Critics: Texas Water Needs Improvement
By Sara Jerome,
@sarmje
Critics say the tap water in North Texas cities should be cleaner than it is.
“In North Texas, there is a one in four chance the tap water is either unsafe to drink or has not been properly tested, according to a CBS11 I-Team investigation,” CBS DFW reported.
“The I-Team examined the 76 largest water utilities in North Texas and found 20 to be in violation of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. These 20 water utilities with violations provide water for more than 1.7 million people,” the report said.
Among the violations are contaminant infractions as well as failure to test for contamination, among other issues. The report stated that many residents do not know about the issues.
“We assume that the water coming into our homes through our city is clean,” White Settlement resident Rachel Rogers said, per the report.
However, records complicate the story of clean water in White Settlement.
“White Settlement, a city west of Fort Worth, has had more than 78 violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act since 2014,” the report stated, citing federal records.
The same city has had water problems in the past.
“In 2014, levels of radioactive contaminants were discovered in the water that exceeded maximum federal limits. The U.S. EPA warns these type of chemical elements can lead to an increased risk of cancer. According to federal records, it took the city more than three years to fully resolve its radioactive contamination violation,” the report stated.
This is not the only data that raises questions about the water supply in Texas.
Texas ranks worst-in-nation for water violations according to a report from Environment Texas Research and Policy Center tallying up how many times “major industrial facilities released pollution that exceeded the levels allowed under their Clean Water Act” during a 21-month period.
The report provided examples of facilities that violated multiple times and questioned whether overseers at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) are doing enough to respond, according to The Texas Observer.