NYT: "Safe" tap water can legally contain dangerous levels of cancer-causing agents

More this week from the New York Times about the safety (or should we say unsafety) of our tap water. Current regulations and laws, including the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Clean Water Act, simply aren't stringent enough to guarantee that the tap water flowing from our faucets is pure, safe and free of toxic chemicals.

The latest in the newspaper's Toxic Waters series highlights the harm that can be caused by so-called legal levels of toxins and contaminants, including arsenic, uranium, lead and bacteria. Exposure to these toxins has been linked to illnesses from the innocuous -- an upset stomach -- to the deadly -- birth defects and cancer. Since 2000, no new chemicals have been added to the list of those that the EPA monitors under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

The 35-year-old federal law regulating tap water is so out of date that the water Americans drink can pose what scientists say are serious health risks — and still be legal.

Only 91 contaminants are regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act, yet more than 60,000 chemicals are used within the United States, according to Environmental Protection Agency estimates. Government and independent scientists have scrutinized thousands of those chemicals in recent decades, and identified hundreds associated with a risk of cancer and other diseases at small concentrations in drinking water, according to an analysis of government records by The New York Times.

If you receive your water from your local municipality, every year you should receive a Consumer Confidence Report in the mail detailing the so-called safety of that tap water. These reports also are available online for some cities and towns at through the EPA's Web site. These reports include information about any contaminants found in your local drinking water, and oftentimes, you'll read that the contaminants are within safe levels.

But that notion of safety is very misleading, as the New Times investigation details:

For instance, the drinking water standard for arsenic, a naturally occurring chemical used in semiconductor manufacturing and treated wood, is at a level where a community could drink perfectly legal water, and roughly one in every 600 residents would likely develop bladder cancer over their lifetimes, according to studies commissioned by the E.P.A. and analyzed by The Times. Many of those studies can be found in the Resources section of the New York Times.

That level of exposure is roughly equivalent to the risk the community would face if every person received 1,664 X-rays.

Tainted water supply, water filter blamed for one death, two illnesses at Miami hotel

Fox News is reporting that the luxury Epic Hotel in downtown Miami has been evacuated after one guest died and two others became sick from a bacteria-tainted water supply. And it appears that a water filter that the hotel had installed to remove chlorine from its tap water is to blame:

About 300 guests have been relocated from a luxury Miami hotel after one guest died and at least two others became sick from a bacteria in the water.

Health officials say the guests at the Epic Hotel in downtown Miami were sent to nearby hotels Sunday to prevent further contact with the Legionella bacteria. It can cause potentially deadly pneumonia. It spreads in contaminated mist or vapor, not from person to person.

An investigation last week by county and state officials revealed that the hotel had installed a water filter powerful enough to remove chlorine from its city-supplied water, a move that encouraged bacterial growth.

In an unrelated case, the bacteria killed a man in Gainesville last week. He had contracted the disease from the water supply at Shands Cancer Hospital.

NYT Investigation Reveals Millions Exposed to Cancer-Causing Agents in Tap Water

A new New York Times investigation uncovered damning evidence that much of the tap water in the United States is unsafe, and that the EPA has failed to punish violators of the Safe Drinking Water Act even in cases where cancer-causing agents such as arsenic and uranium were detected in the water supply.

According to the front-page article published Monday:

"More than 20 percent of the nation’s water treatment systems have violated key provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act over the last five years, according to a New York Times analysis of federal data.

That law requires communities to deliver safe tap water to local residents. But since 2004, the water provided to more than 49 million people has contained illegal concentrations of chemicals like arsenic or radioactive substances like uranium, as well as dangerous bacteria often found in sewage.

Regulators were informed of each of those violations as they occurred. But regulatory records show that fewer than 6 percent of the water systems that broke the law were ever fined or punished by state or federal officials, including those at the Environmental Protection Agency, which has ultimate responsibility for enforcing standards."

The timing of the NYT report coincides with a Congressional hearing today in which the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will question high-ranking EPA officials about drinking-water safety laws and their enforcement. According to the NYT, "the EPA is expected to announce a new policy for how it polices the nation’s 54,700 water systems."

