One in four Americans drink water that fails safety standards.
How safe is your drinking water?
A new report from the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) looked at 2015 drinking water data from across the United States and found that of the nation’s 52,000 community drinking water systems, a third reported violations of the of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA).
These systems quench the thirst of 77 million, or one-fourth of the American population, according to the NRDC.
“Drinking water systems that serve fewer than five hundred people account for almost 70 percent of the drinking water violations, and almost 50 percent of all of the health based violations.” Enacted in 1974, the SDWA requires that the EPA identify and regulate drinking water contaminants—which includes any physical, biological, chemical, or radiological substance in the water.
The list, which includes just under 100 contaminants, encompass everything from lead to viruses to uranium.
In the aftermath of Flint, it came to light that at least 33 cities in 17 states had cheated on water tests to mask potential lead contamination.
We know that at least some of these chemicals are making their way into waterways that provide drinking water.
And then there’s the matter of bottled water, which is regulated instead by the FDA.
Apart from the volume of pollution that plastic bottles cause, and the health risks associated with the bottles themselves, bottled water has fewer regulations than tap.