Persistent chemicals have infiltrated our water supplies, and current regulations and water systems are not doing enough to remove them.
The safety of drinking water doesn’t often get much attention unless it’s in the news, like the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. However, the level of contamination in America’s tap water is concerning, whether your water supply is municipal or a well. Just because it looks clear and tastes normal doesn’t mean it’s safe or pure.
Consumer Reports, in partnership with The Guardian, conducted a recent survey analysis of water supplies across the United States and found what other studies have found – tap water is full of toxic chemicals. Additional testing results from a 2017 Environmental Working Group (EWG) analysis of 50,000 water utilities in 50 states also found 267 different contaminants among the 500 utilities they tested.
According to a 2021 report by the American Society of Civil Engineers, one of the problems with water systems is aging infrastructure that may be “near the end” of its useful life. Water contamination from firefighting chemicals, agricultural chemicals, drugs, and neurotoxins produced by freshwater blue-green algae (also known as cyanobacteria) adds to the toxicity of water supplies.
Since our bodies are mostly water, we need to constantly replenish purified water to fuel our filtration systems and keep our bodies toxin-free. Your blood, kidneys, and liver all need a clean water supply to detoxify the harmful substances they encounter every day.
However, a recent joint water survey by Consumer Reports and The Guardian has demonstrated that the water supply is in dire need of detoxification.
Toxic Chemicals Found in Drinking Water Across the US
A team from Consumer Reports and The Guardian asked readers to help investigate the nation’s drinking water supply, and more than 6,000 people volunteered.
Consumer Reports statisticians narrowed the sample down to 120 households representing a portion of each of the EPA’s 10 jurisdictions. Within each region, the team selected a mix of locations where they tested the water for a variety of contaminants.
The analysis found that 118 of the 120 water samples collected had detectable levels of PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), arsenic, and lead. The team acknowledged that the study had some limitations because the water quality was only tested on one day, which may not be representative of the overall quality of water supplied throughout the system.
According to Consumer Reports, these challenges are not technological. In other words, they believe that filtration systems can clean contaminated water “but they are not yet being used consistently by community water systems.”
While the deputy director of public works in New Britain, Connecticut, told Consumer Reports that a single sample may not be representative of overall toxic exposure, EPA spokesperson Andrea Drinkard said that “93% of the population is served by community water systems that meet ‘all health-based standards at all times,’” The Guardian reported.
Domestic water contamination is a crisis. According to an analysis published in The Guardian in February, more than 140,000 water systems in the United States are affected. The same analysis demonstrated that clean drinking water is not distributed equally, with water systems in rural and poorer areas more likely to be in violation.
The EPA balances cost versus health when setting arsenic levels
One factor new homeowners often don’t consider is the purity of their home’s tap water. Consumer Reports learned from one of the families involved in the study, Sandy and Scott Phillips, from Texas, built their home in a new development north of Austin. After moving in, they had to invest thousands of dollars in a reverse osmosis system and water softener to deal with the unusual odor in the water.
What the couple learned from the survey was that their water contained a variety of chemicals, including arsenic. Arsenic is a heavy metal that occurs naturally in groundwater and is highly toxic. The biggest public health threat from arsenic comes from drinking water, food processing, and irrigation of food crops.
Long-term exposure increases the risk of several forms of cancer, including skin, lung, and bladder cancer, according to a 2014 article in the Journal of Preventive Medicine and Community Health. Other research has linked it to neurological effects, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and reproductive disorders.
The health effects of low-level arsenic exposure are not immediate, but occur over time. long-term exposure to arsenic can also lower children’s IQs and increase the risk of skin discoloration and damage. Arsenic can enter drinking water supplies from industrial, agricultural, and mining processes.
The general manager of the Texas couple’s water system told Consumer Reports that it “has been in compliance with all federal and state minimum contaminant level standards for arsenic and lead for many years.” He also said the Consumer Reports survey results contradict the agency’s records.
The EPA’s acceptable level for arsenic in drinking water in 1942 was 50 parts per billion (ppb). This was reduced to 10 ppb in 2001, which the EPA felt would help water system operators balance the cost of water treatment against health challenges.
However, this is still more than three times the 3 ppb that experts, including scientists at Consumer Reports and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), have long said should be the limit.
Nearly every water sample tested measured arsenic. A 2017 NRDC study noted that the EPA set the maximum contaminant level for arsenic at zero because no level is considered safe. The limit was set at 10 ppb poses a “substantial risk of cancer.”
The same report found that 573 water systems across the United States are providing water with excessively high levels of arsenic to more than 1.8 million people. A 2014 study published in Environmental Health found that exposure to arsenic at 5 ppb or higher in drinking water reduced children’s IQs by about 5 to 6 points in most cognitive domains, including working memory, verbal comprehension, and perceptual reasoning.
