EWG INVESTIGATION

Findings

About The Data

News Release

EWG Statement, 03/10/2008

Related News Clips

WHAT'S IN YOUR WATER?

Find Your Water Company

NATIONAL SUMMARY

Quality Varies Across the U.S.

CONTAMINANTS DATABASE

Find a Contaminant

Credits

Sign up to receive email updates from EWG

Status: Unregulated - EPA has not established a maximum legal limit in tapwater for this contaminant.

Diuron is an herbicide used on railroad rights-of-way, cotton, citrus crops, fruits and nuts, and other crops. Potential health impacts associated with Diuron include cancer, cardiovascular or blood toxicity, and developmental toxicity.

Sources of Diuron:

Agriculture (pesticides, fertilizer, factory farms)

An Environmental Working Group analysis of Diuron tests reported by 484 public water suppliers in 2 states shows that between 1998 and 2003, 715 thousand people in 8 communities drank water contaminated with Diuron. Diuron remains unregulated in tap water, without a maximum legal limit.

Exposure Summary

715,038 People drinking water contaminated with Diuron 8 Communities served water contaminated with Diuron

Table. Diuron Exposure by State

715 thousand Americans in 1 states were served tap water contaminated with Diuron between 1998 and 2003.

State	Water suppliers with Diuron contamination
	Systems	Population
California	8	715,038
Total	8	715,038

Table. The most polluted communities

715,000 Americans in 8 communities were served tap water contaminated with Diuron between 1998 and 2003

Ranked by highest average Diuron level

Rank	System	Population Served	Positive test results of total reported tests	Average Level (Range)
1	Travis Air Force Base Water Plant - Vall Vallejo, CA	3	1 of 2	1.8 ppb (0 to 3.6 ppb)
2	Elsinore Valley Municiple Water District Lake Elsinore, CA	95,040	1 of 9	0.64 ppb (0 to 5.8 ppb)
3	City of Napa Water Napa, CA	70,600	1 of 11	0.33 ppb (0 to 3.6 ppb)
4	City of Vallejo Vallejo, CA	130,308	2 of 19	0.32 ppb (0 to 3.6 ppb)
5	City of American Canyon Water American Canyon, CA	9,612	1 of 12	0.3 ppb (0 to 3.6 ppb)
6	City of Anaheim Anaheim, CA	333,000	3 of 23	0.25 ppb (0 to 2.1 ppb)
7	City of Benicia Water Benicia, CA	28,000	1 of 15	0.24 ppb (0 to 3.6 ppb)
8	Jurupa Community Sd Mira Loma, CA	48,475	1 of 9	0.23 ppb (0 to 2.1 ppb)

Health based limits for Diuron

Health Limit	Limit Value	Limit Description
Children's health-based limit for 1-day exposure	1000 ppb	Concentration of a chemical in drinking water that is not expected to cause any adverse, noncarcinogenic health effects for up to one day of exposure. The One-Day health-based limit (or Health Advisory, HA) is typically set to protect a 10-kg child consuming 1 liter of water per day. Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Children's health-based limit for 10-day exposure	1000 ppb	Concentration of a chemical in drinking water that is not expected to cause any adverse, noncarcinogenic effects for up to ten days of exposure. The Ten-Day health-based limit (or Health Advisory, HA) is typically set to protect a 10-kg child consuming 1 liter of water per day. Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Lifetime health-based limit, non-cancer risk	10 ppb	Concentration of a chemical in drinking water that is not expected to cause any adverse, noncarcinogenic health effects for a lifetime of exposure. The Lifetime health-based limit (or Health Advisory, HA) is based on exposure for a a 70-kg adult consuming 2 liters of water per day. Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Drinking Water Equivalent Level	70 ppb	A lifetime exposure concentration protective of adverse, noncarcinogenic health effects, that assumes all of the exposure to a contaminant is from drinking water. Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Testing Summary for Diuron

Water suppliers report an average of 0.6 Diuron tests per year. 39,267 water suppliers failed to report any Diuron tests at all.

Are tests routinely required for Diuron by federal law? No Water suppliers reporting tests for Diuron (1998-2003): 484 of 39,751 Average testing rate for water supplier reporting tests (1998-2003): 0.6 per year

Diuron Violations

Because Diuron is unregulated in tap water, no violations are recorded in EPA's violations database, the Safe Drinking Water Information System. Under the federal tap water law, water suppliers are not required to routinely test for Diuron, and any level is legal in tap water.