The DU Lounge
Related: Culture Forums, Support Forums1 in 4 chance your tap water is unsafe.
If you live in the United States, there is a nearly one-in-four chance your tap water is either unsafe to drink or has not been properly monitored for contaminants in accordance with federal law, a new study has found.
In 2015, nearly 77 million Americans lived in places where the water systems were in some violation of safety regulations, including the 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act, according to the report released on Tuesday from the Natural Resources Defense Council, a New York-based environmental advocacy group.
Its not only that some tap water has high levels of lead, nitrates, arsenic or other pollutants, said Mae Wu, a senior attorney with the councils health program. It is that too often, a lack of reporting means residents cannot be sure whether their drinking water is contaminated or not.
The issue is not new; tap water safety violations across the United States have been reported again and again and again. The new study is an attempt to tell the big-picture story, Ms. Wu said, as a backdrop to the piecemeal reports coming out of towns and cities across the country.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/04/us/tapwater-drinking-water-study.html?_r=2
Leith
(7,813 posts)the whole infrastructure of the country is falling apart from neglect. We can't get our elected officials interested - they're too busy looking for new ways to cut taxes so that billionaires and millionaires can hoard even more money offshore.
I'm especially angry because I was born and raised in Flint. My family still lives in the area. Everyone in the country deserves to know that their water is safe. And their good, roads, bridges, buildings, electricity, and everything else that should be safer.
Rhiannon12866
(206,072 posts)There wasn't a problem until recently - broke out in a rash last fall and was given a prescription for prednisone and I wasn't the only one. It's pretty scary when you don't know if you can trust the water that comes out of your faucet - that you drink, cook with, give to your kids and your pets. My heart sure goes out to the people of Flint - since they definitely have it a whole lot worse.