It's certainly time for something to change. The current regulations need to be overhauled, but more importantly, they need to be enforced. Americans are being told that their drinking water is safe, when in reality millions of people every year are being exposed to harmful bacteria and contaminants that have been linked to illnesses and deadly diseases.

Violations have occurred in every state, and while some problems were fixed quickly, others were longer term. Consider these statistics from the Times investigation, a followup to this summer's Toxic Waters series:

"Scientific research indicates that as many as 19 million Americans may become ill each year due to just the parasites, viruses and bacteria in drinking water. Certain types of cancer — such as breast and prostate cancer — have risen over the past 30 years, and research indicates they are likely tied to pollutants like those found in drinking water.

More than three million Americans have been exposed since 2005 to drinking water with illegal concentrations of arsenic and radioactive elements, both of which have been linked to cancer at small doses.

Federal regulators fined or punished fewer than 8 percent of water systems that violated the arsenic and radioactive standards. The E.P.A., in a statement, said that in a majority of situations, state regulators used informal methods — like providing technical assistance — to help systems that had violated the rules.But many systems remained out of compliance, even after aid was offered, according to E.P.A. data. And for over a quarter of systems that violated the arsenic or radioactivity standards, there is no record that they were ever contacted by a regulator, even after they sent in paperwork revealing their violations."

Educated Yourself: How safe is your tap water?

Find out what the EPA says about the safety of tap water in your area.

Photo by jenny downing, licensed under Creative Commons

Presence of chlorides raises questions about tap water safety in Missouri

The Missourian reports today that chloride has been detected in water supply wells that supply drinking water to residents of Columbia, Mo.

What does that mean, exactly?

While the chlorides themselves aren't harmful, according to city officials, their presence in the water supply means that treated wastewater is finding its way back into the city's water supplies. That is raising concerns that "other potentially harmful contaminants, such as pharmaceuticals and other household chemicals, could stay circulating in the water supply," according to the newspaper.

It's interesting to note that despite these problems, Columbia's water is "safe" by EPA standards. The city is not currently in violation of any EPA standards for clean water or water quality, though it has been in the past.

The problem could get worse if the city follows through on its plans to place a new well near four others where chloride levels are at their highest

Wisconsin school with toxic water switches to water coolers to keep kids safe

Numerous recent media reports, including this one from TMJ4 in Milwaukee, have uncovered toxic drinking water at schools.

After potentially harmful arsenic was detected in the school's well water, well in excess of EPA standards, Lakeview Elementary school switched from tap to water coolers to keep kids safe.

Those coolers are fun for students, but more importantly, they're the only source of clean water at Lakeview.

Arsenic has been linked to bladder and lung cancer and diabetes. But until 2006, the EPA didn't regulate school's water systems for arsenic, according to TMJ4's report.

Deadly E.Coli detected in Oklahoma restaurant's tap water

After one man died and hundreds of others became ill after drinking E.coli tainted well water at an Oklahoma restaurant, the state is urging others with wells to switch to bottled water or municipal tap water.

The Tulsa World newspaper reported that the Department of Environmental Quality and the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry have said that residents of Locust Grove, Okla., who rely on well water should take precautions to avoid ingesting the deadly bacteria.

Bottled water versus tap

We've been lurking around the Web today, eavesdropping on arguments between bottled water proponents and environmentalists who've are pushing the tap water agenda.

Check out the the spirited debate over at Fake Plastic Fish regarding the new documentary Tapped.

Some of the most pointed comments are from the author of arduous blog and Tom Lauria of the International Bottled Water Association.

Penn State environmental group calls for campus bottled water ban

An environmental group at Penn State is speaking out against bottled water.

Members of Environment, Ecology and Education in the College of Education "called on the university to end its contract with Aquafina, noting that the stuff in the bottle is not better than what comes out of the tap, costs too much and creates unwanted plastic waste," according to the Pocono Record.

The group asked students to sign a petition against bottled water and to rethink their own consumption of it.

We agree with their message that bottled water is a wasteful from an environmental standpoint. But we don't agree that drinking tap water is the only solution. Tap water has its own set of problems -- water quality being prime among them.

Saying that drinking tap water is the only alternative to bottled water is akin to abstinence-only sex education.

