Environmentalists fight to keep pollutants out of Tennessee's Clinch River

A water quality fight is raging in Tennessee involving environmental activists, the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. Here are the details from The Associated Press:

Environmental activists are trying to stop the Tennessee Valley Authority from starting a daily 1 million gallon discharge of water that contains mercury, selenium and other pollutants into the [Clinch River.]

Representatives of Earthjustice and other groups told reporters Thursday they are challenging a Clean Water Act permit issued by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. They said technology is available to avoid the potentially toxic discharges.

The discharges into the Clinch River stem from new smokestack scrubbers that reduce air emissions at the plant where TVA is still engaged in a $1 billion ash cleanup from a December spill.

The activists asked the Tennessee Water Quality Control Board in a filing Thursday to reverse TDEC's Oct. 16 approval of the discharge permit.

TVA said in a statement released by spokeswoman Barbara Martocci that although "metals are present in the discharged water, state and federal agencies have determined that there is no reasonable potential for these materials to cause an exceedance of any water quality criteria."

Lisa Widawsky, an attorney for Environmental Integrity Project in Washington, D.C., said in a statement that the state agency ignored its responsibility to enforce the Clean Water Act when it approved "new discharges of toxic heavy metals, to the tune of 1 million gallons a day, into the same river devastated by the Kingston coal ash spill."

States with the Most Dangerous Tap Water

AOL Health, using research from the the Environmental Working Group, has published a list of the states with the most toxic tap water.

This list, along with the recent New York Times series, "Toxic Waters," should make you question whether the water coming out of your tap is really as safe as you've been led to believe.

The states with the dirtiest tap water are:

New Mexico
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Nevada
New York
Texas
Florida
North Carolina
Wisconsin
California

You can learn more about how these tap water rankings were compiled here.

A few highlights from the AOL Health Report:

In New Mexico, "about 1.3 million people drank water that contained amounts of arsenic that exceeded health limits set forth by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Arsenic, the consumption of which can cause cancer and blood toxicity, is a metal that enters water either by erosion of natural deposits or from runoff from glass and electronics factories."

In Nevada, "85.9 percent of water systems violated the health-based drinking water standards. Possible health effects of the 100 contaminants found in state tap water include cardiovascular or blood toxicity, cancer, developmental toxicity and skin sensitivity."

In Florida, "Over 11 million Floridians also may have consumed radium-226, a radioactive element found around uranium deposits that can potentially cause cancer, in their water. And 11,113 people were exposed to excessive amounts of it."

In North Carolina, "6.1 million citizens were exposed to 59 contaminants that exceeded the EPA's limits. Nitrate, which can have a negative impact on kidneys, blood, the heart and the reproductive systems, was the most common contaminant. The suspected carcinogen enters water through fertilizer runoff, leaching septic tanks and erosion of natural deposits."

The North Carolina statistics really hit home here at Break Free 411. Primo Water is based in North Carolina, and it concerns us that the water that we've cooked with, bathed in, brushed our teeth with, washed our food with and watered our gardens with contains such a high concentration of potentially cancer-causing contaminants.

Even if you don't drink tap water, there are so many ways that you may be exposed to the toxins in it on a daily basis. Clearly, more needs to be done to enforce the Clean Water Act and shore up the safety of tap water.

Toxic Waters: Experts Weigh in on Tap Water Safety

AOL Health tackles the tackles the question: Is tap water safe? in a Q&A with author James Workman. The interview was in response to the the recent New York Times Series "Toxic Waters," a shocking expose on tap water. Reporters uncovered thousands of violations of the Clean Water Act, proof that our tap water may not be as safe as we think it is.

Among the Times' more startling findings: One in 10 Americans have been exposed to drinking water that contains dangerous chemicals or fails to meet a federal health benchmark in other ways.

Workman says that in addition to pollution by corporations, we have to be concerned about how our own daily actions are impacting our water supply.

Here are a few excerpts from the AOL Health interview with Workman, who is the author of "Heart of Dryness: How the Last Bushmen Can Help Us Endure the Coming Age of Permanent Drought."

AOL Health: In light of the New York Times's findings, should we be scared?

