At Risk: Our Nation's Drinking Water Supply

By Susan E. Smith and George H. Buermann The fragile state of the United States drinking water system is making waves (and headlines) across the country. The public drinking water systems in Flint, Michigan; Fresno, California; Corpus Christie, Texas; St. Joseph, Louisiana; East Chicago, Indiana; and Hoosick Falls, New York-to name a few-have experienced disruptions in the past several years due to combinations of infrastructure problems and intrusion of potentially toxic contaminants. The events in Flint, Michigan put a spotlight on the issue, and it has since become clear that the problems go far beyond just that one community. How our water authorities obtain, treat, and distribute drinking water, and what is in the water before and after treatment, is capturing national attention. The National Primary Drinking Water Regulations address ninety different chemicals, microorganisms, and radioactive isotopes that are subject to exposure limits on the basis of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) risk assessments.1 Concerns about contamination are focused on both regulated contaminants and emerging and unregulated contaminants. The broad array of substances that exist in drinking water would surprise most of us. That colorless, odorless H20 is anything but simply H20.
Source: LexisNexis® Mealey's™ Emerging Toxic Torts Legal News - Category: Medical Law Source Type: news