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This post is by Ramon Cruz, Senior Policy Analyst for Living Cities at Environmental Defense Fund.
It’s ironic. In many parts of the world, there is no clean drinking water. Here in the U.S., pure, drinkable water flows out of every tap, and yet Americans buy a staggering amount of bottled water. We pay big bucks for it, too - over $15 billion a year.
Worst of all, the bottles are overflowing our landfills, and contribute to global warming.
Take a look at this video from Doug James, and then check out these surprising facts.
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/OZbTXDkrD1o" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
By MC Milker •
March 10, 2008
The recent revelation by The Associated Press that our tap water contains traces of pharmaceutical drugs, hormones and disinfectants elicited a bit of “I told you so!” from The Environmental Working Group when I spoke to them this morning.
Way back in 2005 they published a report, The National Assessment of Tap Water that found that:
Tap water in 42 states is contaminated with more than 140 unregulated chemicals that lack safety standards. In an analysis of more than 22 million tap water quality tests, EWG found that water suppliers across the U.S. detected 260 contaminants in water served to the public. One hundred forty-one (141) of these detected chemicals — more than half — are unregulated.
They posted an update on their report today with this comment from Jane Houlihan, EWG Vice President for Research
“Once again, the press is doing EPA‘s work when it comes to informing the public about contaminated tap water.“
Uh yay.
By MC Milker •
March 10, 2008
A new study found traces of common drugs including: an anti-seizure medication, a mood stabilizer for treating bipolar disorders, ibuprofen and naproxen, and an antibiotic typically given to cattle in the water of 24 out of 28 US metropolitan areas.
Most wastewater and drinking water treatment systems are incapable of removing those drugs. Some scientists said there is probably little human health risk; others fear chronic exposure could alter immune responses or interfere with adolescents’ developing […]
