EWG Investigation | U.S. Tap Water Quality Database

Health Limit Exceeded
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Legal Limit
• EPA set legal limit which balances health concerns and treatment costs

Tier 3 Control - past mining and drilling
• Closed or abandoned mines/plans/notices
• Mineral rich land that has been titled to mining interests (mining patents)
• Formerly drilled and pumped oil & gas Leases

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EWG Statement, 03/10/2008

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NATIONAL SUMMARY

Quality Varies Across the U.S.

CONTAMINANTS DATABASE

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Tap Water Quality Report
The State of Alaska
498 Water Systems
Serving 473,340 People

An Environmental Working Group analysis of tap water tests from 1998 through 2003 for 498 communities across Alaska shows 75 pollutants were found in drinking water across the state.

Pollution Summary

75	Total Contaminants Detected (1998 - 2003)
11	Agricultural Pollutants (pesticides, fertilizer, factory farms) Nitrate & nitrite, Nitrate, Nitrite, Sulfate, Thallium (total), Paraquat, 2,4-D, Bromomethane, Foaming agents (surfactants), m-Dichlorobenzene, Ethylbenzene
20	Sprawl and Urban Pollutants (road runoff, lawn pesticides, human waste) Arsenic (total), Cadmium (total), Copper, Lead (total), Mercury (total inorganic), Nitrate & nitrite, Nitrate, Nitrite, Antimony (total), Paraquat, Trichlorofluoromethane, Naphthalene, MTBE, tert-Butylbenzene, sec-Butylbenzene, Xylenes (total), Tetrachloroethylene, Benzene, Bromobenzene, n-Propylbenzene
60	Industrial Pollutants Aluminum, Arsenic (total), Barium (total), Cadmium (total), Chromium (total), Cyanide, Lead (total), Manganese, Mercury (total inorganic), Nitrate & nitrite, Nitrate, Nitrite, Selenium (total), Sulfate, Antimony (total), Beryllium (total), Thallium (total), p-Isopropyltoluene, Chloromethane, Dichlorodifluoromethane, Bromomethane, Chloroethane, Trichlorofluoromethane, Hexachlorobutadiene, Naphthalene, MTBE, 1,2,4-Trichlorobenzene, 1,2,4-Trimethylbenzene, 1,2,3-Trichlorobenzene, 1,3,5-Trimethylbenzene, tert-Butylbenzene, sec-Butylbenzene, Bromochloromethane, Foaming agents (surfactants), Xylenes (total), Dichloromethane (methylene chloride), o-Chlorotoluene, p-Chlorotoluene, m-Dichlorobenzene, o-Dichlorobenzene, p-Dichlorobenzene, 1,1-Dichloroethane, trans-1,2-Dichloroethylene, 1,2-Dichloroethane, 1,1,1-Trichloroethane, Carbon tetrachloride, 1,2-Dichloropropane, Trichloroethylene, 1,1,2-Trichloroethane, Tetrachloroethylene, 1,1,2,2-Tetrachloroethane, Monochlorobenzene (Chlorobenzene), Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene, Bromobenzene, Isopropylbenzene, Styrene, n-Propylbenzene, Alpha particle activity (excl radon and uranium)
16	Water Treatment and Distribution Byproducts (pipes and fixtures, treatment chemicals and byproducts) Cadmium (total), Asbestos, Chloromethane, Dibromomethane, Bromochloromethane, Monochloroacetic acid, Dichloroacetic acid, Trichloroacetic acid, Bromochloroacetic acid, Total haloacetic acids, Chloroform, Bromoform, Bromodichloromethane, Dibromochloromethane, Total trihalomethanes (TTHMs), m-Dichlorobenzene
14	Naturally Occurring (naturally present but increased for lands denuded by sprawl, agriculture, or industrial development) Aluminum, Arsenic (total), Chromium (total), Copper, Lead (total), Manganese, Mercury (total inorganic), Nitrate & nitrite, Nitrate, Nitrite, Selenium (total), Sulfate, Chloromethane, Alpha particle activity (excl radon and uranium)
26	Unregulated Contaminants EPA has not established a maximum legal limit in tapwater for these contaminants Paraquat, p-Isopropyltoluene, Chloromethane, Dichlorodifluoromethane, Bromomethane, Chloroethane, Trichlorofluoromethane, Hexachlorobutadiene, Naphthalene, MTBE, Dibromomethane, 1,2,4-Trimethylbenzene, 1,2,3-Trichlorobenzene, 1,3,5-Trimethylbenzene, tert-Butylbenzene, sec-Butylbenzene, Bromochloromethane, Bromochloroacetic acid, o-Chlorotoluene, p-Chlorotoluene, m-Dichlorobenzene, 1,1-Dichloroethane, 1,1,2,2-Tetrachloroethane, Bromobenzene, Isopropylbenzene, n-Propylbenzene

