REPORT6

What is in Your Drinking Water?

Water pollution has been a growing problem over the last few decades. Polluted water is not only harmful for humans to drink, but it also kills and destroys habitats of many species of fish, and even mammals. Previously, the main concerning pollutants in water have been lead and chlorine. Now, the list goes on to: lead, chlorine, prescription drugs, trash, disinfection byproducts, giardia, bacteria, pesticides, and endocrine. These pollutants not only can make you sick, but they some can cause death. It is very dangerous for people to ingest these pollutants, and even more dangerous for pregnant women and young children. In the United States, 260 different contaminants have been found in the public water of 42 states. Approximately 119 of those contaminants have been regulated chemicals in the studies of the water supply of 231 million Americans. The largest sources of contaminants are agriculture, industry, and pollution from urban sprawl. The states with the most contaminated water are California, Wisconsin, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, Texas, New York, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Illinois. The case of The Coca Cola company in India illustrates how abusive industry can be to the water system. Not only did the company exhaust the ground water surrounding its bottling plant, but it also offered its cadmium-laden waste sludge as fertilizer to farmers living near the plant. India’s Center for Science and Environment (CSE), found evidence of 3-5 different pesticides in random samples of Coca Cola and Pepsi taken at 25 different bottling plants in India. Clearly industry has an effect on the water supply of everyone. Recently, New York City has been granted a 10-year waiver from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for filtering its water. A New York Times editorial (http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=15&did=1315166721&SrchMode=1&sid=1&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1212092298&clientId=8185) stated that New York City is one of the few large cities that is blessed with clean water to drink. This is good news for the city economy because one filtration system being built in the Bronx is reaching 2 billion dollars in cost. Also, since drinking water is essential to good health, cheap tap water is a welcome alternative to spending dollars on bottles of water (which is also wasteful for the environment). Tap water in New York is also very clean tasting because it requires little chlorine and is low in minerals. In fact, the EPA standards for tap water are much more stringent than the Food and Drug Administration’s standards for bottled water. Bottling plants ultimately cause water shortages in the areas where they are located. For every gallon of bottled water, two gallons of water are wasted in the same purification system. Also, only about 10% of plastic water bottles are recycled, so by drinking tap water, you also lessen your “carbon footprint.” To avoid contaminating yourself and jeopardizing the health of your family, you should flush your infrequently used pipes with cold water, only consume cold water, and get your water tested. By taking steps like these, you could avoid chemical poisoning and possibly disease. The Environmental Protection Agency also has an instructive website (http://www.epa.gov/) which can guide you in assessing the quality of your water.