Water pollution news: Chemical contamination of our drinking water.

From Did you know? Chemical Facts on www.savethewater.org This is a partial list of the chemicals you may expect to find in your drinking water. This is the Priority Pollutants List from the EPA. STW™ suspects that since there are 80,000 to 100,000 chemicals in commercial use in the U.S. and worldwide, that there are thousands more chemicals in our water that we don’t even know are there or test for. Since this is the group of chemicals that the E.P.A. mandates to have certain limits, the other 99,800 have no limits at all and can be legally in our drinking water in any amount.
REGULATIONS|Federal Regulatory Program Lists
List: Priority Pollutants (Clean Water Act)
Description
The federal Clean Water Act (CWA), an amendment to the federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972, establishes the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants into the waters of the United States. Section 307 defines a list of priority pollutants for which the U.S. EPA must establish ambient water- quality criteria (the basis of state water-quality standards) and effluent limitations (rules controlling environmental releases from specific industrial categories based on the “best available technology economically achievable”).

The initial list of priority pollutants was based on a 1977 consent decree that settled a legal challenge to the U.S. EPA’s program for controlling hazardous pollutants. A relatively small number of revisions to the list have been made by the U.S. EPA administrator since 1977. Decisions to expand the list must take into account the toxicity, persistence, and degradability of the pollutant; the potential presence and the importance of affected organisms in any waters; and the nature and extent of the effect of the toxic pollutant on such organisms.
Reference
EPA, Office of Water. Water Quality Standards Database.
http://oaspub.epa.gov/wqsdatabase/wqsi_epa_criteria.rep_parameter

 
 


The pollution of our water resources can have serious and wide-ranging effects on the environment and human health. The immediate effects of water pollution can be seen in water bodies and the animal and plant life that inhabits them. Pollution poisons and deforms fish and other animals, unbalances ecosystems and causes a reduction in biodiversity. Ultimately, these effects take their toll on human life. Drinking water sources become contaminated, causing sickness and disease. Pollutants accumulate in food, making it dangerous or inedible. The presence of these toxic substances in our food and water can also can lead to reproductive problems and neurological disorders. EPA studies and monitors the effects of water pollution and uses this information to set healthy emissions standards and enforce environmental regulations.

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