EPA: Wait Until 10% of Homes Have High Lead
The Phillips family in Texas also found that their unfiltered water contained 5.8 ppb of lead. In this case, cost savings outweighed potential health impacts for consumers. Consumer Reports notes that while the EPA acknowledges that lead exposure is not safe, it does not require utilities to reduce lead levels until 10% of homes sampled in the area exceed 15 ppb.
At the same time, NRDC surveyed violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act, and researchers found 5,367 water systems that allowed high levels of lead and copper in their systems, affecting more than 18 million consumers.
It wasn’t until 1986 that lead pipes were banned from connecting street water mains to buildings. However, many of the old water systems are still in use, affecting an estimated 6 million homes and businesses across the United States, Consumer Reports notes.
The CDC notes that there are many health impacts from lead exposure, including kidney and brain damage, anemia, weakness, neurological damage to developing fetuses, lower IQs in children, and infertility in men and women.
Yet, despite the enormous costs to communities and individuals of lead exposure, the EPA has not made significant changes to the maximum acceptable exposure levels for lead and many other toxins found in drinking water supplies.
The NRDC notes, “The weaknesses in the current Lead and Copper Rule, and the many deficiencies in EPA’s other drinking water rules, require drastic changes in the interest of public health.”
PFAS Are Non-Breakdown Chemicals Found in Drinking Water
It may seem like a mixed bag when scientists first started writing about perfluorinated chemicals, formerly abbreviated as PFCs. To avoid confusion, the EPA switched to using the word “PFAS” to refer to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances when describing the chemicals, sometimes called “Teflon Chemicals” or “non-breakdown chemicals.”
PFAS are used in products that repel water, oil, grease, and stains, and are even found in firefighting foam. PFOS and PFOA are two PFAS chemicals that manufacturers have voluntarily phased out. However, while they are no longer produced in the United States, the EPA has revealed that “phased out” does not mean “not used.”
A recent water survey confirmed the prevalence of PFAS in water supplies, finding the chemicals in 117 of 120 water samples. Instead of enforceable legal limits, the EPA has set voluntary limits for PFOA and PFOS at 70 parts per trillion (ppt), which many experts say is too high.
Harvard health expert Philippe Grandjean believes the research evidence supports a lower limit of 1 ppt. This level is also supported by the chief scientist of the Environmental Working Group and Consumer Reports.
PFOA, commonly known as C8, was dumped from a plant in Parkersburg, West Virginia, starting in the 1950s. The C8 Science Panel evaluated the link between exposure and a number of health conditions, finding possible links to high cholesterol, ulcerative colitis, thyroid disease, certain cancers, and pregnancy-related high blood pressure.
The NRDC report did not include PFAS chemicals because they are not regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act. Instead, the EPA issued a health advisory setting non-enforceable levels to “inform” officials and water utilities about what levels might be safe.
An analysis published by EWG found that 2,337 sites in 49 states are known to have PFAS contamination. Unfortunately, while evidence continues to mount that persistent chemicals are dangerous, the EPA is unwilling to protect consumer health. According to EWG, the EPA “recently released a so-called PFAS action plan, but it is inadequate. The EPA plan will not address ongoing sources of PFAS contamination, will not clean up legacy contamination, and will not even require reporting of toxic PFAS releases.”
Filtered Water Is a Health Priority
If you choose bottled water over tap water, you may only be slightly better off, depending on where you live. The purity of bottled water has been questioned since at least 2009, when EWG released a survey that found most bottled water brands did not disclose the contaminants in their water.
Another EWG survey in 2011 found that 18% of bottled water did not say where it came from, and 32% did not disclose how it was treated or how pure it was. In 2020, Consumer Reports tested 47 brands of bottled water for heavy metals and 30 PFAS chemicals.
They found PFAS to be detectable in most brands of still water and in all but one sparkling water. For an unbiased analysis of your water quality, consult the EWG’s Tap Water Database. Unless you can verify the purity of your water, seriously consider installing a high-quality water filtration system.
Ideally, water can be filtered at the point of entry and point of use. This means adding a filter to the water entering the house and then to the sink and shower. There are a variety of options, each with its own benefits and drawbacks. You can read more about water filtration systems in the “Filter Your Water the Right Way” publication on Mercola.com.
Dr. Joseph Mercola is the founder of Mercola.com. As a chiropractor, bestselling author, and multiple award-winning author in the field of natural health, his biggest dream is to change the modern medical paradigm by providing people with a valuable resource to help them take control of their health. This article was originally published on Mercola.com.
Translated by Huyen Thanh
Please refer to the original version from The Epoch Times
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