Posted on 12/20/2005 12:28:14 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
WASHINGTON - Drinking water may have a lot more in it than just H20 and fluoride, according to an environmental group's analysis of records in 42 states, including Wisconsin.
A survey by the Environmental Working Group released today found 141 unregulated chemicals and an additional 119 for which the Environmental Protection Agency has set health-based limits. Most common among the chemicals found were disinfection byproducts, nitrates, chloroform, barium, arsenic and copper.
The research and advocacy organization compiled findings from the states that agreed to provide data they collected from 1998 to 2003. That data comes from nearly 40,000 water utilities, serving 231 million people. The utilities were required by federal law to report that data to consumers.
For the unregulated chemicals, the EPA is still identifying and considering the potential risks for possible future regulations. Nineteen of those chemicals exceeded the EPA's unenforced safety guidelines for tap water systems serving at least 10,000 people, according to the advocacy group.
The EPA gathers its own water monitoring data, reviews the latest research and looks at treatment methods and technology, an agency spokeswoman said. States also are free to set their own safety standards for contaminants that may not be detected in other states.
Benjamin Grumbles, who heads the EPA's Office of Water, said that "for the chemicals the agency regulates, nearly 100 percent of the community water systems that provide drinking water to the majority of Americans are meeting clean drinking water standards. We also have a process to continuously identify new contaminants for which regulation could reduce risks."
Jane Houlihan, the EWG's vice president for research, said the group's findings show that the United States allows millions of people to be exposed to some chemicals for which the EPA either has never considered the risks or if it has, has no enforceable limits.
"So in many communities the water that comes out of the tap could be contaminated with scores of chemicals. People shouldn't be alarmed, but they should be concerned. Our system of public health protections isn't working in this case," Houlihan said.
The top 10 states, listed in order of the most contaminants in their drinking water, were: California, Wisconsin, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, Texas, New York, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Illinois, according to the EWG, which listed the biggest sources as agriculture, industry and urban and sprawl developments.
Tom Curtis, a deputy director of the Denver-based American Water Works Association, echoed Grumbles' comments. "That's good news, and it's a reflection of water professionals' ongoing commitment to protecting public health," he said.
Curtis said the EPA has "a systematic approach to determining which substances should be regulated. Those regulations take into account occurrence data and health effects research, and should reflect the best available science."
Arsenic is not a chemical. It's a friggin' Element. God put it there.
No wonder the Packers stink.
I wonder which bottled water company/consortium paid for this study?
I don't know, I always thought chloroform would be good for most democrats.
I'm telling ya, I KNEW something was going on there. All the wacko new coming out of that state recently...
I like Dihydrogen Monoxide--it keeps me going thru the day!
Your post and tagline are outstanding. Good work..
There's water in the chemicals there - a real conflagration of interests
Hundreds of Chemicals Found in (WI)'s John Helprin's body--(Worth about $37--"Oh the Humanity!")
All those meth and LSD labs in Racine?...........
OOOOOOHHH! Holy MNF!.........
Aw, you beat me to the Dihydrogen Monoxide gag ^^
....as they wave with all four arms..............and cry with all three eyes.........
Yes but too much will kill you. Absorb in Moderation.
That's okay. Let's share. I'll take the O2 and you can have the H.
That's why I live on the side of a mountain and have a well.
also need to consider the chronic implications from continued exposure to low-levels of these chemicals. living in california, i'm definatley aware and somewhat concerned about the level of agricultural chemicals that find their way into our water. the ag community seems to get away with a lot out here WRT taking care of their ag run-off, and i imagine it's similar around the country. we should hold the ag community to the same standards that we hold industry and local governments.
The good news is that in the US, the little black things in the water aren't moving.
In the early 70s at Bechtel's slurry pipeline lab, I worked on a physical, as opposed to chemical, analysis of San Francisco's water.
The drinking water had more suspended solids and greater turbibity on average, than the San Francisco sewerage samples we used for comparison.
That is not to say it wasn't sanitary; just that it had more guk floating & suspended in it.
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