Analysis shows Hispanic communities are disproportionately exposed More than 5.6 million Americans are potentially exposed to nitrate in drinking water at levels that could cause health problems, according to a new study.
In this first analysis of its kind, researchers found that water systems with higher nitrate levels also tend to serve communities with higher proportions of Hispanic residents.
"Because at the end of the day, everyone should have access to clean and safe drinking water regardless of your race or where you live."
Nitrate is a drinking water contaminant that can originate from multiple sources including fertilizers, sewage treatment systems, and animal manure.
Using information obtained from state agencies and online databases, Schaider and her colleagues at Silent Spring Institute and Environmental Working Group (EWG) compiled nitrate data for 39,466 public water systems serving more than 70 percent of the U.S. population.
That level is set in order to protect infants from a potentially fatal condition known as "blue baby syndrome," a decrease in the ability of blood to carry oxygen around the body.
"Nitrate is also a good marker for the presence of other contaminants in drinking water," says Schaider.
They also looked at agricultural data including the percent of land used for growing crops and the amount of livestock, since agriculture is a major source of nitrate pollution.
In other words, despite the fact that a large percentage of farmworkers are Hispanic, living in an area with lots of farms is not the only underlying factor, suggesting that other influences are contributing to higher exposures as well.
Living close to other sources of nitrate pollution such as a sewage treatment plant is one potential risk factor, she says.

Last month, New York state’s Drinking Water Quality Council (DWQC) took a positive first step toward ensuring New Yorkers have access to safe, clean drinking water.
But there is still work to be done.
While the Council’s recommendations for legally enforceable limits on toxic chemicals in state water systems are the most protective in the country, they still allow potentially unsafe levels of dangerous, carcinogenic substances in our drinking water.
And the DWQC recommendations are just that; suggestions that must be approved by Health Commissioner Howard Zucker before they become law.
Communities across New York and the entire United States have been facing a water contamination crisis for years; researchers say as many as 15 million Americans are living with unsafe drinking water.
As an attorney representing residents in Hoosick Falls and Petersburgh, I’ve seen firsthand how this public health crisis can impact residents and communities.
Hardworking families who now live next to Superfund sites must now worry about their home values, maintain water filters on their drinking wells, and confront the reality that their bodies now contain PFAS chemicals.
The amount of PFOA in these local water systems far exceeds safety levels recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency, which has taken little to no action to address the issue.
Thankfully, state regulators in Vermont, New Jersey and now New York have stepped up and established maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) for toxic chemicals in local drinking water.
While there is no safe level for these toxic chemicals in our drinking water systems, New York’s MCL recommendations of 10 parts per trillion for PFOA and PFOS would be the lowest in the nation.

POTTERVILLE – A single water sample taken from a faucet inside the community clubhouse at a housing community where three families claim water and air contamination made them sick tested negative for coliform, bacteria found in feces.
The sample was taken Wednesday by Potterville city officials, a week after three families filed a lawsuit claiming Independence Commons supplied unsafe drinking water and that neither Home First, the company that owns Independence Commons, or the city addressed their concerns.
The faucet was cleaned before the test was taken, he said, and the results indicate the water is not contaminated with bacteria, he said Asked why only one test was conducted, Joseph said, "It was a representative site, and it was a site we had access to.
Before the test result was released late Thursday, Kara Weisman, an attorney representing the families filed the lawsuit, said she was glad the testing was being done quickly.
But Jordan Vahdat, who also represents the three familes, said the city’s test result from one water sample at one site is not enough to address the concerns of residents who live there.
Vahdat said his firm has "multiple tests" of water samples that were collected on Independence Commons’ property that indicate the drinking water was contaminated with coliform.
Vahdat said more than a dozen people have contacted his office with their own health concerns regarding Independence Commons, and he believes more plaintiffs will be added to the lawsuit.
See related stories: Documents obtained by the State Journal show the city’s water tested negative for coliform in each of the previous four years, but it’s unclear if the water within Independence Common’s own distribution system was being monitored over the last two decades.
Boyce said he doesn’t know if Independence Commons has conducted its own water tests on the property.
Wood said his children, ages 3 and 5, have had persistent coughs and runny noses during the time that they’ve lived at Independence Commons.

