Declining Water Quality Requires Personal Action
In 1972, the Clean Water Act was passed into law to protect public health and wildlife in the United States.
Inspired by uncontrolled pollution of major rivers in the Midwest and East, the Clean Water Act has inspired a vast improvement in water quality across the United States.
Even so, a tremendous amount of chemical pollution is reaching our rivers and streams even as many cities draw their water supply from those very polluted sources.
Most Americans have been able to trust their tap water as fairly safe for the last few decades.
While water quality is vastly improved over the pre-Clean Water Act days, we may be seeing a deterioration of American waterways now despite a decline in manufacturing in the US.
And while the importance of drinking water cannot be overstated, federal and state enforcement of the Clean Water Act has been declining over the last decade because of budget cuts and a lack of commitment to regulation by some in Government.
Industry dumped 232 million pounds of toxic chemicals into American rivers and streams in 2007 according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
The Ohio River ranks first for pollution followed by the New River and the Mississippi River.
All of these rivers are the source for tap water for many Americans.
In the Southwest, rivers like the Colorado and Rio Grande are major sources for urban water supplies for cities like Las Vegas, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Santa Fe, Albuquerque and El Paso.
Yet these desert rivers are increasingly polluted with sewage and agricultural runoff.
Nitrate compounds (often added to meats) are a major pollutant and they can cause health problems in babies.
Other carcinogenic compounds discharged by coal fired power plants and paper mills could total as much as 1.
5 million pounds of releases into waterways per year.
Chemicals linked to developmental disorders in children are being released into many American rivers, especially those in the heartland.
Most worrisome are the continued pollution of rivers by serious toxics like mercury, organochlorines (compounds based on chlorine and carbon used in plastics, pesticides etc) and phthalates (substances added to plastic and some drugs among other uses).
These chemicals can allude city water purification processes and end up in your tap water.
Mercury is a growing concern in American tap water given that it comes out of the smokestacks at coal fired power plants and is present in the coal ash that comes out of the air scrubbers at these plants.
Scrubbers are the devices used to reduce the airborne emissions from the plants, yet the ash waste from the scrubbers, as well as the ash from the coal burners themselves has high levels of mercury, one of the most toxic substances known, and particularly dangerous to children.
City water filtration plants are often old and not equipped with advanced filters needed to removed modern industrial discharge.
Two Solutions In response to this continued water pollution problem, Americans can respond in two ways.
First we can press Congress to strengthen the Clean Water Act to protect us from toxic chemicals and ask Congress provide the EPA with enough funding for enforcement so polluters get caught.
Many groups are working on this problem such as the Natural Resources Defense Council, and Environment America.
Second, we can protect ourselves and our families by using drinking water filter systems that provide us with pure drinking water.
Water testing companies can take a sample from your home and tell you what pollutants or minerals are in your tap water.
Then you can either install a whole-house water filtration system or systems that work at the sink or shower.
Inspired by uncontrolled pollution of major rivers in the Midwest and East, the Clean Water Act has inspired a vast improvement in water quality across the United States.
Even so, a tremendous amount of chemical pollution is reaching our rivers and streams even as many cities draw their water supply from those very polluted sources.
Most Americans have been able to trust their tap water as fairly safe for the last few decades.
While water quality is vastly improved over the pre-Clean Water Act days, we may be seeing a deterioration of American waterways now despite a decline in manufacturing in the US.
And while the importance of drinking water cannot be overstated, federal and state enforcement of the Clean Water Act has been declining over the last decade because of budget cuts and a lack of commitment to regulation by some in Government.
Industry dumped 232 million pounds of toxic chemicals into American rivers and streams in 2007 according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
The Ohio River ranks first for pollution followed by the New River and the Mississippi River.
All of these rivers are the source for tap water for many Americans.
In the Southwest, rivers like the Colorado and Rio Grande are major sources for urban water supplies for cities like Las Vegas, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Santa Fe, Albuquerque and El Paso.
Yet these desert rivers are increasingly polluted with sewage and agricultural runoff.
Nitrate compounds (often added to meats) are a major pollutant and they can cause health problems in babies.
Other carcinogenic compounds discharged by coal fired power plants and paper mills could total as much as 1.
5 million pounds of releases into waterways per year.
Chemicals linked to developmental disorders in children are being released into many American rivers, especially those in the heartland.
Most worrisome are the continued pollution of rivers by serious toxics like mercury, organochlorines (compounds based on chlorine and carbon used in plastics, pesticides etc) and phthalates (substances added to plastic and some drugs among other uses).
These chemicals can allude city water purification processes and end up in your tap water.
Mercury is a growing concern in American tap water given that it comes out of the smokestacks at coal fired power plants and is present in the coal ash that comes out of the air scrubbers at these plants.
Scrubbers are the devices used to reduce the airborne emissions from the plants, yet the ash waste from the scrubbers, as well as the ash from the coal burners themselves has high levels of mercury, one of the most toxic substances known, and particularly dangerous to children.
City water filtration plants are often old and not equipped with advanced filters needed to removed modern industrial discharge.
Two Solutions In response to this continued water pollution problem, Americans can respond in two ways.
First we can press Congress to strengthen the Clean Water Act to protect us from toxic chemicals and ask Congress provide the EPA with enough funding for enforcement so polluters get caught.
Many groups are working on this problem such as the Natural Resources Defense Council, and Environment America.
Second, we can protect ourselves and our families by using drinking water filter systems that provide us with pure drinking water.
Water testing companies can take a sample from your home and tell you what pollutants or minerals are in your tap water.
Then you can either install a whole-house water filtration system or systems that work at the sink or shower.
