Salem water-quality standards need to keep up with new findings.
Mid-Valley residents learned this week that Salem’s drinking water meets all federal Safe Drinking Water Act standards.
A nonprofit group out of Washington, D.C., the Environmental Working Group, released a national drinking-water database Wednesday that allows users to plug in their ZIP Code and find out what contaminants are in their drinking water.
In Salem, three chemicals met the Environmental Protection Agency’s legal limit, but they far exceeded those considered safe by the nonprofit.
But since 1996, Lunder said, more chemicals have been identified and new technology to detect even more chemicals has been developed.
"We’re frustrated by the lack of action on the EPA’s part to update its list," Lunder said.
It’s relatively inexpensive to monitor chemicals; the problem is the cost of removing them once they’re identified.
Not a single new contaminant has been added to the EPA list in more than two decades Public health is not being protected.
Our water utility should be using the most-recent science to evaluate the public health risk.
To find out what contaminants are in your drinking water