Busting the Clean Drinking Water Illusion - EPA Lagging Behind Polluters

Graphic courtesy of DestinationKnowlton.com.

Americans often worry about drinking water quality when visiting other countries. Well, it might be time to start worrying just as much about our own drinking water.

Yesterday, EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson acknowledged in a speech that her agency is finding it difficult to keep up with new pollutants that are constantly entering our drinking water supplies. The speech was given at the annual conference of the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies.

“While we’ve cut the flow of many conventional pollutants into our tap water sources, we face challenges from other pollutants from less conventional sources. Not the visible oil slicks and industrial waste of the past, but the invisible pollutants that we’ve only recently had the science to detect.

“There are a range of chemicals that have become more prevalent in our products, our water, and our bodies in the last 50 years. We also face serious issues of deferred maintenance in our infrastructure,” said Ms. Jackson.

The Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 requires that the EPA do a review of each national primary drinking water regulation at least once every six years and make any necessary revisions.

The most recent six-year review was completed this month, and it found that out of 71 regulations, four need regulatory revisions - covering tetrachloroethylene, trichloroethylene, epichlorohydrin, and acrylamide - which the EPA classifies as carcinogenic compounds (meaning they can cause cancer).

Stock photo.

Tetrachloroethylene and trichloroethylene are used in industrial and/or textile processing, and can be introduced into drinking water from contaminated ground or surface water sources.

Epichlorohydrin and acrylamide are impurities that can be introduced into drinking water during the water treatment process.

To address concerns, Ms. Jackson said in her speech, “We’ve developed an approach that works within existing law and capitalizes on new innovations. This plan is built around four key components. First, rather than working one by one, EPA plans to address water contaminants in groups. Second, we will engage private innovators, [universities], entrepreneurs, and small businesses to improve drinking water treatment technology.

“Third, we want to leverage all appropriate authorities – such as pesticide and chemicals laws – to confront and preempt drinking water contaminants. And fourth, we want to work closely with you [the association] and all our other state and local partners on up-to-date information sharing, monitoring, analysis and other assistance.”

The EPA admits that the problem today is that its “current approach to drinking water protection is focused on a detailed assessment of each individual contaminant of concern and can take many years. This approach not only results in slow progress in addressing unregulated contaminants, but fails to take advantage of strategies for enhancing health.”

The agency hopes that classifying contaminants into groups will make the logistics of dealing with them more easier and efficient. Currently, there are more than 80,000 chemicals identified under the Toxic Substance Control Act and the EPA is “not keeping pace with the increasing knowledge we have about chemicals in our products, our environment, and our bodies,” said Ms. Jackson.

Reader comments and input are always welcomed!