Natural Resources Defense Council
Our Children At Risk
Bottled Water: Pure Drink or Pure Hype?

Environmental Working Group
Weed Killers By The Glass
In The Drink

The Breast Cancer Fund
"Environmental Causes/Breast Cancer
Voice of Women, Chlorine Connection

USA Today
"Drugs In Drinking Water

Science News Online
More Waters Test Positive For Drugs

What's In My City's Water?
City-by-City Water Quality Reports

See What The Experts Say, What you don't know can hurt you...
Who Says Tap Water Is Unhealthy?

Find Out What's In Your Cities' Water, From EPA's own database.
The following link will direct you to the EPA's consumer information section where you can see your own water utilities "Annual Water Quality Report." This is a relatively new requirement for water companies, and one that is still mostly unenforced.

On October 1, 1999, a new federal law went into effect that requires water utilities to send each customer a detailed report showing what is in their water, appropriately called "The Right To Know Amendment." The most important thing to remember is that no matter how insistent these reports are that "contaminants in your water do not necessarily pose a health risk," any level of contamination in our drinking water does in fact represent a danger to our health. Of the over 75,000 toxic chemicals used in our society, the EPA has only set standards (MCLs) for about 90, and those 90 Maximum Contaminant Levels are not necessarily set on "health effects." The EPA considers limited health studies based on consumption of one certain chemical by a 175 lb. adult when setting these standards. No consideration is given to the effects on small children or the combined effects of two or more contaminants, which some studies show are magnified by as much as 1000 times. Water utilities are only required to test for the 90 contaminants that the EPA has set standards for.

Nobody knows how many toxic chemicals may actually be in tap water. According to the Ralph Nader Research Group, after reviewing thousands of pages of EPA documents acquired through the Freedom of Information Act, more than 2100 toxic chemicals have already been detected in U.S. water supplies. Virtually all public water systems have some level of contamination. The water utilities are usually quick to point out that the chemicals found in their water are "below EPA's Maximum Levels", and in most cases they are. The fact is that even the smallest trace of a toxic chemical cause damage and science is just now starting to realize to what extent. In a recent report from the National Cancer Institute to the Surgeon General it was stated that "No level of exposure to a chemical carcinogen should be considered toxicologically insignificant to humans."

It is recommended that you print this page and use it as a guide in interpreting your "Annual Water Quality Report."

Definitions;

MCL: (Maximum Contaminant Level), This is the level at which the EPA requires corrective action and can impose penalties.

MCLG: (Maximum Contaminant Level Goal), This is the level at which the EPA has determined that unacceptable health risks may occur. Notice that the MCLG is always at or below the MCL, the law allows some unhealthy levels of contaminants. A "Superior" water system only means that it complies with EPA minimum water quality standards, not that it doesn't contain unhealthy levels of contaminants.

ppb: (part per billion), The unit of measure used for many water borne synthetic chemicals.

ppm: (part per million), The unit of measure used for chlorine in tap water.

mg/L: (milligram per Litre), A unit of measure used for contaminants in water.

Most Common Things To Look For: Lead, VOCs (volatile organic chemicals), Organic Contaminants, and Disinfection By-Products (THMs, Trihalomethanes), are the most noticeable problems on these reports. Often these toxic chemicals exceed the MCLGs or healthful threshold. Also these thresholds are relevant only to the one contaminant; if more than one is present the thresholds for heath risks drops considerably.