Workman: A lot of it depends on where we live. If you're living on a Midwestern farm and drinking well water, yes, you should be scared. If you're living 50 miles downstream from a coal mine, yes. In other [urban and suburban] areas, like San Francisco where I live, we don't have the same threats. Still, when the Clean Water Act was passed [in 1972], you had sludge and rivers of fire, so you could see the aesthetic and environmental impact. Today, violations are more subtle. We have invisible, tasteless, odorless threats coming not just from big bad industry but from our lawns and worksheds and medicine cabinets.

AOL Health: The report discussed industrial threats, but you're bringing up dangers we create in our daily lives.

Workman: Yes. We tend to say the water polluters are out there: That huge power plant, that factory, the hospital dumping medical waste. It's true, and significant. But we also have to look closer to home. We fertilize our lawns and say, "Good, no snails." But that fertilizer soaks into the street, under our house, into the water system. We are used to abundance and excess, so we think that if a little bit of fertilizer and water are good, then a lot is even better, and we end up harming ourselves and our neighbors and wasting water. Also, the average American is taking more pharmaceuticals, which go through our bodies and are re-circulated through the sewage system into our water.

Not So Safe Tap Water: NY Times Finds 40% of Water Systems Violated Clean Water Act

We're constantly told that tap water is safe, more heavily regulated even than bottled water.

In theory, that may be true. But in practice even the EPA chief admits that "the nation’s water does not meet public health goals, and enforcement of water pollution laws is unacceptably low," according to a new investigation by The New York Times that found that the Clean Water Act is essentially a law without teeth. Many community water supplies are contaminated with unsafe levels of harmful chemicals, carcinogens and dangerous pollutants. And residents of those communities are unaware of just how dangerous their drinking water is because most harmful pollutants in water are odorless and tasteless.

The Times obtained hundreds of thousands of water pollution records through Freedom of Information Act requests to every state and the EPA, and compiled a national database of water pollution violations that is more comprehensive than those maintained by states or the EPA.

In addition, The Times interviewed more than 250 state and federal regulators, water-system managers, environmental advocates and scientists.

That research shows that an estimated one in 10 Americans have been exposed to drinking water that contains dangerous chemicals or fails to meet a federal health benchmark in other ways.

The Times report includes anecdote after anecdote (backed up with scientific data) of communities where drinking water cleanliness and safety falls below federal standards.

Jennifer Hall-Massey knows not to drink the tap water in her home near Charleston, W.Va.

In fact, her entire family tries to avoid any contact with the water. Her youngest son has scabs on his arms, legs and chest where the bathwater — polluted with lead, nickel and other heavy metals — caused painful rashes. Many of his brother’s teeth were capped to replace enamel that was eaten away.

Neighbors apply special lotions after showering because their skin burns. Tests show that their tap water contains arsenic, barium, lead, manganese and other chemicals at concentrations federal regulators say could contribute to cancer and damage the kidneys and nervous system.

Still think tap water is safe?

An estimated 19.5 million Americans fall ill each year from drinking water contaminated with parasites, bacteria or viruses, according to a study published last year in the scientific journal Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology. That figure does not include illnesses caused by other chemicals and toxins...

The Times’s research also shows that last year, 40 percent of the nation’s community water systems violated the Safe Drinking Water Act at least once, according to an analysis of EPA data. Those violations ranged from failing to maintain proper paperwork to allowing carcinogens into tap water. More than 23 million people received drinking water from municipal systems that violated a health-based standard.

The NY Times piece is an excellent piece of public service journalism, as the reporters were able to offer irrefutable evidence to state and federal regulators that they were failing in their duty to enforce the Clean Water Act.

We've been told for years that our water is safe. Every time we go to the tap, we're signaling our confidence in our government to protect us from the harmful contaminants and pollutants that can wind up in our water.

But we need to rethink that trust in light of these findings.

Are you confident enough in your tap water to gamble your health or your child's health on it?

Before you do, we'd encourage you to check out the Times' national database of water pollution. You can find out which companies in your state, city and ZIP code have violated the Clean Water Act and how often. And remember that in many instances, companies have not faced any consequences for polluting your water.

You may be find that the tap water you thought was safe really isn't.

And remember 7-year-old Joshua Massey and his little brother, Clay, who can't even take a bath in the water flowing out of their tap without developing painful rashes. Is there any way that their tap water is safe to drink?