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Millions of Americans are drinking water contaminated with the carcinogenic chemical that came to national attention in the 2000 feature film Erin Brockovich. Laboratory tests commissioned by Environmental Working Group (EWG) found hexavalent chromium, or chromium-6, in the drinking water of 31 of 35 selected U.S. cities. Among those with the highest levels were Norman, Okla.; Honolulu; and Riverside, Calif.
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The authoritative National Toxicology Program (NTP) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has said that chromium-6 in drinking water shows “clear evidence of carcinogenic activity” in laboratory animals, increasing the risk of gastrointestinal tumors. Just last October, a draft review by the EPA similarly found that ingesting the chemical in tap water is “likely to be carcinogenic to humans.” Other health risks associated with exposure include liver and kidney damage, anemia and ulcers.
In response to the NTP study and others, California last year became the first state to propose setting a public health goal for chromium-6 in drinking water of 0.06 parts per billion (ppb) – setting the stage for establishing a statewide enforceable limit.
The hazards of chromium-6 contamination first came to light in 1993, when Brockovich helped build a now-famous class action lawsuit against Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) for polluting the water supply of Hinkley, Calif. The suit eventually led to a $333 million settlement.
“Every single day, pregnant mothers in Norman, Oklahoma, school children in Madison, Wisconsin, and many other Americans are drinking water laced with this cancer-causing chemical,” said EWG senior scientist Rebecca Sutton, Ph.D. “If the EPA required local water utilities to test for hexavalent chromium, the public would at least know if it was present in their local water. Without mandatory tests and a safe legal limit that all utilities must meet, many of us will continue to swallow some quantity of this carcinogen every day.”
“It is sometimes difficult to understand why I still have to warn the public about the presence of hexavalent chromium in drinking water 23 years after my colleagues and I first sounded the alarm,” said Brockovich. “This report underscores, in fairly stark terms, the health risks that millions of Americans still face because of water contamination.”
In 25 cities tested by EWG, concentrations of chromium-6 in tap water were higher than California’s proposed public health limit. In Norman, Okla. (population 90,000), the level was more than 200 times the state’s proposed safe level.
EWG’s investigation is the broadest publicly available survey of hexavalent chromium contamination of drinking water to date. The 31 cities shown to have chromium-polluted tap water draw from utilities that collectively serve more than 26 million people. In California, the only state that requires testing for chromium-6, utilities have reported detecting the compound in tap water supplied to more than 31 million people, according to an EWG analysis of data from the state water agency.
Concerned consumers can dramatically reduce the amount of the chemical in their drinking water by investing in a reverse osmosis filtration system for the home. There is no legal limit for hexavalent chromium in bottled water either, so consumers cannot assume it is free of the contaminant.
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