AWWA Comments On EWG's Online Database Of Tap Water Quality Testing And Violations

Washington, D.C. — On December 20, 2005, the Environmental Working Group (EWG), an environmental organization, launched an online, interactive database of tap water quality testing from 39,000 public water supplies in 42 states. The data has been compiled from state environment and health agencies. In addition, the Web site will post violation data as it is listed in EPA's Safe Drinking Water Information System database. Tom Curtis, deputy executive director of AWWA, issued the following statement concerning the database.

"As EWG reported, nearly 100 percent of water utilities in the United States meet all of U.S. EPA's health-based standards. That's good news, and it's a reflection of water professionals' ongoing commitment to protecting public health. EPA has a systematic approach to determining which substances should be regulated. Those regulations take into account occurrence data and health effects research, and should reflect the best available science. Water suppliers support strong regulations that protect public health, and they also support proactive research that identifies and examines new substances found in source waters.

"The protection of our source water is extremely important. The better our collective stewardship of our source waters, the less difficult it is to treat that water to achieve the high level of quality we expect at the tap."

SOURCE: AWWA