75 26
11 2
20 7
60 19
16 8
14 5
Total pollutants Agricultural pollutants Sprawl and Urban pollutants Industrial pollutants Water Treatment and Distribution Byproducts Naturally occurring pollutants
Number of pollutants detected (1998 - 2003) Over health based limits

NOTE: Health based limits included in this analysis include enforceable drinking water limits (called Maximum Contaminant Limits, or MCLs) as well as governmental, non-enforceable health guidelines, such as Maximum Contaminant Limit Goals (MCLGs), lifetime health advisory levels, one-day and ten-day advisory levels to protect children from non-cancer health endpoints, and other government-established health guidelines for tap water contaminants.

Health Summary

The federal government has set standards for 80 chemical pollutants in tap water, balancing health concerns and treatment costs.

Contaminants found in state tap water (1998-2003): 75

Total population exposed above health-based limits: 407,213

Communities served water with contaminants above health-based limits: 295

Health effects or target organs of contaminants found: Cardiovascular or Blood Toxicity, Cancer, Developmental Toxicity, Endocrine Toxicity, Immunotoxicity, Kidney Toxicity, Gastrointestinal or Liver Toxicity, Neurotoxicity, Reproductive Toxicity, Respiratory Toxicity, and Skin Sensitivity.

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Contaminants found above health based limits: 26

Rank Contaminant Name Population Exposed (of 473,340 Total) Number of Water Systems (of 498) Total
At Any Level Above Health Limits
See Note With Detected Above Health Limits
See Note
1 Nitrate 348,513 184 311 1
Chemical that enters water from fertilizer runoff, leaching septic tanks, and erosion of natural deposits
2 Barium (total) 358,629 267 222 2
Mineral from drilling and mining waste runoff; erosion of natrual deposits
3 Chloroform 394,233 178,153 198 101
Disinfection by-product
4 Total trihalomethanes (TTHMs) 394,400 185,446 197 121
Measure of four disinfection by-products
5 Bromodichloromethane 384,087 161,908 174 127
Disinfection by-product
6 Arsenic (total) 246,846 246,846 155 155
Metal that enters water by erosion of natural deposits, runoff from glass and electronics processing
7 Dibromochloromethane 139,772 56,629 107 63
Disinfection by-product
8 Bromoform 46,817 1,764 60 6
Disinfection by-product
9 Dichloromethane (methylene chloride) 165,506 75 38 1
Pollutant from drug and industrial chemical factories
10 Thallium (total) 173,415 37,241 38 33
Widely used as a rodenticide and ant killer; home use has been banned; used for speciality glass manufacture

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Testing Summary

The federal government has set standards for some of the pollutants found in tap water supplies.

Contaminants reported as tested by water suppliers in Alaska 165

Contaminants tested due to federal law: 84

Contaminants tested in addition to those required by federal law: 81

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Violations Summary

According to EPA, in 2003 6% of America's public water systems reported one or more violations of a health-based drinking water standard, and 26% reported significant violations of either monitoring and reporting requirements or health-based standards.

Reported violations (1998 - 2003): 9,359

Number of AK systems with violations: 429 (86.1%)

[View Details]

Information on violations is drawn directly from EPA's national violations database in the Agency's Safe Drinking Water Information System. Analyses by others have raised questions about the quality of the information in EPA's database. For the purposes of this investigation, EWG is not showing below or including in our analyses, those violations for individual water suppliers that occurred on days for which the total number of violations assigned by EPA to that water supplier was greater than 20. This criteria was based on common characteristics of incorrect violations data as identified by water utilities, from a review of EPA's violations data by several hundred utilities prior to the release of EWG's investigation.