Cancer-Causing Pollutants Found In Bucks County Drinking Water, Study Shows

While water comes out of your sink or shower may look clean, a new report released Wednesday might suggest otherwise. The report, prepared by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), tracked 107 contaminants across the state's fresh water supply.

In Pennsylvania, ten of the contaminants were detected above health limits, and five contaminants were measured above legal limits. The contaminants were linked to cancer, developmental issues in children, problems in pregnancy and other serious conditions.

But how did Bucks County water providers fare?

Many of the county's largest providers were found to have numerous pollutants at unsafe levels in the water, according to the study. Those pollutants include arsenic, chloroform, chromium, perfluorinated chemicals, radiological contaminants and more.

Here's a look at some of the area's largest providers, and how many contaminates were found by EWG to be in the water above health guidelines:

• Lower Bucks County Joint Municipal Authority, 2
• Aqua Pa Bensalem, 2
• Falls Twp Water & Sewer Dept, 2
• Aqua Pa Bristol, 4
• Doylestown Borough Water Department, 4
• Bcwsa New Hope, 5
• Bcwsa Main Lower South, 5
• Pennsylvania American Water Company Yardley, 6
• Bcwsa Solebury, 6
• Northampton Bucks County Municipal Authority, 6
• Newtown Artesian Water Company, 7
• Warminster Municipal Authority, 9
• Perkasie Regional Authority, 9
• Warrington Twp Water & Sewer Dept, 10

(Don't see your town listed? You can see how your local supply fares by clicking here and entering your zip code to find your water provider.)

“There are chemicals that have been linked to cancer, for example, that are found above health-based limits, or health guidelines, in the water of more than 250 million Americans,” said Nneka Leiba, director of Healthy Living Science at the Environmental Working Group, or EWG, an independent nonprofit organization that released a detailed account of the contaminants.

EWG, in conjunction with outside scientists, assessed health-based guidelines for hundreds of chemicals found in our water across the country and compared them to the legal limits. The law often permits utilities to allow these dangerous chemicals to pollute our waters.

“There are more than 250 contaminants across our nation’s drinking water,” said Leiba. “About 160 of those are unregulated. And that’s a big concern, because if a chemical is unregulated, that means it can be present in our water at any level — and be legal.” Most of the water in the United States comes from local utilities that measure contaminants in their water supply, but this data can be difficult to obtain.

Contaminants in your water: EWG has released a public database cataloguing contaminants in water systems in every state in the country — the first comprehensive database of its kind that took two years to build. First select the state where you live, and you'll see state-level data. For more local information, enter your zip code. After you enter your zip code, you'll be directed to a page showing the water utilities in your county. Select your town to see which contaminants put your families at risk. No single group has collected all this information for all 50 states in an easily searchable database — until now. And it’s incredibly easy to use it to see what contaminants are coming through your faucet.