More than 20 percent of private domestic wells sampled nationwide contain at least one contaminant at levels of potential health concern, according to a study by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
About 43 million people - or 15 percent of the Nation’s population - use drinking water from private wells, which are not regulated by the [...]
Although perhaps the greatest public health achievement of the 20th century was the disinfection of water, a recent study now shows that the chemicals used to purify the water we drink and use in swimming pools react with organic material in the water yielding toxic consequences.
University of Illinois geneticist Michael Plewa said that disinfection by-products [...]
Plastic packaging is not without its downsides, and if you thought mineral water was ‘clean’, it may be time to think again. According to Martin Wagner and Jörg Oehlmann from the Department of Aquatic Ecotoxicology at the Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, plastic mineral water bottles contaminate drinking water with estrogenic chemicals. In [...]
New Scientist provides a list of the top 11 compounds found in a tap water analysis of 19 US water utilities conducted by researchers at the Southern Nevada Water Authority. According to the EPA, there is no cause for alarm although there could be risk “especially for the fetus and those with severely compromised health.”
The [...]
9/23/08
NEW YORK — Pharmaceuticals being flushed by the health services industry are contributing to the problem of trace amounts of drug compounds making their way into drinking water sources, according to an Associated Press (AP) report in the San Francisco Chronicle .
This latest AP report is part of the AP’s pharmaceuticals-in-water investigative series that was [...]
By Susan Wheeler
9/19/2008 4:01:32 PM
WASHINGTON — A new scientific report associates the plastic ingredient bisphenol A (BPA) with an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes and liver-enzyme abnormalities. At the same time, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continues to affirm the safety of the use of BPA in food packaging, including polycarbonate water [...]
By JEFF DONN, AP
September 18, 2008
WASHINGTON — The federal government’s top water quality official has acknowledged that critics who question whether the existing regulatory mechanism can handle complex chemical compounds found in drinking water supplies are correct to do so, according to a September 18 Associated Press (AP) report.
US Environmental Protection Agency Assistant Administrator for [...]
By MARTHA MENDOZA, AP
September 11, 2008
NEW YORK — Recent tests of drinking water supplies, prompted by an Associated Press (AP) report in March that 41 million Americans receive drinking water tainted by trace levels of pharmaceuticals, reveal that the number of Americans affected by meds-in-water is at least 46 million, according to a September 10 [...]
Manganese in reservoir causes discoloration; city addressing problem
By Bob Downing
Beacon Journal
Published on Friday, Jul 25, 2008
Akron’s drinking water is discolored, but city officials say the problem is nothing to worry about.
The water has ”a straw-colored tint,” Michael McGlinchy, head of Akron’s Public Utilities Bureau, said Thursday. ”It looks discolored, a [...]