Tap Water May Be Legal, But Not Safe

Government scientists have assessed many of the contaminants most often found in water and have determined that many are associated with cancer or other diseases, even in very small concentrations. Yet almost none of those evaluations have been added to the Safe Drinking Water Act. Thus, the list of regulated substances in water has stopped growing since 2000. However, the rate at which pollutants have been dumped into waterways has significantly sped up. For example, if arsenic were present in the drinking water supply at its legal threshold, roughly one in every 600 residents would likely develop bladder cancer over their lifetimes, according to studies commissioned by the E.P.A. And in some places, tap water contains not just one contaminant like arsenic, but dozens.

Some activists have tried to bring about change. Scientists at the E.P.A. began telling top agency officials that the system needed to be fixed in the early 2000’s. The head of the E.P.A. division that analyzed environmental risks was especially alarmed, and he directed his department to start assessing a variety of contaminants often found in drinking water, including an unregulated rocket fuel additive that was associated with some types of tumors. His department’s research indicated that some chemicals posed risks at smaller concentrations than previously known.

However, when some industry heads heard of the research, they began to lobby lawmakers, and the head of the E.P.A. environmental risk division was told he might lose his job if he continued pushing for extensive assessments of chemicals. A study published last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found traces of the rocket fuel additive in all of the 2820 people examined by researchers.