PA Drinking Water: New Study Sheds Disturbing Light On Its Safety

Only two states had more people drinking water that broke federal rules protecting consumers from cancer-causing chemicals and illness-inducing viruses than Pennsylvania, according to a new report by the Natural Resources Defense Council .

About 5.6 million people in Pennsylvania were drinking water in 2015 from suppliers that had violated the Safe Drinking Water Act, or SDWA, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council report. (See map below).

That was the same year that a drinking water crisis in Flint, Michigan, prompted a national outcry because of the predominance of lead that made thousands of people sick. Michigan wasn't even in the top five of states with drinking water systems violating the SDWA.

You can view the full report here.

The Natural Resources Defense Council, a nonprofit group of 500 scientists, lawyers, and policy advocates charged with protecting the environment, said the report shows how federal enforcement of water safety rules are "short."

"These requirements are meant to protect us from serious health impacts—cholera outbreaks, lead poisoning, and even cancer," the report said. "But the EPA and the states have been falling short."

By population served, the top five SDWA rules violated by community water systems in 2015 were those addressing:

1. disinfectants and disinfection byproducts
2. lead and copper
3. total coliform
4. surface water and ground water quality (i.e., pathogens)
5. the “consumer confidence” rule, which seeks to ensure the public’s right to know about possible violations by requiring annual water quality reports to be provided to consumers.

In 2015, violations were reported in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and other territories covered by the SDWA (including Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands).

When ranked by population served by systems with SDWA violations, the top five states were:

1. Texas (12,066,920 people served)
2. Florida (7,540,465 people served)
3. Pennsylvania (5,645,903 people served)
4. New Jersey (4,487,703 people served)
5. Georgia (3,846,734 people served)

Here is a map of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, which shows the counties that have had the highest number of people served by drinking water systems violating federal safety rules:

SDWA violations generally fall into two categories: health-based violations, and monitoring and reporting violations. Those violations don't necessarily mean the water is unsafe; it means that testing or monitoring wasn't conducted sufficiently, according to the report.

However, the report notes these violations "can mask serious underlying issues such as contamination."

"Without proper monitoring and reporting, it is impossible to determine whether health-based standards have been met," the report said.

You can read the whole report by clicking here

Photos: National Resources Defense Council