Water – Toxic Contaminants

Millions of Americans are Drinking Contaminated Water

• U.S. tap water a ‘toxic soup’ of man-made chemicals – USA Today

• 63 million Americans exposed to unsafe drinking water – USA Today
• Across the U.S., millions of people are drinking unsafe water. How can we fix that? – Great Lakes Now

• Millions in U.S. Drink Contaminated Water, Records Show – The New York Times

• Millions of Americans Are Drinking Water That Could Be Dangerous – Newsweek
• Millions of Americans drink potentially unsafe tap water. How does your county stack up? – Science – AAAS
• Tens of millions of Americans exposed to unsafe drinking water each year – USA Today
• We can’t assume our water is safe to drink. But we can fix it – National Geographic
• ‘We’re going backwards in water access’: How 46 million Americans still don’t have safe drinking water – Fast Company

Health Concerns

• Tap water contaminants linked with 100,000 cancer cases, US study finds: Most of the risk is from naturally occurring arsenic, the byproducts of chemicals used to disinfect water and contaminants – The Guardian

• Toxic cocktail of chemicals in tap water could lead to cancer, study finds – FOX 47

• 11 terrifying things that could be lurking in your tap water – Insider
• 63 million Americans exposed to unsafe drinking water – USA Today
• America’s Clean Water Crisis Goes Far Beyond Flint. There’s No Relief in Sight – Time
• Chilling Data Shows Americans Drink 209M Glasses of Unsafe Water Every Day – Inverse
• How Safe Is Our Drinking Water? CR investigated the nation’s tap water. Here’s what the results mean for you. – Consumer Reports
• Is tap water safe to drink? Here’s what you really need to know – National Geographic
• New Report Shows Many Americans Exposed To Contaminated Drinking Water – CISION PR Newswire
• See If You’re One Of The 250M Americans Whose Drinking Water Is Laced With Cancer-Linked Pollutants – US Patch
• U.S. Drinking Water Widely Contaminated: EPA finds 202 unregulated chemicals in 45 states – Scientific American
• U.S. tap water a ‘toxic soup’ of man-made chemicals – USA Today
• We sampled tap water across the US – and found arsenic, lead and toxic chemicals. A nine-month investigation by the Guardian and Consumer Reports found alarming levels of forever chemicals, arsenic and lead in samples taken across the US – The Guardian
• ‘We’ve always known ours was contaminated’” the trouble with America’s water. Ageing infrastructure, legacy pollution and emerging contaminants across the US are driving a growing urgency to do something about America’s water crisis – The Guardian

EPA Allows Toxins at Levels that are Unsafe…But Legal

• Buried Lead – How the EPA has left Americans exposed to lead in drinking water: Millions of people still get water through lead pipes. For decades, lax EPA rules missed hazardous lead levels and allowed some utilities to remain indifferent. Today the Trump administration is rushing to finalize a plan that might make things worse – APM Reports
• E.P.A. Decides Against Limiting Perchlorate in Drinking Water: Drinking water for as many as 16 million Americans may be contaminated with perchlorate, a chemical that can harm the development of fetuses and children – The New York Times

• EPA delay in releasing danger level for lead in water raises questions – USA Today

• EPA still failing to act on widespread toxic chemical contamination of U.S. drinking water – Environmental Working Group
• Exclusive: Trump EPA won’t limit 2 toxic chemicals in drinking water – POLITICO
• Is tap water safe? National Geographic explores what Americans should know about contaminants this World Water Day – ABC 6 Philadelphia
• Millions of Americans Are Drinking Water That Is Contaminated Yet Legal: Environmental Working Group Analysis – Newsweek
• That Tap Water Is Legal but May Be Unhealthy – The New York Times

Officials Falsifying Results

• At least 33 US cities used water testing ‘cheats’ over lead concerns – The Guardian

• Greenville lab director sentenced for falsifying lab results – WJTV

• Mississippi Laboratory Operator Found Guilty of Falsifying Records on Industrial Wastewater – OPA – Department of Justice
• Sparta man admits falsifying drinking-water test results – nj.com

Atrazine

• Hormone-Disrupting Weed Killer Taints Drinking Water for Millions of Americans – EWG
• Atrazine – EWG Tap Water Database

Birth Control

• Birth Control in Drinking Water: A Fertility Catastrophe in the Making?- National Catholic Register
• Birth control pill threatens fish populations – CBC News
• Birth control hormone is making its way into streams and hindering fish’s ability to reproduce, study reveals – Daily Mail Online
• Birth-control pills could add 10 million doses of hormones to our wastewater every day. Some of that estrogen may wind up in our taps. – Insider
• Can Birth Control Hormones Be Filtered from the Water Supply? – Scientific American
• Fish don’t want birth control, but scientists say they get it from your pill – The Washington Post
• Human Birth Control Chemical, BPA Cause Lower Fertility In Fish, Government Scientists Say – CBS San Francisco.

