Is Drinking Water Safe? Research Paper Example

Introduction  

The New York Times recently reported on an issue that is of critical importance to the public health of a majority of United States residents.  According to federal data analyzed by The New York Times, more than 20% of the Nation’s water treatment systems have violated key provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act of the last 5 years.  The Environmental Protection Agency is the federal agency responsible for inspecting and enforcing the quality standards to the nations to the nation’s 54,700 water systems.

Charles Duhigg, reporter for the New York Times, stated that “Since 2004, the water provided to more than 49 million people has contained illegal concentrations of chemicals like arsenic or radioactive substances like uranium, as well as dangerous bacteria often found in sewage.”  Contamination of public drinking water is a major cause for concern for the citizens of the United States since, as the New York Times reports, “studies indicate that drinking water contaminates are linked to millions of instances of illness within the United States each year.” (Duhigg, 2009)  In addition, “many of the dangerous contaminants regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act have been tied to diseases like cancer that can take years to develop.” (Duhigg, 2009)  Public outage at the situation is starting to emerge and government officials are beginning to show concern for the lack of progress being made at keeping drinking water clean, including “Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, who in 2007 asked the EPA for data on American’s exposure to some contaminates in drinking water.” (Duhigg, 2009)

The EPA is charged with enforcing the Safe Drinking Water Act standards, yet the records showed, according to the New York Times, “that fewer than 6% of the water systems that broke the law were ever fined or punished by state or federal officials, including those at the EPA.” (Duhigg, 2009)  In response to the situation, the Senate Environment and Public Works committee questioned high-ranking E.P.A. officials about the agency’s enforcement of drinking-water safety laws.  One promising policy that was recently announced by the E.P.A. was the new policy that will regulate the mining industry’s impact on watershed pollution.  A new set of guidelines were issued in April of 2010 that would put stricter conditions on mining projects and the amount of toxic water run-off into watersheds that provide public drinking water.  The regulations were mostly aimed at “mountaintop removal mining, an aggressive form of coal extraction that uses explosives and vast machinery to tear off hilltops to expose coal seams, dumping the resulting rubble into streams and valleys below” (Zeller, 2010), according to the New York Times.

Stakeholders

Anyone who drinks public tap water is affected by its contamination. However, some agencies have more at stake than others.  The governmental agencies charged with the regulation of drinking water have the responsibility to ensure its safety for the American citizens.  Some industries add, as a byproduct of their process, a large amount of contaminates to the watersheds that supply the nation’s drinking water.

