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That tap water is legal but may be unhealthy

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on December 18, 2009 at 8:35 am

silverlake reservoirThe New York Times continues it’s toxic water series with this:

“The 35-year-old federal law regulating tap water is so out of date that the water Americans drink can pose what scientists say are serious health risks — and still be legal.

Only 91 contaminants are regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act, yet more than 60,000 chemicals are used within the United States, according to Environmental Protection Agency estimates. Government and independent scientists have scrutinized thousands of those chemicals in recent decades, and identified hundreds associated with a risk of cancer and other diseases at small concentrations in drinking water, according to an analysis of government records by The New York Times.

But not one chemical has been added to the list of those regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act since 2000.

Other recent studies have found that even some chemicals regulated by that law pose risks at much smaller concentrations than previously known. However, many of the act’s standards for those chemicals have not been updated since the 1980s, and some remain essentially unchanged since the law was passed in 1974. … “

Read more from the New York Times by clicking here.

RELATED: Check out this slideshow from the New York Times, In Los Angeles, a struggle over water quality

December 18, 2009 · Filed Under Drinking Water

Comments

One Response to “That tap water is legal but may be unhealthy”

  1. dfb on December 19th, 2009 9:48 pm

    Terry Gross, NPR, interviewed the author on Thursday. He mentioned the L.A. water dept. issue and the little black balls covering the reservoirs. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121529243

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