Communities in Bagaces show their concern for arsenic in their water on social media and during visits from the Voice of Guanacaste despite efforts by Costa Rica’s Aqueducts and Sewers Institute (AyA) to keep it below maximum levels.
She agrees that water has been their main concern for years.
“We’ve been drinking water our whole lives without knowing exactly what’s in it.” In Quintas don Miguel, in downtown Bagaces, Eliécer González has the main concern.
While there is a plant here that removes arsenic from water, residents don’t trust that the filter works properly.
In 2017 it warned state institutions in charge of providing water that they should provide more information to communities so they have more clarity.
“People are still uncertain.” The concerns aren’t in vain.
That’s why AyA says it keeps a monthly registry of arsenic levels in aqueducts like Falconiana (which supplies Bagatzi) and Quintas don Miguel.
This is lacking in Bagatzí and Quintas Don Miguel because, according to the institution, residents haven’t requested it.
“Sometimes we call AyA’s office in Bagaces to ask why there is no water, but no one answers,” says Maricela Boniche.
This new aqueduct will substitute the source of drinking water for residents in communities affected by arsenic.

The first nationwide investigation of potential socioeconomic disparities in nitrate concentrations in US drinking water is reported in the open access journal Environmental Health.
The majority of average nitrate concentrations were below 1 mg/L, the level at which nitrate occurs naturally in aquatic systems.
Dr Laurel Schaider, lead author of the study said: "We hypothesized that Hispanic Americans might have higher nitrate in their drinking water because many US farmworkers are Hispanic, and agriculture is a major source of nitrate pollution.
These results suggest that there may be additional reasons why Hispanic residents in the US have higher nitrate in their drinking water."
The authors suggest that previous evidence of possible health effects associated with nitrate concentrations of 5 mg/L and above in drinking water raises concerns for the 5.6 million Americans served by public water supplies with average nitrate concentrations above this level.
Research article: Environmental justice and drinking water quality: are there socioeconomic disparities in nitrate levels in U.S. drinking water?
Schaider et al. Environmental Health 2019 DOI: 10.1186/s12940-018-0442-6 For an embargoed copy of the research article please contact Anne Korn at BMC.
Environmental Health is a public health journal serving the public health community and scientists working on matters of public health interest and importance pertaining to the environment.
A pioneer of open access publishing, BMC has an evolving portfolio of high quality peer-reviewed journals including broad interest titles such as BMC Biology and BMC Medicine, specialist journals such as Malaria Journal and Microbiome, and the BMC series.
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In the face of the department of water and sanitation’s failure to properly manage the country’s water resources, two civil society organisations have teamed up to have an independent regulator for water established.
Read: The Guptas, Steinhoff and the Cape Town water crisis After that they envisage a legislative process to establish the independent water regulator, akin to the National Energy Regulator (Nersa) Act for regulating electricity.
The pollution of the Vaal River by untreated sewage discharge is well documented and is currently being investigated by the Human Rights Commission.
Water pricing is unregulated and often fails to bear any relation to the cost structures.
Read: After Cape Town, more African cities face water crisis Notla says an independent regulator would be in a position to remove politics from water management and address these gaps.
Investment needed According to WSSA CEO Benoit Le Roy, South Africa needs R1 trillion of investment in water infrastructure.
Private sector investors are however unwilling to put their money in an industry where regulatory and policy uncertainty is rampant and pricing unpredictable.
In fact, 63% of the country’s water is used for food production.
Outa and WSSA say the funding of the regulator will be determined at a later stage, but it could be through a small levy and topped up by the fiscus.
The steering committee is led by Ntola and Le Roy, with the additional members being Professor Anthony Turton from the University of the Free State Centre for Environmental Management, specialist water consultant and engineer Helgard Muller and mine water specialist William Pulles.

