Report: Nearly All Of U.S. Drinking Water Contaminated With Cancer Causing Chemicals

Welp Steemians, it isn't just the fluoride and lead we need to watch out for in our water, it is a slew of toxic chemicals.

New data released this week by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a non-profit environmental watchdog, shows almost 50,000 public water systems in the U.S. are contaminated with dozens of harmful chemicals.

Some of the chemicals found in your drinking water include – arsenic, hexavalent chromium, radiation, chloroform, perfluorooctanoic acid, Bromodichloromethane, Dichloroacetic acid, Barium, and Uranium; along with 250-plus contaminants the group discovered.

“When most Americans drink a glass of tap water, they’re also getting a dose of industrial or agricultural contaminants linked to cancer, brain and nervous system damage, developmental defects, fertility problems or hormone disruption," says EWG.

Researchers with the watchdog spent the last two years collecting data from independent state agencies and the EPA for drinking water tests conducted from 2010 to 2015 by 48,712 water utilities in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Researchers tested the utilities for approximately 500 different contaminants, finding a total of 267 contaminations in the American people's water supply.

"Americans deserve the fullest picture possible of what’s in their tap water,” said EWG President Ken Cook. “But they won’t get that information from the government or, in many cases, from their utilities. The only place they’ll find that is EWG’s drinking water report.”

EWG provides an interactive map where you can search zip codes and review their test results for those areas.

A related {report}(http://www.ewg.org/release/ewg-s-nationwide-tap-water-transparency-report-here-new-database-details-pollutants#.WXu5d7IrLre) by the watchdog also noted that contaminants detected in the nation’s tap water included:

93 linked to an increased risk of cancer. More than 40,000 water systems had detections of known or likely carcinogens exceeding established federal or state health guidelines – levels that pose minimal but real health risks, but are not legally enforceable.
78 associated with brain and nervous system damage.
63 connected to developmental harm to children or fetuses.
45 linked to hormone disruption.
38 that may cause fertility problems.
Chromium-6, made notorious by the film “Erin Brockovich.” This carcinogen, for which there are no federal regulations, was detected in the drinking water supplies serving 250 million Americans in all 50 states.
1,4-Dioxane, an unregulated compound that contaminates tap water supplies for 8.5 million people in 27 states at levels above those the EPA considers to pose a minimal cancer risk.
Nitrate, chemical from animal waste or agricultural fertilizers, was detected in more than 1,800 water systems in 2015, serving 7 million people in 48 states above the level that research by the National Cancer Institute shows increases the risk of cancer – a level just half of the federal government’s legal limit for nitrate in drinking water.

“Just because your tap water gets a passing grade from the government doesn’t always mean it’s safe,” EWG President Cook said. “It’s time to stop basing environmental regulations on political or economic compromises, and instead listen to what scientists say about the long-term effects of toxic chemicals and empower Americans to protect themselves from pollutants even as they demand the protective action they deserve from government.”

EWG is currently pressing the EPA to update their rules on chemical contaminants found in drinking water that “can pose what scientists say are serious health risks – and still be legal.” They are also pressing people to start using water filters.

Please, if you can, use the EWG database to look up your area code to see their findings. This is an issue that affects basically everyone in the U.S., considering tap water is used for everything from drinking, cooking, to bathing.

Please let us know what you think below? How serious do you believe this issue to be? Do you use tap water?

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