The U.S. is considered the strongest nation when it comes to various aspects such as military power, collegiate education, entrepreneurship, and capitalism among others. Unfortunately, water quality is not something that the U.S. should be proud of. Although most of the major areas of the U.S. like New York City have safe, drinkable water, there are many communities throughout the nation with contaminated water.
In 2006, a study was performed in nearly every area of the country to measure the cleanliness of water in different places. For all the water supplies, only 89.3 percent of the water in the U.S. was approved of all the EPA standards. Although this may seem like a high percentage, consider that the results suggest that 43 billion gallons of contaminated water are consumed per day! The amount of unsafe water consumed on a daily basis is unacceptable and leads to many unnecessary deaths in acute fashion or over a long period of time.
Certain areas of the U.S. have water that is not only undrinkable, but dangerous. Not only this, but there are certain dangerous chemicals that the EPA chooses not to regulate. There are areas of the U.S. that contain the chemical perchlorate. If you’re unfamiliar with perchlorate, it’s the main ingredient used for rocket fuel. After extensive studies, perchlorate has been found to deregulate the thyroid production of hormones in the human body, which can be very dangerous if a person has pre-existing thyroid conditions. The EPA refuses to set regulations for the chemicals, despite law suits filed against the corporation for negligence.
On top of the loose EPA standards, the enforcement of punishment for municipalities who supply contaminated water is marginal at best. According to the New York Times, one out of every 5 municipalities have directly violated EPA standards by supplying over 50 million people with substances such as arsenic, radioactive material, and the bacteria which causes E. coli. Only one out of every twenty municipalities that broke the EPA standards was ever fined. Some municipalities weren’t even contacted by the state after federal EPA laws were broken.
Until the EPA tightens up their standards and regulations for drinking water, individual households may have to take matters in their own hands. If you live in a community with private well water, you should have your water tested for chemicals and toxins. If your water is found to be unsafe, you may want to consider installing a whole house water filter. Whole house water filtration systems will remove dangerous chemicals and metals like perchlorate and arsenic from every faucet and shower in the shower, drastically reducing chances of chemical-induced diseases.