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.

Dichloroacetonitrile is an unregulated by-product of tap water disinfection. Potential health impacts associated with Dichloroacetonitrile include neurotoxicity and respiratory toxicity.

Sources of Dichloroacetonitrile:

Water Treatment and Distribution Byproducts (pipes and fixtures, treatment chemicals and byproducts)

An Environmental Working Group analysis of Dichloroacetonitrile tests reported by 3,938 public water suppliers in 1 states shows that between 1998 and 2003, 340 thousand people in 97 communities drank water contaminated with Dichloroacetonitrile. No health-based limit has been established by the federal government.Dichloroacetonitrile remains unregulated in tap water, without a maximum legal limit.

Exposure Summary

339,946 People drinking water contaminated with Dichloroacetonitrile 97 Communities served water contaminated with Dichloroacetonitrile

Table. Dichloroacetonitrile Exposure by State

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

State	Water suppliers with Dichloroacetonitrile contamination
	Systems	Population
Texas	97	339,946
Total	97	339,946

Table. The most polluted communities

340,000 Americans in 97 communities were served tap water contaminated with Dichloroacetonitrile between 1998 and 2003

Ranked by highest average Dichloroacetonitrile level

Rank	System	Population Served	Positive test results of total reported tests	Average Level (Range)
1	Jacobs Water Supply Commission Plant 3 Henderson, TX	657	1 of 1	2.8 ppb (2.8 to 2.8 ppb)
2	Little Oak Forest Subdivision Houston, TX	30	1 of 1	1.7 ppb (1.7 to 1.7 ppb)
3	City of Granite Shoals Granite Shoals, TX	2,040	2 of 2	1.5 ppb (1.3 to 1.7 ppb)
4	City of Graford Graford, TX	530	2 of 4	1.28 ppb (0 to 3 ppb)
5	International Paper Co Texarkana, TX	1,001	4 of 8	1.2 ppb (0 to 3.8 ppb)
6	Riverside Harbor Ll Livingston, TX	384	2 of 5	0.84 ppb (0 to 2.1 ppb)
7	Pleasant Hill Water Supply Commission New London, TX	675	3 of 5	0.82 ppb (0 to 1.5 ppb)
8	City of Kemp Kemp, TX	2,403	3 of 8	0.78 ppb (0 to 2.6 ppb)
9	City of Lyford Lyford, TX	2,172	4 of 9	0.72 ppb (0 to 2.3 ppb)
10	Crystal Farms Water Supply Commission Tatum, TX	822	1 of 2	0.7 ppb (0 to 1.4 ppb)

  Next -->

Testing Summary for Dichloroacetonitrile

Water suppliers report an average of 0.6 Dichloroacetonitrile tests per year. 35,813 water suppliers failed to report any Dichloroacetonitrile tests at all.

Are tests routinely required for Dichloroacetonitrile by federal law? No Water suppliers reporting tests for Dichloroacetonitrile (1998-2003): 3,938 of 39,751 Average testing rate for water supplier reporting tests (1998-2003): 0.6 per year

Dichloroacetonitrile Violations

Because Dichloroacetonitrile 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 Dichloroacetonitrile, and any level is legal in tap water.