The authors found that 99% of community water systems (CWSs) in the United States do not exceed the maximum contaminant level for nitrate specified by the Environmental Protection Agency (10 milligrams per liter).
Hispanic residents more often lived in areas serviced by CWSs that had average nitrate concentrations of 5 mg/L or above.
Dr. Laurel Schaider, lead author of the study said: "We hypothesized that Hispanic Americans might have higher nitrate in their drinking water because many US farmworkers are Hispanic, and agriculture is a major source of nitrate pollution.
However, we saw these associations even after we adjusted our statistical model to take into account agricultural land use.
These results suggest that there may be additional reasons why Hispanic residents in the US have higher nitrate in their drinking water."
Dr. Schaider added: "Our findings suggest that programs intended to help low-income and small public water supplies may not be adequately assisting communities with higher proportions of Hispanic residents, who are more likely to live in areas with high nitrate and thus may be at greater risk of the associated harmful health effects."
Systems relying on groundwater had higher nitrate concentrations compared to systems relying on surface water and were more likely to have high levels of nitrate.
In order to gain a better understanding of nitrate exposure and whether it may be associated with specific demographic factors, the authors compiled nitrate data on 616,591 samples collected from 39,466 CWSs across the United States between 2010 and 2014.
The authors suggest that previous evidence of possible health effects associated with nitrate concentrations of 5 mg/L and above in drinking water raises concerns for the 5.6 million Americans served by public water supplies with average nitrate concentrations above this level.
More information: Laurel A. Schaider et al, Environmental justice and drinking water quality: are there socioeconomic disparities in nitrate levels in U.S. drinking water?, Environmental Health (2019).

There were 30 wells that tested positive for trichloroethylene (TCE) but were within the maximum contamination level (MCL).
His well was tested by the DNR.
"They came out on Nov. 19," Kennell says.
Kennell was notified by the DNR, his well tested positive for TCE.
However, the levels were below the MCL.
They also had their well tested.
Hansen says he is thankful Fantastic Caverns made the community aware of this problem in Nov. High levels of TCE were found in parts of the cave.
The DNR has been working with the former Litton facility on Kearney St. since 1979.
From 2004-2005 they tested 70 wells in the area for TCE.
14 wells tested positive for TCE then but only one had levels higher than the MCL.

Seventeen days later, Slate Falls was back under a drinking water advisory.
Today, Slate Falls is under a new drinking water advisory that’s been in place since Aug. 29.
But Slate Falls isn’t the only First Nation to rescind its long-term advisory, only to have a new advisory issued within weeks or months.
In Slate Falls, the 14-year-old drinking water advisories were actually lifted on Feb. 5, 2018, a month before Philpott visited the community for the opening ceremony.
Indigenous Services said it has provided $325,000 to Sachigo Lake for water system maintenance, including the truck haul system.
Webequie First Nation, which had its long-term advisory lifted four days after Sachigo Lake’s, has also been under an advisory since October.
The First Nation has two reserves, each with its own water treatment plant.
Indigenous Services says that was caused by an equipment failure, but was extended because of “irregular water quality monitoring by the community.” But Chief David Masakeyash said there have been no major repairs to the older treatment plant for years, and some of the equipment is rusting.
“It just can’t go on like this.” Masakeyash said even brief power failures can cause problems, because if the plants are down for even a few hours, they can end up with an advisory in place for a couple of weeks while they test the water and wait for results.
And the government maintains it will lift all long-term advisories on reserves by March 2021.

(WSAW) — New efforts in the state legislature are looking to help people facing contaminated groundwater throughout Wisconsin.
A local group is hoping to push those efforts even further, ensuring state leaders know it is a life-threatening problem in the central sands area.
More and more people with private wells are learning they have to rely on bottled water to cook, brush their teeth with, and, of course, drink because their only source of water is contaminated by nitrates.
It is becoming a crisis in several areas around the state, but people in Portage, Wood, Juneau, and Adams counties are working to ensure lawmakers know it is chronic for them.
At that time, he along with all Assembly republicans wrote a letter to Gov.
One of those places was clean water.
"That’s kind of what set me off," said Bill Leichtnam, a member of the group Protect Wood County.
The farm group is currently being sued after research about contaminated private wells in Juneau and Wood counties pointed blame to its other large farms.
"I think it will help us have a serious conversation in the legislature about protecting access to clean water for everyone in the future and preventing well contamination, but we also need to give immediate relief to people in rural Wisconsin and homeowners with private contaminated wells," she said.
Expanded testing is already scheduled to happen in what’s being called the "Ag Corridor" in Wood and Juneau counties, an expanded area where additional contamination could have occurred that has not already been tested.