Most Americans can learn about every potentially harmful chemical in their drinking water and what scientists say are the safe levels of those contaminants.
The Environmental Working Group is making available a new national Tap Water Database that analyzes data from nearly 50,000 public water systems in 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Consumers can enter their zip code or local utility’s name and find contaminants detected in tests by the utilities and those reported to federal or state authorities. Instead of comparing the levels of pollutants to the legal limits set by regulatory agencies – often the result of political and economic compromise, or based on outdated studies – the EWG’s guide relies on what current science finds are the levels that will protect public health, especially infants, children, pregnant women, and other vulnerable populations.
“Americans deserve the fullest picture possible of what’s in their tap water,” said EWG President Ken Cook. “But they won’t get that information from the government or, in many cases, from their utilities. The only place they’ll find that is EWG’s drinking water report.”
A glass of tap water also comes with a dose of industrial and agricultural contaminants that have been linked to cancer, brain and nervous system damage, or developmental defects, Cook said.
“Just because your tap water gets a passing grade from the government doesn’t always mean it’s safe,” he said. “It’s time to stop basing environmental regulations on political or economic compromises, and instead listen to what scientists say about the long-term effects of toxic chemicals and empower Americans to protect themselves from pollutants even as they demand the protective action they deserve from government.”
The vast majority of utilities are in compliance with federal regulations, but their water still often contains contaminants in concentrations exceeding the levels that scientists say pose health risks, Cook said. Many of the existing legal limits are set far above levels that are protect health. Because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency hasn’t added a new chemical to the list of regulated contaminants in 20 years, more than half of the contaminants detected in U.S. tap water had no regulatory limit, meaning they could legally be present at any concentration and that utilities don’t have to test for them or tell their customers about them.
EWG researchers collected data from state agencies and the EPA for drinking water tests conducted from 2010 to 2015 by 48,712 water utilities in 50 states and the District of Columbia. The utilities tested for about 500 different contaminants and found 267.
Contaminants detected in the nation’s tap water included:
- 93 linked to an increased risk of cancer. More than 40,000 water systems had detections of known or likely carcinogens exceeding established federal or state health guidelines – levels that pose minimal but health risks, but aren’t legally enforceable.
- 78 associated with brain and nervous system damage.
- 63 connected to developmental harm to children or fetuses.
- 45 linked to hormone disruption.
- 38 that may cause fertility problems.
The safety of the nation’s drinking water made headlines in the summer of 2015 when high levels of lead were found in the water supply of Flint, Michigan. Data compiled by the EWG shows that between 2010 and 2015, nearly 19,000 public water systems had at least one detection of lead at levels that could pose a risk to bottle-fed infants.
Other frequently found contaminants include:
- Chromium-6, made famous by the film “Erin Brockovich.” This carcinogen, for which there aren’t any federal regulations, was detected in the drinking water supplies serving 250 million Americans in all 50 states.
- 1,4-Dioxane, an unregulated compound that contaminates tap water supplies for 8.5 million people in 27 states at levels above those the EPA considers to pose a minimal cancer risk.
- Nitrate, a chemical from animal waste or agricultural fertilizers, was detected in more than 1,800 water systems in 2015, serving 7 million people in 48 states above the level that research by the National Cancer Institute shows increases the risk of cancer – a level just half of the federal government’s legal limit for nitrate in drinking water.
Because federal drinking regulations are inadequate, Americans are left to take matters into their own hands, Cook said. The first step concerned consumers can take is to buy an in-home water filtration system. Along with the Tap Water Database, the EWG also provides a list of filter systems that can significantly reduce the contaminant levels in their water.
