Newsweek recently published an article looking at contaminants in U.S. drinking water. The thing is, many people may not even realize contaminants are present in their tap water because their water systems comply with U.S. federal drinking standards (or, in the cases of some contaminants, no set legal limits actually exist). But, as noted by the nonprofit activist organization Environmental Working Group (EWG), just because these contaminants are within legal limits doesn’t mean they are safe.
Based on EWG’s analysis of 32 million state water records, Newsweek reports these eye-opening statistics:
50,000+ water utilities across the country can be found to have some form of chemicals in them
160 different unregulated substances are found in U.S. tap water (these are chemicals with no set legal limits)
77 contaminants are associated with nervous system damage
63 contaminants are associated with developmental harm
66 million Americans drink water tainted with nitrate at levels 10x or more above EWG’s unsafe level
50 states have systems where arsenic is found in public drinking water
100,000 lifetime cancer cases are expected to be caused by drinking water contamination
