> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.foodconsumer.org/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Safe Water - Newsletter from EWG
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/safe_water_0209110704/
- Published: 2011-02-09T08:02:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-22T16:07:52.000Z
- Description: An EWG appeal urging readers to ask their senators to co-sponsor the Boxer-Feinstein bill, which would make the EPA set a safe drinking-water limit for chromium-6 within a year. EWG's December report detected the suspected carcinogen in 31 of 35 city water supplies tested.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Chemical, Food Safety, Water, #vivvo-import

Dear Reader,

One report started it all.

In December, EWG published the first national investigation of the suspected carcinogen chromium-6 -- also known as hexavalent chromium -- in drinking water in 35 cities around the country. Recently, Senators Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., introduced Senate Bill 79, the Protecting Pregnant Women and Children From Hexavalent Chromium Act of 2011.

The Boxer/Feinstein bill would require the Environmental Protection Agency to act within a year to set a safe limit for chromium-6 in drinking water. **Your senators need to hear from you today that clean, safe drinking water is crucial.**

[**Click here TODAY to tell your senators to co-sponsor the Protecting Pregnant Women and Children from Hexavalent Chromium Act of 2011, introduced by Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein.**](http://action.ewg.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=NG%2Fn8zuM2YMi%2BCnZ7zq4flN%2FF6ljvJjy&ref=foodconsumer.org)

EWG supporters like you submitted tap water samples from their communities. This groundbreaking, people-powered report detected chromium-6 in 31 of the 35 city water supplies tested. Even though this report stirred controversy, our findings were confirmed by a number of water utilities' own testing. Within hours of its release, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced a new plan to help local utilities assess chromium-6 in drinking water nationwide. That's a good first step. But EPA must go further.

Last week, I testified on our chromium-6 report before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, chaired by Senator Boxer. And I am going to tell you what I told them: we were heartened by and support EPA's announcement following the release of our report and by its decision to regulate perchlorate, but it is not enough. **The Protecting Pregnant Women and Children from Hexavalent Chromium Act of 2011 will make sure there is a safe legal limit on chromium-6 in drinking water.**

I have had the opportunity to testify in front of Congress many times, but this was the most gratifying. I was able to stand with the EPA and others concerned with ensuring that all Americans have access to safe, clean drinking water. **This hearing -- and this bill -- are a direct result of EWG's research. "Keep on doing what you're doing," Senator Boxer said to me in her concluding comments at the hearing.**

We need to keep the momentum going. I'm counting on you to help us -- and everyone else who drinks water.

[**Click here TODAY to tell your senators to co-sponsor the Protecting Pregnant Women and Children from Hexavalent Chromium Act of 2011.**](http://action.ewg.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=AQh4gaK9X1mmBDIlirv2AFN%2FF6ljvJjy&ref=foodconsumer.org)

Safe, clean drinking water is vital to EWG supporters like you. Don't let this opportunity pass you by. [**Take action today.**](http://action.ewg.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=myKAUzpxqcswnOK9AmTNaeNXCHoQ5s9O&ref=foodconsumer.org)

Sincerely,

Ken Cook  
President, EWG Action Fund