• Public/Consumers: are suffering by the lack of enforced standards. Cancer causing chemicals are being consumed daily by consumers, both adults and children. According to the New York Times, “The majority of drinking water violations since 2004 have occurred at water systems serving fewer than 20,000 residents, where resources and managerial expertise are often in short supply.” (Duhigg, 2009)  Fines, if enforced, often fall to the taxpayer.  Aid needs to come from the federal or state governments to help these rural communities meet the Safe Drinking Water standards.
• Environmental Protection Agency: The governmental body who oversees safety standards for the public. Lisa P. Jackson is the agency administrator. The New York Times quoted E.P.A. spokeswoman Adora Andy as saying, “This administration has made it clear that clean drinking water is a top priority.” (Duhigg, 2009).  Lisa P. Jackson announced in 2009 that the E.P.A. would be initiating an overhaul of the enforcement of the Clean Water Act.  The wide-ranging plan would be do regulate and reduce pollution into waterways.
• EPA Officials: In the New York Times article, Duhigg quoted several lower level EPA agents who were in charge of enforcing law. According o the EPA spokeswoman, Ms. Andy, the fault was not of the EPA itself.  Instead, she claims “The previous eight years provides a perfect example of what happens when political leadership fails to act to protect our health and the environment.”  However, EPA officials had a different story. According to Duhigg, “current and former officials said that enforcing the Safe Drinking Water Act has not been a federal priority.”  He quotes one longtime EPA enforcement official (anonymously) as saying “I proposed drinking water cases, but they got shut down so fast that I’ve pretty much stopped even looking for violations.  The top people want big headlines and million-dollar settlements.  That’s not drinking-water cases.” (Duhigg, 2009)
• National Mining Association: New E.P.A. guidelines will limit mining operations in order to reduce dangerous run-off from contaminating waterways. Bruce Watzman is a senior vice president for regulatory affairs at the N.M.A. and the New York Times quoted him as saying, “America’s coal mining communities are deeply concerned by the impact of the new policy announced by the E.P.A. on coal mining permits, employment and economic activity throughout Appalachia.” (Zeller, 2010)  The concern for the mining industry is that their business will be hurt in order to protect the water supply.
• USGS/National Water Quality Assessment Program: The United States Geological Survey is a governmental body in charge with conducting scientific assessment on different environmental factors that impact the United States. They have compiled vast amounts of data on watershed contamination and where it is coming from.  Data compiled by the USGS is often used for policy decisions by agencies like the E.P.A.  The mission statement of the USGS, according to their website, is to “serve the Nation by providing reliable scientific information to describe and understand the Earth; minimize loss of life and property from natural disasters; manage water, biological, energy, and mineral resources; and enhance and protect our quality of life.” (USGS, 2010)
• Natural Resources Defense Council: “American’s waterways bring our nation to life, but too often, they’ve been neglected, polluted, and ignored. From the Chesapeake Bay to the California coastline, the NRDC is fighting to reclaim American’s most important and threatened waterways and ensure that overtaxed water resources are protected for future generations.” This is a statement from the NRDC’s webpage.  The NRDC is a grassroots environmental action group that has over 1.3 million members.  In addition, they have over 350 lawyers, scientists and other professionals who are dedicated to keeping the Earth safe for the people, plants, animals and natural systems on which all life depends.  Senior attorney Jon Devine from the NRDC was quoted by the New York Times as saying in response to the tougher regulations imposed by the EPA on the mining industry, “I think it’s a very good day for people in Appalachia.  EPA is making clear that it is intending to follow the science when it issues permits.” (Zeller, 2010)

Public Policy Solution

 The Clean Water Act 1972 (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.): According to the EPA’s website, the basis of the Clean Water Act was enacted in 1948 under the title Federal Water Pollution Control Act.  It was expanded in 1972 and in 1977 it was expanded with amendments.  “Under the CWA, the EPA has implemented pollution control programs such as setting wastewater standards for industry.  We also set water quality standards for all contaminants in surface waters.” (EPA, 2010)

National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES):  According to the EPA’s website, the NPDES is an agency under the EPA.  In accordance with the Clean Water Act, the NPDES permit program that controls water pollution by regulating point sources that discharge pollutants into the waters of the United States.” (EPA, 2010)

Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300f et seq.): In 1974 the Safe Drinking Water Act was established to protect the quality of water in the U.S., whether it be from above ground or underground sources, according to the EPA’s website.  “The act authorized the EPA to establish minimum standards to protect tap water and required all owners or operators of public water systems to comply with these primary (health-related) standards. In 1996 amendments to SDWA required that EPA consider a detailed risk and cost assessment, and best available peer-reviewed science, when developing these standards.” (EPA, 2010). The evidence gathered by the New York Times showed that over 20% of public water was substandard in 2009.  The New York Times interviewed E.P.A. officials who were doubtful that the agency would begin enforcing stricter laws.  “The same people who told us to ignore Safe Drinking Water Act violations are still running the divisions.  There’s no accountability, and so nothing’s going to change.” (Duhigg, 2009)

Conclusion

From the evidence gathered by the New York Times, the regulations set down by the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act are being violated.  The EPA, the governmental body responsible for enforcing regulations and administering fines, has not been punishing offenders, according to the EPA documents reported on by the New York Times.  Lisa Jackson of the EPA responded by issuing tougher new quality guidelines in April of 2010.  The new standards, which are supposed to be stronger than the old ones, will now not allow new projects that will likely result in levels 5 times above normal runoff pollution.  It seems that current runoff pollution is currently much higher than that, though the article does not specify the current rate of contamination from the mining operations.  The New York Times did not lay out any penalties for violators or specify how the new regulations will be enforced.  As well, there isn’t any documentation of the new regulations on the EPA’s official website, nor on the website of the National Resource Defense Fund.  However, the EPA’s assistant administrator Cynthia Giles did announce the EPA’s enforcement goals and initiatives for the 2011-2013 fiscal years on the EPA website.  Two of the targeted initiatives dealt directly with curbing water pollution.

