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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 South Carolina 769 Water Systems Serving 3,451,052 People

An Environmental Working Group analysis of tap water tests from 1998 through 2003 for 769 communities across South Carolina shows 52 pollutants were found in drinking water across the state.

Pollution Summary

52 24	12 5	13 6	38 17	10 8	7 2
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): 52

Total population exposed above health-based limits: 2,023,757

Communities served water with contaminants above health-based limits: 181

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: 24

Rank	Contaminant Name	Population Exposed (of 3,451,052 Total)		Number of Water Systems (of 769) Total
		At Any Level	Above Health Limits See Note	With Detected	Above Health Limits See Note
1	Nitrate	2,416,677	1,358	465	4
		Chemical that enters water from fertilizer runoff, leaching septic tanks, and erosion of natural deposits
2	Total trihalomethanes (TTHMs)	2,244,552	1,855,504	196	67
		Measure of four disinfection by-products
3	Chloroform	2,209,273	1,764,436	187	58
		Disinfection by-product
4	Bromodichloromethane	2,146,020	1,916,200	130	80
		Disinfection by-product
5	Dibromochloromethane	2,032,632	1,239,117	111	62
		Disinfection by-product
6	Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate	563,594	204,428	105	46
		Pollutant from rubber and industrial chemical factories; leachate from PVC pipes
7	Bromoform	891,278	2,534	52	1
		Disinfection by-product
8	Cadmium (total)	408,142	21,820	51	29
		Metal from corrosion of galvanized pipes; runoff from metal refineries, waste batteries and paints; erosion of natural deposits
9	Mercury (total inorganic)	492,346	39,600	26	1
		Metal from refinery and factory pollution; coal burning; landfill and agricultural runoff; erosion of natural deposits
10	Tetrachloroethylene	12,953	11,466	14	13
		Pollutant from dry cleaning and various industrial factories

View Full Table

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.

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 South Carolina		121
	Contaminants tested due to federal law:	75
	Contaminants tested in addition to those required by federal law:	46

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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): 1,581

Number of SC systems with violations: 483 (62.8%)

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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.