Drinking water contaminations have affected water piped to more than 49 million Americans since 2004, according to an  exhaustive study just completed by The New York Times.  And while the government is aware of the violations, it has rarely fined or punished the violators.

In its Dec 7 issue, the Times reported analyzing federal data on violations since 2004 of rules regulating toxins found in city water. These violations document illegal concentrations of chemicals, radioactive substances, or dangerous bacteria from sewage. More than 20 percent of the nation’s water treatment systems, often the smaller systems, broke the EPA regulations.

These violations were reported as they occurred. But only six percent of the water systems that broke the law received fines or other punishments from state or federal officials.  Some violations constituted one-time events, but others persisted for years, according to the Times.

Members of Congress, responding to the Times reporting, demanded an explantion from the EPA at a hearing Dec. 8. Enforcement leadership at the EPA is pledging to overhaul its system, according to ABC News.

The Safe Drinking Water Act violations have occurred in parts of each state. For example, in prosperous Ramsey, NJ, too-high concentrations were found of arsenic and tetrachlorethylene, a cleaning solvent. Both are linked to cancer. In New York State, 205 water systems were found to contain illegal amounts of bacteria.

Ramsey, NJ, was not fined–but it did update its filtration systems. In New York, just three water systems were penalized.

According to the Times, research indicates that diseases follow the contaminants and show that as many as 19 million Americans get sick each year from parasites, viruses, and bacteria found in drinking water.  And we all know cancer rates are rising; could this fact be related to increasing levels of carcinogens in our drinking water?

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The answer is yes, according to a study published in the open access journal Environmental Health in September. The study tracked the infants of pregnant women exposed to the chemical inadvertently by PCE coating inside water piping used on Cape Cod between 1969 and 1983.

Ann Aschengrau, Boston University School of Public Health, and a team combed through records of those living through this episode. They compared rates of birth defects for fetuses exposed to the PCE to a control group which was not exposed.

They found an increased risk of cleft palate and neural tube defects, especially anencephaly.

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The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) says it “does not… find a significant environmental impact” connected with a controversial natural gas drilling practice, noting that it has been in use for 50 years in New York State. The practice, hydraulic fracturing, involves pumping fluids including diesel fuel into the ground in order to force open natural gas reservoirs for drilling.

Despite the state agency’s “finding,” it turns out the state hasn’t done any looking for evidence. The Environmental Working Group, an activist group based in Washington, DC, asked the state agency to disclose its test results. But, according to an EWG report, the state admitted having done no testing and having no test results on the environmental safety of hydraulic fracturing.

The question is coming to the fore now because several natural gas companies are significantly interested in using the technique in the Marcellus shale formation in upstate New York, which is close to the reservoirs that hold New York City’s water supply.

In 2004, the US Environmental Protection Agency reported that diesel fuel, used as a fracturing fluid, results in toxic compounds being left underground, “likely to be transported by groundwater supplies.”

In the wake of EWG’s report, New York City Councilman James F. Gennaro demanded the state acknowledge its lack of testing in the matter and perform tests to see whether the proposed chemicals would be dangerous to the NYC water supply.

The study was published in March by the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology. In it, Joshua G. Shier, of the CDC Division of Environmental Hazards and Health Effects, led a team that reported on testing 15 powdered infant formula brands. The study did not name the brands but said that just two of them acounted for 87 percent of the market in the US for powdered infant formula in 2000.

A summary at medicalnewstoday.com said that the study found perchlorate contamination in all brands, and that cow’s milk formulas contained significantly higher perchlorate contamination than soy and other formulas.

But the study conclusion that caught the public’s eye was the one that said the EPA safety limit may be exceeded when certain cow’s milk formulas are mixed with perchlorate-contaminated water, according to medicalnewstoday.com.

Perchlorate was spread across America during Cold War weapons testing and now contaminates food as well as drinking water. The compound also occurs naturally in small amounts.

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) identifies perchlorate as a thyroid toxin that particularly affects infants and fetuses.

The EPA last year decided not to regulate perchlorate as a drinking water pollutant, according to the medicalnewstoday.com article.

I don’t know about you, but I am pretty concerned about the state of our tap water. I hope you consider a home water filter.

The council graded the 19 cities on three items:

• Is source water protected from pollutants?
• Is the piping system well maintained?
• Are treatment facilities modern and effective?

Various cities did well in some areas but poorly in others. For example,

• Atlanta has poorly maintained piping.
• Albuquerque and San Francisco have poor treatment systems.
• Fresno does not protect its water source.

In general, the study found plenty of worrisome contaminant levels, though little that was technically out of bounds. The problem, said the study authors, was that the quality standards are weak, and systems are antiquated. For example, ” cancer-causing arsenic is currently present in the drinking water of 22 million Americans at average levels of 5 ppb” (parts per billion). That level is well below the EPA’s new standard for arsenic at 10 ppb. Yet it is still dangerous.

Sscientists now know that there is no safe level of arsenic in drinking water,” said the study authors.  And for the plenty of contaminants that are not yet regulated, many municipal water systems allowed contamination higher than the EPA’s “level of concern.”

Overall, the study found excess levels of these contaminants:

• Lead from corroded piping
• Disease-causing organisms
• By-products of chlorine treatment such as trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids. These can cause cancer and reproductive problems.
• Arsenic which causes a variety of problems including cancer.
• Toxic chemicals including radon and the rocket fuel perchlorate.

Study authors expressed concern for infants, pregnant women, and those with compromised immune systems. They also called for comprehensive improvements in the nation’s water supply systems.

If you find all this worrisome, consider getting a home water filter that gives you purer, healthier water.