes, nitrate, chloroform, bromodichloromethane, barium dibromochloromethane, bromoform, arsenic, copper, haloacetic acids, nitrate & nitrite, alpha particle activity, manganese, lead, aluminum, alpha particle activity, radon and selenium.
The states most heavily contaminated are California, Wisconsin, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, Texas, New York, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Ohio.
For more information, visit Environmental Working Group
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