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| Natural resources
defense council |
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Clean Water & Oceans :Drinking
Water :In Depth :Report
Executive Summary Read
Full Story
Every day more than 240 million of us in this country
turn on our faucets in order to drink, bathe, and cook,
using water from public water systems. And as we
do, we often take the purity of our tap water for granted.
We shouldn't. Before it comes out of our taps, water
in most cities usually undergoes a complex treatment
process, often including filtration and disinfection.
As good as our municipal water systems can be (and they
can be very good), they also can fail -- sometimes tragically.
In 1999, for example, more than 1,000 people fell ill
at a county fair in upstate New York after ingesting an
extremely virulent strain of E. coli bacteria; a
three-year-old girl and an elderly man died when their
bodies could not fight off the pathogen.
So, just how safe is our drinking water?
In a careful and independent study, NRDC evaluated the
quality of drinking water supplies in 19 cities around
the country. NRDC selected cities that represent the broadest
range of American city water supplies and reviewed tap
water quality data, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
compliance records, and water suppliers' annual reports
(material required by law in order to inform citizens
of the overall health of their tap water; also called
"right-to-know reports"). In addition, NRDC
gathered information on pollution sources that may
contaminate the lakes, rivers, or underground aquifers
that cities use as drinking water sources. Findings are
issued grades for each city in three areas:
• water quality and compliance
• right-to-know reports
• source water protection
NRDC found that, although drinking water purity has improved
slightly during the past 15 years in most cities, overall
tap water quality varies widely from city to city. Some
cities like Chicago have excellent tap water; most cities
have good or mediocre tap water. Yet several cities --
such as Albuquerque, Fresno, and San Francisco -- have water that is sufficiently contaminated so
as to pose potential health risks to some consumers, particularly
to pregnant women, infants, children, the elderly,
and people with compromised immune systems.
While tap water quality varies, there is one overarching
truth that applies to all U.S. cities: unless we
take steps now, our tap water will get worse. Two
factors pose imminent threats to drinking water quality
in America:
• First, we are relying on pipes that are,
on average, a century old.
The water systems in many cities -- including Atlanta,
Boston, and Washington, D.C. -- were built toward the
end of the 19th century. Not only is our water supply
infrastructure breaking down at alarming rates (the nation
suffered more than 200,000 water main ruptures in
2002), but old pipes can leach contaminants and breed
bacteria in drinking water.
• Second, regulatory and other actions by
the Bushadministration threaten the purity of American
tap water.
These actions include:
weakening legislative protections for source waters,
stalling on issuing new standards for contaminants,
delaying the strengthening of existing standards, and
cutting and even eliminating budgets for protective
programs.
Water Quality and Compliance Findings
Healthy city water supplies in this country resemble each
other in three distinct ways: they have good source water
protection, treatment, and maintenance and operation of
the system. Every problem water supply, however, is
unhealthy in its own way: it may fail in just one of the
three discrete areas mentioned above, or it may have a
combination of factors that contribute to the system's
ailments. Fresno, for example, has no source water protection;
Newark and San Francisco do not have adequate treatment
systems in place; Atlanta has poor maintenance of
its distribution system. Any of these factors will introduce
contaminants into the water.
Water
Quality and Compliance |
Check
your City |
2001
Grade |
Chicago |
Excellent |
Baltimore |
Good |
Denver |
Good |
Detroit |
Good |
Manchester |
Good |
New
Orleans |
Good |
Atlanta |
Fair |
Houston |
Fair |
Los
Angeles |
Fair |
Newark |
Fair |
Philadelphia |
Fair |
San
Diego |
Fair |
Seattle |
Fair |
Washington,
D.C |
Fair |
Albuquerque |
Poor |
Boston |
Poor |
Fresno |
Poor |
Phoenix |
Poor |
San
Francisco |
Poor |
A Handful of Contaminants Found in Most Cities
NRDC observed that while tap water can contain a vast
array of contaminants, a handful of particularly harmful
contaminants surfaced repeatedly in our study. They
include:
Lead , which enters drinking water supplies
from the corrosion of pipes or faucets and can cause
permanent brain damage and decreased intelligence in infants
and children
Pathogens (germs) such as coliform bacteria or
Cryptosporidium, a microscopic disease-carrying
protozoan that presents health concerns, especially
to individuals with weakened immune systems including
HIV/AIDS patients, the elderly, children, and people
who have undergone organ transplants or cancer chemotherapy
or who have certain chronic diseases.
By-products of the chlorination process such
as trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids, which may
cause cancer and, potentially, reproductive problems and
miscarriage.
Several other carcinogens and other toxic
chemicals, including arsenic (which is naturally occurring
or derives from mining and industrial processes),
radioactive radon, the pesticide atrazine (affecting the
water of more than 1 million Americans), and perchlorate
from rocket fuel (present in the water supplies of more
than 20 million Americans).
Few Violations, Often Weak Standards
Overall, NRDC's study revealed a relatively small number
of cities that were in outright violation of national
standards. This fact did not necessarily imply low
contaminant levels but rather low standards: in short,
the EPA has written most standards in a way that
the vast majority of cities will not be in violation.
Aging Infrastructure Causes More Spikes in Contamination
Finally, NRDC's study revealed an increase in the frequency
of periodic spikes in contamination in many cities
-- indicating that aging equipment and infrastructure
may be inadequate to handle today's contaminant loads
or spills. On occasion, these risks were substantial.
In recent years, for example, Atlanta, Baltimore,
and Washington, D.C., issued boil-water alerts as a result
of problems including spikes in turbidity (cloudiness,
which may indicate the presence of disease-causing
pathogens) or other potential microbial problems.
And in Washington, D.C., levels of cancer-causing trihalomethanes
-- which potentially cause cancer, birth defects, and
miscarriages -- peaked at more than double the EPA
standard. (It is noteworthy that while Washington, D.C.,
recently changed its treatment to mitigate such spikes,
many other cities continue to suffer from them.) While
aggressive action in each city has lowered those
levels, spikes in contaminants may pose immediate health
problems to particularly susceptible people.
Recommendations
NRDC makes three major recommendations to improve water
quality and compliance.
First, NRDC recommends that this country
invest in infrastructure to upgrade deteriorating water
systems and modernize treatment techniques.
Second, NRDC recommends that investment
be earmarked not just for old pipes but also for
upgrading drinking water treatment.
Third, NRDC recommends that the EPA strengthen
and enforce existing health standards that are too weak,
and draft and enforce new standards for those contaminants
that remain unregulated. Specifically, we recommend that
the EPA:
Issue new standards for:
• perchlorate
• radon
• distribution systems
• groundwater microbes
• other emerging contaminants (see Chapter 5)
Strengthen existing standards for:
• arsenic
• atrazine/total triazines
• chromium
• Cryptosporidium and other pathogens
• fluoride
• haloacetic acids
• lead
• total trihalomethanes
Vulnerable Consumers Need to Take Special Precautions.
It is critical to note that the recommendations
above describe long-term solutions to improve overall
drinking water quality in this country. For those people
who have immediate concerns about tap water safety,
NRDC brings to the fore EPA recommendations as follows:
people with serious immune system problems (such as
people on cancer chemotherapy or people with HIV/AIDS)
should consult with their health care providers
about drinking tap water in order to avoid the risk of
infection from contaminated water. Pregnant women and
infants may also be at special risk from certain
contaminants common in many cities' tap water, such as
lead, nitrates, and chlorine by-products.
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