"Afraid of the Water" read the headline in the Atlanta Journal/Constitution last December. The story under the headline had a disturbingly familiar ring. It told of a band of families in northeast Georgia who lived close to a landfill. For many years they put up with their unpleasant "neighbor" - the stench on hot summer days, the roving dogs drawn to rotting garbage, even the ooze they say seeps from the ground. Now the families are in a battle for clean water.
Unsatisfied with government tests that declared their wells untainted by the aging landfill, the citizens hired an independent laboratory. Tests from that lab confirmed dire suspicions; dangerous levels of lead and other contaminants were detected in the same water the government said was safe. The residents want state officials to repeat their tests, but so far, none are scheduled. Families are frustrated and afraid to drink the water. Some have moved.
Is your water safe to drink? The answer is yes for the majority of households supplied by large municipal systems. But it's still a question everyone should consider, particularly in homes using lead-leaking pipes or solders and in rural areas laced with nitrate, pesticides, or radon. It's also a question fifty-nine thousand water utilities must answer as they monitor levels of microorganism, industrial wastes, household cleaning supplies, or any of the one thousand chemicals that may be in our drinking water. Finally, it's a question that has fueled billion-dollar industries in bottled water and home-treatment devices.
Do headlines and spending sprees on better-than-tap-water products indicate a failing water system or merely a panic-ridden public? The question incites contradictory, sometimes impassioned replies. For example, Jack Mannion, executive director of the American Water Works Association, which represents water-supply professionals, says, "I think that many people are overly concerned about their water. People ought to know their basic protection…comes in the fact that the local water supplier is bound by law to notify consumers anytime that the water supply does not meet the standards of water safety." But, says Joanna Hoelscher, state director for Citizens for a Better Environment, " I think [the public's] concern is absolutely justified. There are lots of contaminants that we're not even measuring. The regulatory agencies are not doing their job."
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the government body that a carries out the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), will not deny that there are problems enforcing the act, especially where water systems serve small numbers of people. "It's always justified to be concerned about safety," says Joseph Contruvo, director of the Criteria and Standards Division at the EPA. "That's why we have the SEWA. On the other hand," Contruvo continues, "I think it's important to have the right perspective, which is that the kinds of risks associated with drinking water are very, very small compared to risks everyone deals with day to day."
David Heim, assistant managing editor at Consumer Reports, offered this view after compiling a comprehensive review of water-treatment devices. "Most people who get their water from municipal water systems have water that is indeed fit to drink…Nevertheless, many people these days feel, think, or believe that something in wrong with their water." Indeed, many customers of bottled water and water
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