Water Concerns

What’s in your water?

The question you need to ask IS NOT: “Does my tap water contain contaminants?”
ALL water outside of laboratory distilled, deionized water does

The proper questions are: “What carcinogens & contaminants are in my water, what are their concentration levels, and do they pose short or long-term health risks at those levels?”

Some recent regional water quality issues being released that many conscious consumers are concerned about:

• “PHILADELPHIA (AP) _ A total of 56 pharmaceuticals or byproducts have been detected in this city’s drinking water– Researchers found trace concentrations of drugs including antibiotics, pain relievers, heart and psychiatric drugs, and veterinary medicines.”
  Source: Associated Press, 2008
• “PHARMAWATER-PHILADELPHIA DRUGS- Tests of Philadelphia’s drinking water reveal 56 drugs– The list of drugs is the longest among 62 major water providers surveyed by the Associated Press. However, this city’s water officials say they probably found more drugs simply because they did more testing. They say their water is safe to drink. Researchers found trace concentrations of drugs including antibiotics, pain relievers, heart and psychiatric drugs, and veterinary medicines.”
  >Source: Associated Press, 2008
• “Philadelphia’s Water Test for Lead Among Worst in U.S.– In a Guardian investigation that claims at least 33 cities across the United States use water testing “cheats” that potentially conceal dangerous levels of lead, Philadelphia ranked among the worst-performing cities.”
  (Read more at www.phillymag.com Jun 2016)
• “18 Bucks County & 10 Montgomery County Public Water Systems Have Toxin Made Famous By Erin Brockovich, Study Says– The study published Tuesday says even small amounts of Chromium-6 can have negative health impacts, like cancer and liver damage. Here is the list of towns, water commissions or countywide agencies that exceeded the report’s acceptable level of Chromium-6 in tap water (0.02 parts per billion)”: (A full map with testing averages)
  (Doylestown Patch_Sept 2016)
• “Residents in Warminster, Horsham and Warrington were offered free bottled water by the government after the Environmental Protection Agency issued new guidelines for what’s considered safe levels of two unregulated chemicals — Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) — in the public water supply.”
  (NBC 10 May 2016)
• “1 in 5 in NJ drink water contaminated with PFOA– No state has more people served by unhealthy amounts of PFOA – a manmade chemical that has been linked to cancer and child developmental problems – than New Jersey, according to a new study by the Environmental Working Group.”
  (Asbury Park Press July 2017)
• “31 cities’ tap water has cancer-causing hexavalent chromium– Hexavalent chromium, the cancer-causing chemical at the center of the 2000 film “Erin Brockovich,” was found present in the tap water of 31 of 35 cities tested in a recent survey….. In the Philadelphia area, Villanova ranked 20th on the list…..the toxin has been linked to stomach cancer and leukemia along with other health problems, CBS News reported….. the EPA has not set a legal limit for hexavalent chromium in tap water and does not require water utilities to test for it.”
  Source: Environmental Working Group, Dec. 2010 & Ecoworld 2010
• “Radioactive iodine in city water spurs enhanced testing– The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency told the Daily News yesterday that Philadelphia water samples from last August contained nearly twice as much radioactive iodine as the recent samples collected after the Fukushima disaster….. Perhaps more disturbing: Nobody knows exactly how the Iodine-131 which can cause thyroid cancer if consumed in large quantities or over a prolonged period of time – is getting into Philly’s drinking water.”
  >Source: Philadelphia Daily News, APRIL 2011
• “Delaware River Basin gas drilling through ‘fracking’ process draws criticism– The river supplies 15 million people with drinking water, 3 million of them in New Jersey.…. The exact makeup of most fracking fluid is somewhat mysterious, but a report released in 2009 by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation counts ammonia, kerosene, formaldehyde, and corrosive salts such as bromine among the myriad chemicals listed. In addition, the waste can contain material brought up from deep below ground, including radium and uranium.”
  Source: NJ.com, MARCH 2011
• “Northampton’s water supply has detected arsenic above the health goal only in two out of 24 tests between 2010 and 2015, according to the EWG database.”
  (Buck County Courier Times Aug 2017)