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Tap water across the United States is contaminated by toxic chemicals to a much higher degree than previously known, according to a Jan. 22 report by the Environmental Working Group.
“Forever chemicals,” also known as perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAs), are resistant to breaking down and may affect hundreds of millions of Americans. Some of the chemicals classified as PFAs are known to cause cancer, liver damage, low birth weight and other health problems.
More than 100,000 cancer cases in recent times may have been caused by contaminants in tap water, according to the study.
“It’s nearly impossible to avoid contaminated drinking water from these chemicals,” said David Andrews, a senior scientist at EWG and co-author of the report.
The group took tap water samples from 44 places in 31 states, including Miami, Philadelphia, New Orleans, northern New Jersey and New York City suburbs. The highest rate of contamination was found in Brunswick County on the North Carolina coast. Water there was found to have 185.9 parts per trillion, far over the EPA’s current limit of 70 PPT.
Only one location, in Mississippi, had no traceable amounts of the chemicals, and two others had less than one part per trillion, the rate recommended by the Environmental Working Group.
The Environmental Protection Agency has known about the contamination for 19 years, Reuters reported. In 2018, the White House and the EPA tried to suppress a draft report from an office of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that said the risk level for exposure to the chemicals should be up to 10 times lower than the EPA’s 70 PPT threshold, closer to the EWG’s limit.
Coincidentally, the U.S. House passed the PFAs Action Act in January by a 247-159 vote, requiring the EPA to designate all PFAs as hazardous substances within a year. (U.S. Rep. Mark Walker, who represents North Carolina’s 6th District in Congress, did not vote.)
From 1950 through the 1980s, tainted tap water at Camp Lejeune led to birth defects and childhood cancers among the families of Marines stationed there, Traces of two chemicals, one coming from dry cleaning solvent, the other from a degreaser, were present at levels of up to 3,400 times beyond acceptable by government standards.
For decades, the government, both military and civilian, either stonewalled or ignored health complaints. We can’t allow such an obscenity to happen again.
Water is an essential ingredient for good health and life. In the richest country in the history of the world, its cleanliness should be sacred. We urge state officials, as well as our senators and representatives, to look into the matter with all due diligence. Our state’s health and our nation’s health depend on it.
Adapted from a Winston-Salem Journal editorial
This article originally appeared on Times-News: Editorial: Protect nation’s drinking water
