77 million people—roughly a quarter of the U.S. population—spread across all 50 states are served by water systems reporting violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act (this is the outdated, unimproved act of 1974), according to a report issued by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) . The offenses ranged from arsenic to nitrate contamination, and included often-serious failures to test or report contamination levels.
“America is facing a nationwide drinking water crisis that goes well beyond lead contamination,” said Erik Olson, Health Program Director at NRDC and a report co-author. “The problem is two-fold: there's no cop on the beat enforcing our drinking water laws, and we're living on borrowed time with our ancient, deteriorating water infrastructure. We take it for granted that when we turn on our kitchen tap, the water will be safe and healthy, but we have a long way to go before that is reality across our country.”
The report found the top ten states for unsafe drinking water were (in order):
Texas
Florida
Pennsylvania
New Jersey
Georgia
Washington
Ohio
California
Arizona
Kentucky
This isn't just about Flint, Michigan, according to the report, over 18,000 water systems are out of compliance with the 1974 act. Additionally, 27 million Americans-approximately 1 in every 12-are exposed to unacceptably high levels of lead, copper, other heavy metals, and even known carcinogens in their water. These are children, babies, mothers, and the elderly, all drinking water known to be unhealthy. Researchers are finding these contaminants in the blood and breast milk of everyday people like you and me.
New research from EWG and Northeastern University in Boston uncovered highly fluorinated toxic chemicals, known as PFCs or PFASs, in the drinking water of 15 million Americans in 27 states, and from more than four dozen industrial and military sources nationwide.
“Americans should be outraged,” said David Andrews, Ph.D., a senior scientist at EWG. “As we uncover the pervasive pollution of drinking water, the chemical companies have already shifted production to a similar set of chemicals that are likely no better. Federal agencies have known for decades that this entire family of chemicals is toxic and they haven't passed drinking water regulations. These chemicals do not break down in the environment and the amount of PFCs in your blood could be 100 times higher than the level of the chemical detected in your drinking water.”
Bottled water isn't a great option either. Plastic bottles contains phthalates or bisphenol A (BPA) which are toxic petrochemicals. Based on how these bottles have been transported and stored (and for how long), they could also be leaching contaminants right back into the water. Purchasing bottled water also puts a huge dent in your wallet, and a huge burden on our environment.