Study Finds That 56,000 Californians Are Drinking Arsenic-Tainted Water
By Peak Johnson
Drought is not the only water concern for Californians these days. A recent study found that nearly 56,000 Californians are exposed to drinking water that has surpassed the federal safety standards for arsenic.
Arsenic naturally occurs in California’s groundwater, weather.com reported. Besides damaging a child’s developing brain, arsenic has been known to cause hypertension and diabetes.
“More than three years after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found California in noncompliance with the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, 95 community water systems in the state, serving more than 55,000 people, are still providing water with illegal levels of arsenic,” according to a report from the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) that came out earlier this month, which states that 55,985 people are affected.
The report stated that one of the issues with California’s handling of the arsenic exposure is the lack of warning for people who live in poorer communities. These residents, unfortunately, have been exposed to arsenic for at least five years, according to the report.
“California public water systems notify customers through letters sent to homes whenever water fails to meet health limits for arsenic, but those same notices suggest the water is safe to drink,” EIP executive director Eric Schaeffer told TakePart.
The state has made progress in reducing arsenic and other contaminants in drinking water in the last three years, the report said. Steps were taken, such as doubling the amount of funding for water treatment plants, pipelines, and new wells.
California also ordered the upgrade of local systems and directed small, “underfunded utilities to merge with larger water suppliers.”
As a result, the U.S. EPA decided that in May the state was once again in accordance with the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.
“Public health experts say that drinking water with arsenic is a lot like smoking," EIP director of communications Tom Pelton told CBS San Franciso Bay Area. "When you smoke a cigarette you’re not going to drop dead immediately from one cigarette but the longer you smoke the bigger your cancer risk. It’s just not right in the richest country in the world that we should have people drinking contaminated water.”