• Troubled Water: Estrogen and its doppelgängers – EHN

• Water Pollution Caused by Birth Control Poses Dilemma – Live Science

Chloramine

Chlorine

• The Dangers of Chlorine – US Water Systems
• The Dangers of Chlorine in Our Drinking Water – Absolute Ozone

Cancer

• Tap water with chlorine may have cancer link, says Johns Hopkins study – USA Today

Chromium 6

• 200 Million Americans Have This Carcinogen in Their Drinking Water – Insider
• Chromium-6 in U.S. Tap Water – Environmental Working Group
• Chromium (hexavalent) – EWG Tap Water Database
• ‘Erin Brockovich’ Carcinogen in Tap Water of More than 200 Million Americans – EWG

• New report finds dangerous levels of chromium-6 in US drinking water – WTVR 6 Richmond

• New report finds ‘Erin Brockovich’ chemical in US drinking water – CNN

• Tap Water for Millions of Americans Contains ‘Erin Brockovich’ Metal, Report Says – ABC News
• What is chromium-6 and how did it infiltrate America’s drinking water? – PBS NewsHour

Chromimium 6 Stricter Regulations Struck Down

Dioxin

• Drinking Water Isn’t Safe for Millions of Americans. It’s Up to States to Fix. A new report documents what environmental advocates say has been happening for decades: The federal government fails to protect Americans from potentially cancer-causing chemicals. And they have little hope that will change anytime soon.- Governing

• How millions of people ended up with a toxic chemical in their water – POLITICO

Fluoride

• Americans Have Been Overdosed On Fluoride In Drinking Water – The Berkey

• Fluoride Can Seriously Kill Your Thyroid Gland – The Berkey

• Is Fluoride in Water Safe? A New Study Reignites the Debate – Time

• New study raises questions about how it affects children’s development – CNN

• New Study Raises Questions About How Fluoride Affects Children’s Development – CBS Baltimore

“Forever Chemicals” – PFAs, PFCs

• Dangerous ‘forever chemicals’ contaminate US tap water- Report – Al Jazeera

• ‘Forever chemicals’ found in drinking water in dozens of cities – PBS NewsHour

• Millions consuming ‘invisible toxic cocktail’ of cancer-linked chemicals: study – The Hill

• More than 100 million Americans’ drinking water could be contaminated by harmful chemicals – ThinkProgress

• Poisoning the Well – Toxic Firefighting Foam has Contaminated U.S. Drinking Water – The Intercept

• Study: Removal of ‘Forever Chemicals’ From Drinking Water Poses Severe and Costly Challenges to Local Communities – Environmental Working Group

• Toxic ‘forever chemicals’ found in drinking water throughout US – USA Today

• Unsafe levels of toxic chemicals found in drinking water of 33 states – Harvard Gazette

• US drinking water contamination with ‘forever chemicals’ far worse than scientists thought – The Guardian

• U.S. drinking water widely contaminated with ‘forever chemicals’: environment watchdog – Reuters

PFAs

• Mapping the PFAS Contamination Crisis- New Data Show 610 Sites in 43 States – Environmental Working Group

• PFAS Contamination of Drinking Water Far More Prevalent Than Previously Reported – EWG

• PFAS : Groundwater War – PBS

• PFAS pollution led to contamination of US drinking water wells, study finds – The Guardian

• Report: Up to 110 Million Americans Could Have PFAS-Contaminated Drinking Water – EWG
• Study shows 200 million Americans drinking PFAS-tainted water – Groundwater War – PBS
• Study: Public water supply is unsafe for millions of Americans – CNN

• The ‘forever chemicals’ fueling a public health crisis in drinking water. About 700 PFAS-contaminated sites have been identified across the US while those exposed to enough chemicals can face devastating health consequences – The Guardian

• ‘Ticking time bomb’: PFAS chemicals in drinking water alarm scientists over health risks – ABC News

• We’ve been drinking dangerous chemicals for far too long – CNN

PFCs

• 15 Million Americans may be Drinking Water Contaminated with PFCs – Natural Society
• Drinking Water for 15 Million Americans Is Contaminated With a Toxic Chemical, Report Finds – Time
• Mapping a Contamination Crisis – Environmental Working Group
• Report: 15 Million Americans’ Drinking Water Tainted By Toxic Chemical – HuffPost

Lead

• 5,300 U.S. water systems are in violation of lead rules – CNN
• At least 18 million Americans were at risk of drinking lead-contaminated water last year. See if you were one of them. – Vox
• Beyond Flint: Excessive lead levels found in almost 2,000 water systems across all 50 states – USA Today
• Millions of Americans still get their drinking water from lead pipes – The Economist
• Millions Served by Water Systems Detecting Lead – NRDC
• Nearly 30 MILLION Americans are drinking dangerous contaminated tap water linked to cancer, birth defects and lead poisoning 15 percent of people in the United States have dangrous contaminated tap water in their homes All 50 states have water systems that violate the Enviromental Protection Agency’s Safe Drinking Water Act In 2015, there were 80,000 safety violations affecting 77 million people, and few had enforcement action The most at-risk for having a contaminated water supply system are those in small rural areas  – Daily Mail Online
• Our Drinking-Water Crisis Goes Far Beyond Flint – NRDC
• The ‘Horrifying’ Consequence of Lead Poisoning: Exposure to the toxin leads to higher risk of miscarriages, new research finds, in addition to other long-lasting effects. – The Atlantic
• The Trouble With America’s Water Lead-tainted drinking water is not only a problem in Flint and Newark. – The Atlantic
• Unsafe Lead Levels in Tap Water Not Limited to Flint – The New York Times
• What’s in Your Water? Flint and Beyond – NRDC Interactive Map

