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On "Toxic Waters"
Sunday, 13 September, 2009
Tiredly perusing the Sunday edition of The New York Times after a full day of surfing off Morocco's coast, my eyes quickly caught the caption "Toxic Waters," followed by a searing and well researched report by The New York Times concerning the current state of our nation's water supply. The Clean Water Act, and a host of both federal and state laws are supposed to address the dumping of contaminants in our nation's water supply, but The Times is quick to point out that not only are the laws on the book not enforced, the Environmental Protection Agency and state regulators neither have the political support nor the funds necessary to do their job, and to do it correctly. The result is toxic water. Please check out The New York Times project "Toxic Waters" and the lead article "Clean Water Laws Are Neglected, at a Cost in Suffering," summarizing their findings. An interesting feature in the project allows you to "Find Water Polluters Near You." I have provided some excerpts from The Times report below: "An estimated one in 10 Americans have been exposed to drinking water that contains dangerous chemicals or fails to meet a federal health benchmark in other ways.""Those exposures include carcinogens in the tap water of major American cities and unsafe chemicals in drinking-water wells. Wells, which are not typically regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act, are more likely to contain contaminants than municipal water systems.""Because most of today’s water pollution has no scent or taste, many people who consume dangerous chemicals do not realize it, even after they become sick, researchers say."And what of the solution? Well, aside from more socially conscious businesses who are unwilling to dump toxic chemicals into community waters, more resources, and actually following through with regulation and penalties, we need public pressure to enforce laws, create new ones, and clean our water supply. I encourage everyone to contact their elected officials and voice their concern about the state of our water. We drink it every day. Think about it.Read the original post in all its glory.
