The United States has one of the safest water supplies in the world. The Safe Drinking Water Act gives the Environmental protection Agency (EPA) the responsibility of setting national drinking water standards for public water systems. The EPA has set standards for more than 80 contaminants that may occur in drinking water and pose a risk to human health. It is recommended that if you get your water from a private well, you should test the well annually for contaminants since the EPA is not responsible for private wells.

For customers of a public (municipal, city or town) water supply; the community water supplier is required by law to provide a yearly report on the quality of the drinking water. This report will include information on where the water comes from, what contaminants are in the water and how consumers can get involved to protect the water supply.

For the approximately 15% of Americans who obtain their drinking water from wells, cisterns and springs; the EPA is not responsible for water quality from these sources and should be checked annually.

Some naturally occurring sources of pollution to well water include:

• Microorganisms (bacteria, parasites and viruses)
• Radionuclides: radioactive elements such as uranium and radium may be present in underlying rock and ground water.
• Nitrates & nitrites (a salt of nitric acid): high nitrate levels are usually due to human activities but may be found occurring naturally in groundwater due to the breakdown of nitrogen in soil.
• Heavy Metals: underground rocks and soil may contain small amounts of arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead and selenium.
• Fluoride: excessive consumption of high levels of fluoride can damage bone tissue.

Human activities which can possibly pollute drinking water include:

• Local industry: factories, industrial plants, gas stations and dry cleaners are vulnerable to spills and improper disposal of chemicals.
• Leaking underground tanks and piping: petroleum products, wastes and chemicals stored underground are susceptible to leaks.
• Landfills and waste dumps: floods can carry leaking liquids over barriers and older dump sites may have a variety of pollutants that can seep into groundwater.

Filed under: Health & Safety