While the either-or message will resonate with some people, who will switch to tap water, there will be others who don't like the tap option. And they'll hop right back into bed with bottled water because they don't realize there's another alternative -- a water dispenser.

Did you hear the one about bottled water?

From comedian Lizz Winstead:

"We buy bottled water every single day without thinking about it. Why? Because drinking tap water is more dangerous than doing Jell-O shots off of Courtney Love, that's why."



Funny and unfortunately probably true.

Did tap water at N.C. Marine base cause men to develop breast cancer?

Michael Partin was 39 years old when he was diagnosed with breast cancer, a disease that affects only 2,000 men in the U.S. every year. Partin believes that his rare cancer was caused by his exposure to contaminated tap water as an infant at Camp Lejeune Marine base in North Carolina.

At least 40 former U.S. Marines or sons of Marines who lived at Camp Lejeune have been diagnosed with breast cancer.

According to CNN:

Partin said that during his mother's pregnancy, the family was exposed to high levels of tetrachloroethylene, trichloroethylene, dichloroethylene, benzene and vinyl chloride in the tap water at the military base.

For three decades, from the 1960s to the 1980s, Camp Lejeune's drinking water was contaminated with carcinogens, specifically "industrial solvents dumped by the Marines and a dry-cleaning business, investigators say," according to the St. Petersburg Times, which wrote about Partin earlier this summer. More than 1 million people living and working at Camp Lejeune were exposed to the contaminated tap water.

It's quite likely that during the time they were drinking this contaminated water, the Marines, their families and base employees were told by the government that the tap water was safe. Clearly, such official assurances are not always true.

In two independent studies, the government found no link between the tap water contamination and the men's breast cancer, and experts have warned that showing cause and effect may be difficult. Meanwhile, North Carolina senators Richard Burr and Kay Hagan are backing a bill that would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to cover the medical costs of Marines and their families who were exposed to the contaminated water.

E.Coli Found in Pennsylvania Town's Water

Residents of Barton, Pa., have been warned to boil their tap water before drinking it after the deadly bacteria e.coli was found in the water supply.

It's unclear at this point what caused the contamination, but excessive runoff from rain or a breakdown of the town's water treatment system are likely culprits.

Here's more information from the town's boil water advisory, as published in The Morning Times newspaper:

Fecal and e.coli are bacteria whose presence indicates that the water may be contaminated with human or animal waste. Microbes in these wastes can cause diarrhea, cramps, nausea, headaches or other symptoms. They may pose a special health risk for infants, young children and people with severely compromised immune systems,” the statement explains.

The town's water supply is being treated with increased levels of chlorine to eradicate the e.coli, but it may be a week before it's "safe" for residents to drink their tap water again.

Minnesota town fined for water quality violations

The town of Motley, Minn., has been fined $17,500 by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency for water quality violations, according to newspaper reports.

The plant was tagged with 46 violations over a 2 1/2-year period from July 2006-December 2008
for "treating twice its permitted levels of total suspended solids and substances that contribute to biological oxygen demand, which resulted in plant overloading and algae problems."

Stories like this really make you question how safe tap water is.

Bottled water versus tap water

The president of the International Bottled Water Association and the director of the Environmental Working Group's California office squared off recently over whether tap water or bottled water is safer.

The interview of EWG's Renee Sharp and IBWA's Joe , broadcast on KPBS, was in response to Congressional debate earlier this summer calling for stricter regulation and additional labeling of bottled water.

Obviously both of these speakers have agendas, but theirs is a pretty thorough discussion of the safety different regulations governing bottled and tap water.

The transcript of their interview, broadcast on KPBS, is available here.

Kids Exposed to Unsafe Drinking Water at School

Through our confidence in the government and because of aggressive marketing efforts by tap water advocates we've been hoodwinked into believing that our drinking water is safe.

But evidence mounts and mounts and mounts to show otherwise.

The latest news to bubble up about tap water may in fact be the most disturbing.

Following on the heels of the New York Times Toxic Waters series, which revealed that one in 10 Americans have been exposed to drinking water that contains dangerous chemicals, the Associated Press reports that the drinking water at schools is contaminated with unsafe levels of lead, pesticides and dozens of other toxins.

This applies to public schools and private schools, those with wells and those with municipal water.

