30 Tennessee Water Systems Have Harmful Pollutants In Drinking Water, New Study Says

When water flows out of the faucet and into a glass, it usually appears clean and healthy. A report released Wednesday, though, found harmful contaminants in the Tennessee water supply that can cause cancer, developmental issues in children, problems in pregnancy and other serious health conditions.

Ten harmful contaminants were found in the water supplies in 30 Tennessee towns or water utilities, according to a report released by the Environmental Working Group, or EWG, an independent nonprofit organization that released a detailed account of the contaminants (see lists below). Note that health limits and legal limits are set separately and, so, often conflict.

“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 EWG. (SIGN UP: (For more updates on this story and free news alerts for your neighborhood, sign up for your local Middle Tennessee Patch morning newsletter. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app.)

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.

The Environmental Protection Agency's Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO) database collects compliance and enforcement-related information for drinking water utilities nationwide.

These are the locations that had violations, and their "violation points," which are based on largely violations of health-based drinking water standards:

• River Landing Development, Chattanooga, TN, 169
• Oneida Water and Sewer Comm., Oneida, TN, 50
• Jacobs Creek Job Corps Center, Bristol, TN, 34
• Byrdstown Water Department, Byrdstown, TN, 32
• Spring City Water System, Spring City, TN, 30
• Chanute-pall Mall Utility District, Pall Mall, TN, 25
• Carderview Utility District, Butler, TN, 25
• Jonesborough Water Department, Johnson City, TN, 21
• Rogersville Water System, Rogersville, TN, 20
• Dayton Water Department, Dayton, TN, 18
• Tracy City Water System, Tracy City, TN, 15
• South Giles Utility District, Prospect, TN, 15
• Erin Water Department, Erin, TN, 15
• Northwest Clay County Utility, Moss, TN, 14
• Bluff City Water Department, Bluff City, TN, 14
• Surgoinsville Utility District, Surgoinsville, TN, 14
• Witt Utility District, Morristown, TN, 12
• Pikeville Water System, Pikeville, TN, 11
• Sparta Water System, Sparta, TN, 11
• Newport Resort Water System, Spring City, TN, 10
• Hartsville-troudale Wat/sew U, Hartsville, TN, 10
• Tellico Plains Water Department, Tellico Plains, TN, 10
• Springfield Water System, Springfield, TN, 10
• Carthage Water System, Carthage, TN, 10
• Tarpley Shop Utility District, Pulaski, TN, 10
• Greasie's Trailer Park, Sweetwater, TN, 9
• Bedford County UD, Shelbyville, TN, 9
• St. Joseph Water System, St. Joseph, TN, 8
• Bristol-bluff City Utility Dis, Bluff City, TN, 8
• Bluebird Hills Small Community, Dickson, TN, 7

In Tennessee, EWG tracked 10 contaminants across the state’s water supply. The following 10 contaminants have been detected above health limits:

• Total trihalomethanes (TTHMs) which are linked to bladder cancer, skin cancer and fetal development issues
• Chloroform which is linked to cancer and fetal development issues
• Bromodichloromethane which is linked to harm to child and fetuses, as well as reproductive difficulties
• Radium-228 which is linked to cancer
• Radium-226, which is linked to cancer
• Dibromochloromethane, which is linked to cancer and harm to fetuses
• Chromium (hexavalent), which is linked to cancer, liver damage and productive system damages
• Chlorate, which impairs thyroid function, making chlorate exposure most harmful during pregnancy and childhood
• Atrazine, a herbicide that comes from agricultural runoff; it harms the male and female reproductive systems
• Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), can cause serious health effects, including cancer, endocrine disruption, accelerated puberty, liver and immune system damage, and thyroid changes.

This contaminant was detected above legal guidelines:

• Haloacetic acids (HAA5), formed when disinfectants such as chlorine are added to tap water

“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. (More below)

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.

What You Can Do

Once people know about the high levels of dangerous contaminants lurking in their water, the question becomes what they can do to protect their health.

"There’s a way to reduce those levels simply by buying a water filter,” said Leiba. “We don’t want to scare the population by saying there are 250 chemicals and just leaving it there,” she continued. “As a consumer you may look at it and get a little overwhelmed.”

For this reason, EWG provides a guide to buying water filters. Its website allows you to search for filters that block particular chemicals and pollutants. If you find that your local water supply has a particularly high level of a dangerous chemical, you can search for a filter that blocks that substance.

There are many types of filters, including carbon filters, deionization filters and distillation filters. Each type has its own strengths and weakness, so sometimes a filter will include multiple filtration methods to eliminate more potential threats.

To find the most effective filter, look for certifications from the Water Quality Association and NSF International. Different filters remove different contaminants. It’s important to remember, though, that even high-quality filters are not 100 percent effective.

“Filters don’t remove everything,” Scott Meschke, professor of environmental and occupational health sciences at Washington University, told Patch. He emphasized that it’s important to make sure you’re using a filter that is designed to fit your local needs.

He also said that users should change water filters on a regular basis. Old filters that are never replaced can host bacterial, which also pose potential dangers.

People who don’t get their water through a public utility will have different needs.

“If you are on a private well, I would say that you need to be monitoring your water. You should be paying on a regular basis to have it tested,” Meschke said.
With reporting by Cody Fenwick

Photo credit: Steve Johnson