A Cocktail Of Chemicals Remains In Our Drinking Water

Updated Tap Water Database Shows Millions in U.S. Are Drinking Tainted Water.

Photo by Janosch Lino on Unsplash

“By the way, we had that water brought in special for you folks….”

You all know the line, if you’ve seen the movie. I hate to say it but the tap water most people are drinking today is not something I would want to serve anyone.

It’s not your fault.

Despite mounting scientific evidence and public concern about U.S. drinking water quality, federal action remains sluggish, at best. Last year, the U.S. EPA introduced the first drinking water standards in more than 20 years, setting health-protective maximum contaminant limits for six PFAS.

“For too long, outdated federal standards have failed to reflect the latest science on drinking water, leaving millions exposed to harmful chemicals,” said Melanie Benesh, vice president of government affairs at Environmental Working Group (EWG) in a statement. While the new PFAS standards represent a historic step forward, they are only a fraction of what is needed to protect public health.”

A new update to EWG's tap water database shows millions of Americans are drinking water tainted with harmful chemicals, heavy metals, and radioactive substances. Many of these contaminants are at levels far above what scientists consider safe.

The latest analysis includes water quality data collected between 2021 and 2023 from nearly 50,000 water systems. It identified 324 contaminants in drinking water across the country with detectable levels in almost all community water systems.

One of the most disturbing findings in their research is how more than 260 million Americans in all 50 states have hexavalent chromium (also called chromium-6) in their tap water. That’s the chemical featured in the Erin Brockovich movie that ruined the community of Hinkley, California, and made so many people sick.

National regulations for hexavalent chromium in drinking water remain unchanged at a level of 100 ppb for total chromium.

The other alarming fact is that drinking water in communities across the U.S. contains a mixture of contaminants. EWG’s research shows how badly we need new frameworks that can measure exposure to multiple contaminants at one time.

Right now, almost all research focuses on one chemical at a time, and even that information is coming out at a slow trickle. What happens when you’re exposed to PFAS, radon, and disinfection byproducts?

On top of that, many drinking water systems are in violation of the basic regulations established by the EPA. In fact, state-by-state you see a very different picture, as some states have much worse drinking water quality than others.

New data reveals how many Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) violations were recorded in each state in 2023.

SDWA is the federal law that protects public drinking water supplies.

Violations fall into three main categories:

• health-based violations, such as failure to remove harmful chemicals or pathogens

• monitoring and reporting violations

• other violations, including failure to notify the public about water quality issues

Pennsylvania leads the pack with the most water violations in 2023 at 24,525. Texas had 15,340 and West Virginia had 7,473. What?!?

Hawaii had the fewest violation with just two. Aloha to that!

Remember, these numbers only reflect violations of the law; they don’t show a full picture of what’s in the water.

All these findings are commensurate with a new National Water Availability Assessment Report from the USGS, the first nationwide assessment of water availability that includes the amount of water, quality of water, and use of water for human and ecosystem needs.

The report adds to evidence of widespread pollution in waterways across the Midwest and High Plains regions, where levels of nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations pose a threat to human health, thanks to large animal agriculture operations.

Additionally, this research found that “substantial areas” of aquifers that provide about one-third of public water supplies have elevated concentrations of contaminants such as arsenic, manganese, radionuclides, and nitrate, according to the USGS.

Unsupervised industrial and agricultural pollution combined with antiquated or failing infrastructure is a recipe for disaster. That’s why I’ve been calling for more people to get involved with our water issues. We can’t continue to pretend that contaminated water is safe to drink.

We only know what’s lurking in the water when we have regulations that require testing it. And clearly, we need more enforcement. No state should have thousands of violations of the SDWA.

And let’s not forget that the need for regulation and enforcement is because of polluters, not the other way around.

Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring was published in August of 1962, calling out the chemical industry and launching an environmental movement. The Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio, burst into flames in 1969. A body of water ignited into flames. A Time magazine article described the river as so saturated with industrial waste and sewage that it “oozed rather than flowed.” That sight sparked major reforms and a newfound need for environmental action, which included the passage of the Clean Water Act and the creation of state and federal environmental protection agencies.

For years, those regulatory agencies had bipartisan support. I’ve watched as our country has become more divided, and people have lost sight of what’s really important—clean, safe drinking water for all.

We’ve got more than 40,000 chemicals on the market today with only a few hundred being regulated. These toxic industrial leftovers have been discarded into the ground and into our water supply for years. The companies who dump these toxins know they cause harm.

These issues affect everyone—­rich or poor, black or white, Republican or Democrat. Large and small communities everywhere think they are safe when they are not.

EWG’s database allows virtually everyone in all 50 states and the District of Columbia to check their local water quality and take action to improve it, if necessary.

By entering your ZIP code, you can easily find detailed information about the contaminants in your local water supply, including tips on choosing the right water filter to reduce exposure.

Once you know the truth and can see it, the question becomes what are you going to do about it?

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Want to participate more this week? For those who live in the U.S., look up your community and leave a comment with what chemicals are in your tap water. Let’s see what it looks like…