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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 Wisconsin 1,089 Water Systems Serving 3,843,915 People

An Environmental Working Group analysis of tap water tests from 1998 through 2003 for 1,089 communities across Wisconsin shows 118 pollutants were found in drinking water across the state.

Pollution Summary

118 60	44 16	23 15	67 38	19 14	23 19
Total pollutants	Agricultural pollutants	Sprawl and Urban pollutants	Industrial pollutants	Water Treatment and Distribution Byproducts	Naturally occurring pollutants
Number of pollutants detected (1998 - 2002)			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): 118

Total population exposed above health-based limits: 3,575,284

Communities served water with contaminants above health-based limits: 915

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

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Contaminants found above health based limits: 60

Rank	Contaminant Name	Population Exposed (of 3,843,915 Total)		Number of Water Systems (of 1,089) Total
		At Any Level	Above Health Limits See Note	With Detected	Above Health Limits See Note
1	Copper	3,764,611	1,104,399	1038	400
		contaminant that enters water by corrosion of household plumbing systems; erosion of natural deposits
2	Lead (total)	3,752,821	2,455,500	992	514
		Metal that enters water by corrosion of household plumbing systems; industrial pollutant; erosion of natural deposits
3	Barium (total)	3,406,289	15,774	966	9
		Mineral from drilling and mining waste runoff; erosion of natrual deposits
4	Alpha particle activity	2,461,120	271,300	881	42
		From mining waste polluants and natural sources
5	Manganese	2,763,505	353,463	722	154
		element from natural deposits as well as industrial use
6	Nitrate	2,703,025	17,030	692	16
		Chemical that enters water from fertilizer runoff, leaching septic tanks, and erosion of natural deposits
7	Gross beta particle activity (pCi/L)	2,004,472	0	681	0
		Mainly pollutants from nuclear testing and industrial and medical instruments
8	Arsenic (total)	1,662,062	1,662,062	405	405
		Metal that enters water by erosion of natural deposits, runoff from glass and electronics processing
9	Chromium (total)	2,203,745	2,842	355	1
		Discharge from steel and pulp mills; erosion of natural deposits
10	Combined Radium (-226 & -228)	1,874,571	243,596	275	38
		Radioactive element usually found around uranium deposits

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 Wisconsin		157
	Contaminants tested due to federal law:	90
	Contaminants tested in addition to those required by federal law:	67

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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): 3,168

Number of WI systems with violations: 792 (72.7%)

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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.