Understanding
Your Drinking Water Quality Report
If you buy
water for domestic use, each year you should receive an annual report from the
water supplier. A water quality report is designed to let the consumer know of
any contaminants in the local drinking water and how the contaminants may
affect your health. Every report must contain certain information such as the
source of drinking water, the susceptibility of the source of water to
contamination, potential health effects of the contaminants that violate Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) health standards, information regarding Cryptosporidium and other microbial
contaminants, contact information for the water system and EPA’s Safe Drinking
Water Hotline (Food & Water Watch, 2008). Some water quality
reports are hard to read and require knowledge to be able to decipher the
jargon. This paper is designed to help water users understand their annual
report. .
The levels of contaminants allowed
in drinking water are set by the EPA. Once
studies regarding the health effect of the contaminants are reviewed the EPA
sets a Maximum Contaminant Level Goal
(MCLG), which is ”the maximum level of a contaminant in drinking water
at which no known or anticipated adverse effect on the health of persons would
occur” (U.S. EPA 2013e). These are non-enforceable public health goals (U.S. EPA, 2013e). Since MCLGs
consider only public health and not the limits of detection and treatment
technology, sometimes they are set at a level which water systems cannot meet. The
enforceable standard is known as Maximum
Contaminant Level (MCL), which is ”the maximum permissible level of a
contaminant in water which is delivered to any user of a public water system” (U.S. EPA, 2013e). When there is
no reliable method that is economically and technically feasible to measure a
contaminant at low concentrations, a Treatment
Technique (TT) is set rather than an MCL. A treatment technique is an ‘enforceable
procedure or level of technological performance’ (U.S. EPA, 2013e) that ensures the
control of a contaminant.
Table 1 Inorganic Contaminant
The above table was taken from the
2013 Annual Drinking Water Quality Report from a local city. This report only provides information
regarding the source of contaminants but not any information regarding the
contaminants themselves. It is important to be aware of the health effects of
any contaminants within your drinking water.
Arsenic- Linked to cancer of the bladder, lungs, skin,
kidney, nasal passages, liver, and prostate (U.S. EPA, 2013a). Other effects can include thickening
and discoloration of the skin, stomach pain, nausea, vomiting; diarrhea;
numbness in hands and feet; partial paralysis; and blindness (U.S. EPA, 2013a).
Barium- Consumption of barium in excess of the maximum
contaminant level (MCL) for many years could experience an increase in their
blood pressure (U.S. EPA, 2013b).
Fluoride- Excessive consumption of fluoride may lead to
increased chance of bone fractures in adults, and may result in effects on bone
leading to pain and tenderness (U.S. EPA, 2013c). Children aged 8 years and younger with
high exposure have increased chance of developing pits in the tooth enamel,
along with a range of cosmetic effects to teeth (U.S. EPA, 2013c).
Nitrate- In infants below six months exposure above the MCL
could become seriously ill and, if untreated, may die; symptoms are shortness
of breath and blue baby syndrome (U.S. EPA, 2014).
Table 2 Radioactive Contaminants
The above table was also taken from
the 2013 Annual Drinking Water Quality Report from the City of Edinburg. This report does not provide background
information about the listed contaminants, the following is a quick overview of
the contaminants. Alpha particles, beta particles and gamma rays are three
major types of ionizing radiation; which is when an unstable atom becomes more
stable by emitting energy (U.S. EPA, 2013d). This emitted energy
in the form of energy rays or high speed particles can displace electrons in
the human body (U.S. EPA, 2013d). With prolong
exposure of the above radioactive contaminants in excess of the MCL, the risk
of cancer increases (U.S. EPA, 2013d).
Being able to interpret a water quality report helps
people understand what is in the water that is consumed on a daily basis. While water quality reports are meant to help
people make informed choices about the drinking water these reports may be
difficult to understand. Understanding your report and knowing about the listed
contaminants may be beneficial to ones health.
References
Food & Water Watch. (2008, July). How to Read
Your Water Quality Report. Retrieved May 29, 2015, from
http://documents.foodandwaterwatch.org/doc/How%20to%20Read%20Your%20Water%20Quality%20Report.pdf#_ga=1.169948000.1335000660.1432925832
U.S. EPA. (2013a). Arsenic in Drinking Water.
Retrieved May 29, 2015, from http://water.epa.gov/lawsregs/rulesregs/sdwa/arsenic/index.cfm
U.S. EPA. (2013b). Basic Information about Barium
in Drinking Water. Retrieved May 29, 2015, from
http://water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/basicinformation/barium.cfm#
U.S. EPA. (2013c). Basic Information about
Fluoride in Drinking Water. Retrieved May 25, 2015, from
http://water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/basicinformation/fluoride.cfm#
U.S. EPA. (2013d). Basic Information about
Radionuclides in Drinking Water. Retrieved May 29, 2015, from
http://water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/basicinformation/radionuclides.cfm#
U.S. EPA. (2013e). Regulating Public Water Systems
and Contaminants Under the Safe Drinking Water Act. Retrieved May 29,
2015, from
http://water.epa.gov/lawsregs/rulesregs/regulatingcontaminants/basicinformation.cfm
U.S. EPA. (2014). Basic Information about Nitrate
in Drinking Water. Retrieved May 29, 2015, from
http://water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/basicinformation/nitrate.cfm
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