The contamination is most apparent at schools with wells, which represent 8 to 11 percent of the nation's schools. Roughly one of every five schools with its own water supply violated the Safe Drinking Water Act in the past decade, according to data from the Environmental Protection Agency analyzed by the AP.

Among the report's other findings:

• Water in about 100 school districts and 2,250 schools breached federal safety standards

• Those schools and districts racked up more than 5,550 separate violations. In 2008, the EPA recorded 577 violations, up from 59 in 1998 — an increase that officials attribute mainly to tougher rules.

• California, which has the most schools of any state, also recorded the most violations with 612, followed by Ohio(451), Maine (417), Connecticut (318) and Indiana (289).

• Nearly half the violators in California were repeat offenders. One elementary school in Tulare County, in the farm country of the Central Valley, broke safe-water laws 20 times.

• The most frequently cited contaminant was coliform bacteria, followed by lead and copper, arsenic and nitrates.

As the AP reporters point out, the stakes are particularly high when these types of contaminants and toxins are found in school water supplies. Children do not have the same tolerance for these contaminants as do adults, so the threat to their health is amplified.

The contaminants are especially dangerous to children, who drink more water per pound than adults and are more vulnerable to the effects of many hazardous substances.

"There's a different risk for kids," said Cynthia Dougherty, head of the EPA's Office of Groundwater and Drinking Water.

Still, the EPA does not have the authority to require testing for all schools and can only provide guidance on environmental practices.

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.

Your water, your choice

Want an alternative to bottled water?

Photo by LeeBrimelow, licensed under Creative Commons

But don't like tap?

Photo by Richard Berggren, licensed under Creative Commons

Don't turn to soda.

Photo by poolie, licensed under Creative Commons

Try a Primo Water dispenser instead.
Pure. Cold. Great-tasting. Environmentally responsbile.

British Trading Bottled Water for Tap? Think Again

What happens when people give up bottled water?

Though environmentalists heavily push tap water as the be-all, end-all solution to bottled water waste, the reality is that many people don't trade their bottles for tap.

So shows research by AC Nielsen and the National Hydration Council in the United Kingdom, where the bottled water backlash is strong. Instead of filling up at the tap, Britons who have given up bottled water are turning to sodas and other sugary drinks to quench their thirst. This from an article about bottled water in the U.K. Telegraph:

Last year the bottled water market suffered a significant fall, as consumers – swayed by an environmental campaign and the high cost – turned away from the once fashionable drink.

However, figures from the market research firm AC Nielsen, which tracks in detail the spending habits of tens of thousands of consumers each week, indicated that 71 per cent of the money saved was spent not on free tap water, but rather than sugary soft drinks.

The National Hydration Council, a lobby group set up to promote the health benefits of water, has calculated that this equates to Britons consuming an extra 1,700 tonnes of sugar and 6.8 billion calories, at the same time as the country faces a mounting obesity crisis.

Tap water, for all its virtues, has a hard time competing with bottled water on one key characteristic. One of the reasons that bottled water skyrocketed in popularity is because it was convenient and cold. Just pull one out of the fridge and take a swig. No ice necessary.

Taps don't deliver cold water. So, it's no surprise that thirsty people are going to reach for a cold beverage (be it bottled water or soda) over lukewarm tap water. Even in Europe, where the populace doesn't really believe in icing down its beverages.

Thankfully, this isn't just an either-or proposition: Either bottled water or soda. A Primo Water dispenser offers the cold convenience of bottled water and the environmental responsibility of tap water at the touch of a button. Why would anyone choose tap or bottled water when they can choose Primo instead?

This Sign Says it All

One of the bloggers at Green Unlimited posted a photo of a sign that she saw hanging in her local pharmacy:

That's a pretty scary reminder of what is likely lurking in your tap water. Municipal water systems are equipped to remove these pharmaceutical contaminants from water. And filters don't do the job:

While it's possible, maybe even likely, that some of the home water-filtration devices will remove pharmaceutical compounds, there is not yet evidence proving it. Also, it's unlikely that one device or even a combination of them will reduce or eliminate every pharmaceutical compound that makes its way to your tap. There are tens of thousands of pharmaceutical compounds, and most of them have entree to public water systems through waste treatment.