One of the targeted issues that will be addressed, according to the EPA’s website, is to “keep raw sewage and contaminated storm water out of the Nation’s waters.” (EPA, 2010) According to the website, the EPA “National Enforcement Initiative will focus on reducing discharges from combined sewer overflows (“CSOs”), sanitary sewer overflows (“SSOs”), and municipal separate storm sewer systems (“MS4s”) in FY2011-2013, by obtaining cities’ commitments to implement timely, affordable solutions to these problems, including increased use of green infrastructure and other innovative approaches.” (EPA, 2010).

According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, some municipalities are already taking action to prevent city runoff from polluting drinking water by utilizing low impact development.  Run off of rain water from city streets can add many pollutants to drinking water supplies.  This type of water contamination is called urban runoff, according to the NRDC website.  The article goes on to say that that EPA now considers this type of pollution the greatest contaminant threat to America’s waters.

Some cities are responding to the problem of pollution due to run-off by implementing what is known as “low-impact development” to curb the pollution from runoff.  Native plants are strategically planted to help absorb rainwater before it runs off the surface.  In addition, rain barrels and green roofs help to collect rainwater for re-use instead of losing it to runoff.  Finally, hard surfaces are paved with porous material instead of asphalt.  This technique simply mirrors natures own way of filtering rainwater, and results in less water runoff, and less pollution.

Another water issue that the EPA will be tackling with its initiative in the years 2011 to 2010 is to “prevent animal waste from contaminating surface and ground waters.” (EPA, 2010).   According to their website, concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, are heavy contaminators of ground water.  In these operations, there is usually a high amount of manure and dead animals.  “If not properly controlled, manure can overflow from lagoons or run off from the fields into nearby surface waters or seep into ground water, carrying disease-causing pathogens, nutrients, or other contaminants into the water.  This contaminates both surface waters and ground waters that may be used as drinking water sources and harms fish and other aquatic species in surface water.” (EPA, 2010)  The EPA promises that it will “focus primarily on existing large and medium CAFOs identified as discharging without a permit.”

Despite the talk of the EPA and federal government that they are going to crack down on polluters and enforce tougher regulations, it remains to be seen if anything will actually be done.  If federal government and the EPA continue to let the public taxpayers down by not enforcing the laws to keep the public water supply clean, then it will be up to the communities themselves to step up and take action to protect their water supplies.  Green design is one way in which individuals and communities can begin to make positive changes in reducing pollutants in ground and drinking water.  Tougher lobbying by environmental and grassroots organizations is another way for the issues to get noticed by the public and lawmakers.  In any case, it is necessary for action to be taken, as the public health crisis will continue as consumers continue to drink contaminated drinking water.

References

Duhigg, Charles. (2009, December 7) Millions in U.S. drink dirty water, records show.  New York Times Online. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/08/business/energy-environment/08water.html?_r=2

Environmental Protection Agency. 2010.  Summary of the Clean Water Act. Retrieved from http://www.epa.gov/ebtpages/watewaterpollution.html

Natural Resources Defense Council, 2010. Mimicking nature to solve a water-pollution problem. Retrieved from http://www.nrdc.org/water/default.asp

United States Geological Survey, 2010.  A Primer on Water Quality. Retrieved from http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs-027-01/

Zeller, Tom Jr. (2010, April1) E.P.A. to limit water pollution from mining.  The New York Times Online. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/02/science/earth/02coal.html