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.

Bromobenzene is an industrial solvent, an intermediate in chemical manufacturing, a motor oil additive, and a possible by-product of water disinfection. Potential health impacts associated with Bromobenzene include gastrointestinal or liver toxicity and kidney toxicity.

Sources of Bromobenzene:

	Sprawl and Urban Areas (road runoff, lawn pesticides, human waste)
	Industry

An Environmental Working Group analysis of Bromobenzene tests reported by 25,418 public water suppliers in 38 states shows that between 1998 and 2003, 99 thousand people in 16 communities drank water contaminated with Bromobenzene. Bromobenzene remains unregulated in tap water, without a maximum legal limit.

Exposure Summary

99,070 People drinking water contaminated with Bromobenzene 16 Communities served water contaminated with Bromobenzene

Table. Bromobenzene Exposure by State

99 thousand Americans in 9 states were served tap water contaminated with Bromobenzene between 1998 and 2003.

State	Water suppliers with Bromobenzene contamination
	Systems	Population
New Hampshire	2	59,000
Arkansas	3	16,845
Tennessee	1	7,976
Washington	2	6,700
New York	1	4,200
North Carolina	2	2,062
New Jersey	2	997
Colorado	2	650
Alaska	1	640
Total	16	99,070

Table. The most polluted communities

99,000 Americans in 16 communities were served tap water contaminated with Bromobenzene between 1998 and 2003

Ranked by highest average Bromobenzene level

Rank	System	Population Served	Positive test results of total reported tests	Average Level (Range)
1	Portsmouth Water Works Portsmouth, NH	33,000	1 of 1	0.99 ppb (0.99 to 0.99 ppb)
2	City of Dover Water Department Dover, NH	26,000	3 of 3	0.57 ppb (0.5 to 0.68 ppb)
3	Buckner Waterworks Buckner, AR	355	1 of 1	0.51 ppb (0.51 to 0.51 ppb)
4	Gorham Town Water Department Gorham, NY	4,200	1 of 3	0.41 ppb (0 to 1.24 ppb)
5	Crossett Water Commission Crossett, AR	9,600	1 of 1	0.38 ppb (0.38 to 0.38 ppb)
6	Moab Irrigation District #20 Newman Lake, WA	1,700	1 of 2	0.25 ppb (0 to 0.5 ppb)
7	Colville Water Department Colville, WA	5,000	1 of 5	0.18 ppb (0 to 0.9 ppb)
8	Second South Cheatham Utility District Kingston Springs, TN	7,976	1 of 5	0.12 ppb (0 to 0.6 ppb)
9	NJ American W Co Strathmere Upper Twp, NJ	962	1 of 5	0.1 ppb (0 to 0.5 ppb)
10	Town of Oakboro Water Oakboro, NC	1,816	1 of 6	0.09 ppb (0 to 0.56 ppb)

  Next -->

Health based limits for Bromobenzene

Health Limit	Limit Value	Limit Description
Children's health-based limit for 1-day exposure	4000 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	4000 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.

Testing Summary for Bromobenzene

Water suppliers report an average of 0.6 Bromobenzene tests per year. 14,333 water suppliers failed to report any Bromobenzene tests at all.

Are tests routinely required for Bromobenzene by federal law? No Water suppliers reporting tests for Bromobenzene (1998-2003): 25,418 of 39,751 Average testing rate for water supplier reporting tests (1998-2003): 0.6 per year

Bromobenzene Violations

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