Safer Drinking Water May Be on Tap

Few of us stop to think about everything that occurs in the vast back-end of our water tap. We're tempted to take for granted that when the faucet goes on, clean and safe water will come out. Others may assume the worst, and opt for the bottled stuff.

The Safe Drinking Water Act, established in the 1970s and subsequently revised in the years since, governs the activities of utilities in purifying and providing public drinking water. And according to an announcement by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), our water could be poised to become even safer.

The announcement relates to a proposal to investigate several additional chemicals and microbial agents for potential inclusion on the list of compounds for which utilities must test (and, if necessary, treat) to unsure protection of public health.

Foremost among the list is the hoped-for reversal on perchlorate, a component of pyrotechnics and rocket fuel. This compound is tied to thyroid problems and has been detected in groundwater and drinking water in 35 of the states. The previous administration took a pass on slating perchlorate for drinking water regulation following heavy industrial lobbying.

Additional chemicals proposed for analysis and potential regulation include pesticides and pharmaceuticals, the latter of which have recently come to be found to exist unaltered in treated wastewater returning to the environment.

It's worth noting that patience will be a useful virtue here. The proposed list of about 100 chemicals and a dozen microbes was winnowed down from a list of 7,500 that the EPA initially considered. The next phase will involve subjecting each to additional research by EPA scientists, for possible formal inclusion in the regulatory framework in 2013.

Image courtesy of Anita Martinz, via Wikimedia Commons