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Carcinogens in the Tap Water of More than 200 Million Americans
Is the carcinogen chromium-6 in your tap water?
A new Environmental Working Group analysis of federal data from nationwide drinking water tests, shows that the chromium-6 contaminates water supplies for more than 200 million Americans in all 50 states.
A chemical industry challenge could mean there will be no national regulation anytime soon on chromium-6 in tap water. This is in spite of the fact that in California, chemical state scientists, as well as scientists elsewhere, say that chromium-6 causes cancer when ingested even at very low levels.
On one side are the scientists and advocates who want regulations based strictly on the chemical’s health hazards and on the other side are the industry, political and economic interests, who want more relaxed rules based on the cost and feasibility of cleanup.
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The Environmental Protection Agency’s(EPAs) record, since the 1996 landmark amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act, is not a good one. The EPA has failed to use its authority to set a national tap water safety standard for any previously unregulated chemicals.
The California state scientists set a so-called public health goal of 0.02 parts per billion of chromium 6 in tap water. That level of intake would likely pose a negligible risk over a lifetime of consumption. To put the amount of one part per billion into perspective, it is about a drop of water in an Olympic-size swimming pool.
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A 2010 EWG investigation, found chromium-6 in the tap water of 31 cities. A Senate hearing was prompted by those findings. The EPA then ordered local water utilities to begin the first nationwide tests for chromium-6, which is still a unregulated contaminant. From 2013 to 2015, utilities took more than 60,000 samples of drinking water and found significant levels of chromium-6 in more than 75% of the samples tested. The EWG's analysis of the test data estimates that water supplies serving 218 million Americans, more than two-thirds of the population, contain more chromium-6 than the California scientists deemed safe.