No Safe Exposure

• How much lead in water poses an imminent threat? – USA Today

Not Easy To Find Out

• Got lead in your water? It’s not easy to find out – USA Today
• Some states, utilities balk at disclosing locations of lead water pipes – USA Today

Lead Replaced with Plastic Creates More Health Concerns

• Replacing Lead Water Pipes with Plastic Could Raise New Safety Issues – Scientific American

Nitrates

• Millions of Americans exposed to elevated nitrate levels in drinking water – EurekAlert!
• Study: Millions Of Americans Could Be Drinking Water High In Nitrates – KUOW

Plastic

• Plastic Fibers Are Found in ‘83% of the World’s Tap Water’ – Time
• Plastic fibres found in tap water around the world, study reveals – The Guardian
• Plastic Found in 94 Percent of US Tap Water Samples – PCMag

Radiation

• 170 Million in U.S. Drink Radioactive Tap Water – REPORT – EWG
• 170 Million Americans Drink Radioactive Tap Water – Environmental Working Group
• 170 Million Americans Have Cancer-Causing, Radioactive Elements in Their Drinking Water – Newsweek

Radium

• Bellevue aims to remove radium from water supply – ABC 9
• Eastern Iowa city aims to remove radium from water supply – AP News
• Elevated Levels Of Radium Found In Bethpage Drinking Water Supply Well – CBS New York
• MDH finds elevated levels of radium in Inver Grove Heights water supply – CBS Minnesota
• Potentially Unsafe Levels Of Radium In PA Drinking Water: Report – Newtown, PA Patch
• Radium contamination in water most widespread in Texas, environmental group says – CBS News

Toilet Water

• As ‘Yuck Factor’ Subsides, Treated Wastewater Flows From Taps – The New York Times
• California Drought: Orange County expands ‘toilet to tap’ water recycling – LAist – NPR News for Southern California – 89.3 FM
• Don’t freak out, but you may be drinking recycled toilet water – Grist
• Drought-Stricken Texas Town Turns To Toilets For Water – NPR
• From toilets to tap: How we get tap water from sewage – USA Today
• Texas Cities Pursue ‘Toilet-to-Tap’ Water Technology – Environmental Leader

Trichloroethylene (TCE)

• 14 million Americans are drinking carcinogen-polluted tap water – Fast Company
• Study: Over 100 Million Americans Drinking ‘Toxic Trash’ Water – Common Dreams
• Trichloroethylene – EWG Tap Water Database

Uranium

Independent News Reports

• Chemicals in Tap Water: The Shocking Truth of What You’re Really Drinking – Live Love Fruit
• State of American drinking water – EWG Tap Water Database

Facts and Stats

• Deaths from Dirty Water – The World Counts

Reports

• Consumer Reports 1974 Water Investigation – PDF
• Chromium-6 in U.S. Tap Water – EWG – PDF

Maps

• Interactive Map- PFAS Contamination Crisis- New Data Show 2,858 Sites in 50 States – EWG

Database

• EWG Tap Water Database

Academic Papers

Birth Control – Endocrine Disrupters

• Effects of the synthetic estrogen 17α-ethinylestradiol on Heterandria formosa populations: Does matrotrophy circumvent population collapse? – Science Direct
• Estrogen in birth control pills has a negative impact on fish — ScienceDaily
• Transgenerational effects from early developmental exposures to bisphenol A or 17α-ethinylestradiol in medaka, Oryzias latipes – Nature

Carcinogens

• Cumulative risk analysis of carcinogenic contaminants in United States drinking water – Heliyon

Chlorination

• Chlorination of Phenols Revisited- Unexpected Formation of α,β-Unsaturated C4-Dicarbonyl Ring Cleavage Products – ACS Publications

Flouride

• Association Between Maternal Fluoride Exposure During Pregnancy and IQ Scores in Offspring in Canada – JAMA Pediatrics
• Controversy: The evolving science of fluoride- when new evidence doesn’t conform with existing beliefs – Pediatric Research – Nature

“Forever Chemicals”

• Detection of Poly- and Perfluoroalkyl Substances (PFASs) in U.S. Drinking Water Linked to Industrial Sites, Military Fire Training Areas, and Wastewater Treatment Plants – ACS Publications

Microbial Contaminants

• Microbial Contaminants in Drinking Water – Microbiology of Drinking Water – Wiley Online Library

Waterborne Disease

• Estimate of Burden and Direct Healthcare Cost of Infectious Waterborne Disease in the United States – CDC

Water Quality Violations

• National trends in drinking water quality violations – PNAS

Websites

• DIGDEEP