How Safe is Your Drinking Water?

Well, if you live in these cities…beware because they have been found to have hexavalent chromium in their municipal water supplies. 

Honolulu, HI Bend, OR Sacramento, CA San Jose, CA Los Angeles, CA Riverside, CA Las Vegas, NV Salt Lake City, UT Scottsdale, AZ Phoenix, AZ

Albuquerque, NM Norman, OK Omaha, NE Madison, WI Milwaukee, WI Chicago, IL Ann Arbor, MI Louisville, KY Cincinnati, OH Buffalo, NY

Syracuse, NY Pittsburgh, PA Villanova, PA Boston, MA New Haven, CT New York, NY Bethesda, MD Washington, DC Atlanta, GA Tallahassee, FL Miami, FL

The Environmental Working Group released a report Monday indicating that millions of Americans are regularly drinking hexavalent chromium through their tap water.  

Reported in a story Sunday by the Washington Post's Lyndsey Layton – the EWG tested water from 35 U.S. cities and found that samples from 31 cities contained hexavalent chromium. The highest concentrations were found in Norman, Okla.; Honolulu; and Riverside, Calif. The substance had been a widely used industrial chemical for decades and has evidently leached into the groundwater in many areas.

Hexavalent Chromium?

You know…”Erin Brockovich” (Julia Roberts’ movie).  Remember…the chemical hexavalent chromium poisoned people in the town.  Classified as a "human carcinogen" by the Environmental Protection Agency and according to scientists, ingesting the chemical can lead to liver and kidney damage, leukemia, and stomach cancer. 

How could they let this happen?
It happened because of a 2005 energy law that exempts the Natural Gas industry and the use of fracking technology from regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act.  This exemption allows companies to not disclose any toxic chemicals they may be using in the fracking process. 

What the freak is “Fracking”?
It is the process used by engineers to pump water and chemicals into the earth at a high velocity to break through underground rock. Critics charge that fracking contaminates the air, as well as drinking-water reservoirs near natural-gas wells.

What should you do to protect your family?
Until the EPA regulates hexavalent chromium in drinking water, the EWG suggests the use of a water filter. Don’t choose just any water filter.  To remove chromium you need a filter system that removes heavy metals. The two types that work best are a distiller system or reverse osmoses system.

·         Distiller filters works by boiling water and recondenses the purified steam.  Filters come in countertop or whole house styles and can be combined with a carbon filter. Gets rid of: Heavy metals such as cadmium, chromium, copper, lead and mercury, as well as arsenic, barium, fluoride, selenium and sodium. Cost: anywhere from $65 to $1500.

·         Reverse Osmosis filters consist of a semi-permeable membrane which separates impurities from water. (Note: This filtration technique wastes a substantial amount of water during the treatment process…approx 4 gallons) Filters come in Under-the-sink units; often in combination with a carbon filter or UV disinfection unit. Gets rid of: Most contaminants, including certain parasites such as Cryptosporidium and Giardia; heavy metals such as cadmium, copper, lead and mercury; and other pollutants, including arsenic, barium, nitrate/nitrite, perchlorate and selenium. Cost: anywhere from $120 to $500.