The Issue
Tap Water
Most Americans enjoy high quality drinking water, but contamination by agricultural pesticides and disinfection byproducts is a problem for others. Check out your water supply with EWG’s National Drinking Water Database.
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The Latest on Tap Water
Since 2005, Environmental Working Group (EWG) has been pushing the federal government and municipal water utilities to reduce the levels of fluoride in drinking water to protect children from tooth enamel damage ("dental fluorosis") and other potential health problems. Today those concerns have been heard. The nation's top health official, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has announced plans to lower the agency's maximum recommended fluoride level from 1.2 milligrams per liter of water to 0.7.
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For years, California officials have been working to set the nation's first-ever safety standard for the carcinogenic metal hexavalent chromium (chromium-6), commonly found in the state's drinking water. Last week (Dec. 31), after specifically evaluating the pollutant’s threat to infants, public health officials sharply lowered their proposed “public health goal” to 0.02 parts per billion (ppb) of chromium-6 in drinking water.
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Just two days after the release of Environmental Working Group's (EWG) analysis of chromium-6 (hexavalent chromium) contamination in the drinking water of 31 U.S. cities, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a comprehensive plan to help local water utilities address the problem.
Read MoreBy Rebecca Sutton, PhD, EWG Senior Scientist
Read MoreMillions of Americans are drinking water contaminated with the carcinogenic chemical that came to national attention in the 2000 feature film Erin Brockovich. Laboratory tests commissioned by EWG found hexavalent chromium, or chromium-6, in the drinking water of 31 of 35 selected U.S. cities. Among those with the highest levels were Norman, Okla.; Honolulu; and Riverside, Calif.
Read MoreLaboratory tests commissioned by EWG have detected hexavalent chromium, the carcinogenic “Erin Brockovich chemical,” in tap water from 31 of 35 American cities. The highest levels were in Norman, Okla.; Honolulu, Hawaii; and Riverside, Calif. In all, water samples from 25 cities contained the toxic metal at concentrations above the safe maximum recently proposed by California regulators.
Read MoreEWG comments on EPA’s review of toxicological studies for hexavalent chromium say that there is no need to weaken the conclusions or delay issuing the document.
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Whether it’s from flood, fire or a tornado, there are few more devastating events than losing a home. But it’s hard to equal the shock of having your house suddenly just blow up.
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Companies that drill for natural gas and oil in the United States are skirting federal law and injecting toxic petroleum distillates (think: kerosene, mineral spirits and a number of other petroleum products that often contain high levels of benzene, a known human carcinogen that is toxic in water at minuscule levels) into thousands of wells, threatening drinking water supplies from Pennsylvania to Wyoming.
Read MoreNorth Carolinians could be exposed to much higher concentrations of a notorious Teflon chemical than the rest of the country under a proposed state regulation that would allow unsafe levels of the contaminant in drinking water, scientists at EWG warn.
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Perdue Chicken Chairman Jim Perdue is retaliating against environmentalists -- and their lawyers -- who filed filed suit against the poultry giant and one of its contract chicken farms on March 2 for violations of the Clean Water Act. From The Washington Post: In Maryland, messing with Big Chicken can bring big trouble. The latest case study is playing out in Annapolis, where the state Senate wants to impose greater scrutiny on the University of Maryland's environmental law clinic.
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Here at EWG we talk a lot about water, because we think it should be safe to drink.
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If your family got its water from your own well (and a lot of people do), what would you say to someone who wanted to pump a whole grab-bag of chemicals into the ground nearby, including some that are known to be toxic or to cause cancer? Just guessing here, but I suspect you’d send him on his way with a few choice words.
Read MoreCompanies drilling for natural gas and oil are skirting federal law and injecting toxic petroleum distillates into thousands of wells, threatening drinking water supplies from New York to Wyoming. Federal and state regulators, meanwhile, largely look the other way. The findings are part of a new report by Environmental Working Group titled Drilling Around the Law. (http://www.ewg.org/drillingaroundthelaw)
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As the saying goes, another one bites the dust. Another year, that is. But before we leave 2009 behind for good - which many of us would happily do - let's take a quick look back at the 10 most popular Enviroblog posts of the year. It's a (web)log, after all, of what's newsworthy in toxics, a chronicle of what was on our minds, and yours.
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EWG staffers put our heads together to come up with this list of bad news environmental stories of the last decade that people might have missed. But there were plenty of big stories that hardly anyone could have missed, such as climate change. What's on your list of the biggest environmental stories of the last 10 years?
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Special to Enviroblog by Bonnie Raitt & Erin Brockovich. You know I like giving people something to talk about. Erin's the same way. Some might call us rabble-rousers, but we're just speaking up about the things that matter -- like making our planet greener and the products we use safer.
Read MoreIn an unprecedented analysis of 20 million drinking water quality tests performed by water utilities between 2004 and 2009, EWG found that water suppliers had detected a total of 316 contaminants in water delivered to the public. The pollutants detected included 202 chemicals that have no mandatory safety standards for tap water, which were found in water supplied to approximately 132 million people in 9,454 communities across the country. These unregulated chemicals include the weed killer metolachlor.
Read MoreWhen people ask what kind of water filter to use for their tapwater, we reply, "It depends on what contaminants are present in your tap water, since different filters are effective at removing different contaminants."
Read MoreTap water in many large metropolitan areas is polluted with a cocktail of chemical contaminants. These pollutants usually don't violate any legal standards, but they often come in potentially toxic combinations that raise serious questions about the long-term safety of drinking the water. Pensacola, Fla.; Riverside, Calif.; and Las Vegas top the list of major cities with the most contaminated tap water.
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