How to Learn the Truth about Your Tap Water

How to Learn the Truth about Your Tap Water

by Barbara Minton
See all TBYIL articles by Barbara Minton

(The Best Years in Life) Water is fundamental to life, so many would agree that having plenty of good clean tap water is a basic human right. But a constant stream of headlines has kept us alert to the toxic chemicals and pollutants showing up in tap water. So how can you can find out the true state of the tap water coming out of your faucets? The Environmental Working Group (EWG), a nonprofit organization devoted to human and environmental health has created a data base that rates all water companies in the U.S. and lists the specific hazards of each so they can be addressed.

Since this initiative began in 2004, drinking water quality analysis of almost 20 million records obtained from state water officials by EWG has revealed 315 chemical pollutants in the tap water we bath in and drink. The group recently spotlighted one of the most dangerous findings: the tap water of more than 30 US cities contains hexavalent chromium (chromium-6), a probable carcinogen made famous in the film Erin Brockovich. This chemical is linked to leukemia and other cancers as well as liver and kidney damage. Read More.

To check the quality of your drinking water: Go here and look for the blue box on the right. Put in your zip code and the name of your water company. Then learn the truth about your water.