How Much Should You Worry About Your Tap Water?
Last week, the Environmental Protection Working Group released an updated database where you can enter your zip code and get a report on the pollutants in your tap water. In some ways, this is a great tool, but it also has serious drawbacks.
Basically, it’s a set of public data, repackaged to focus on things the government thinks are safe enough, but which the EWG wants to trigger anyway. Remember, the EWG is the same group that wants you to believe in the “dirty dozen” pesticide vegetables (they are okay) and wants you to believe you need their ratings to choose safe sunscreen (You do not ).
I really like the water database – it is more useful and instructive than the examples above – but we have to admit that the EWG also has a financial conflict of interest here. As soon as they scare you about your water, you will see a big button: “Do you want to filter this pollution?”
Clicking on that button will take you to a page where you can buy water filters (from a $ 13 refrigerator filter to a $ 2,100 embedded system) through Amazon links that give EWG a discount. I can’t say enough that the EWG benefits financially from things that overwhelm and confuse you .
A conflict of interest does not invalidate information, but it can affect how the story is told. The EWG sent out a press release describing how they want the media to cover this, and most have followed suit. They assumed that tap water could put you at risk of cancer, and only the EWG is telling you the truth. However, if you can get rid of your panic and be suspicious of the results, this tool is actually very handy.
This data has always been publicly available, but now you can actually find it.
The best thing about this database is that it exists and is easy to use. You enter your zip code and a pop-up window appears with the names of the water companies in your area. Test results with a lot of context of acceptable levels and test history are just a click away.
All information comes from government reports, so you might think you can just look at these reports at their source, but I found it literally impossible to do that. Visit the EPA website here and see if you have any better luck. I searched for my water company by name – to no avail. I had to flip through all the lists by state, but I still didn’t figure out how to get my water report.
However, it is easy to find your water company on the EWG website. I also learned that mine draws water from two other sources, including one that I know has problems with lead in the water. I didn’t understand that the two systems are related. The EWG’s version of this data clarifies a lot of things that the EPA hides in the reports .
The EWG doesn’t tell you what’s most important
The EWG report shows many different pollutants, but lead – perhaps the most important – is hidden behind a button that says “What about lead?”
I looked for Flint, a Michigan water supplier. At the top of the EWG’s report, “the tap water supplied by this utility met federal drinking water sanitary standards.” You have to click “How about lead?” button to find out that this is not entirely true. Flint, of course, has sky-high lead levels .
The EWG database also does nothing to help you figure out which pollutants are most important or dangerous; it is just that they are all listed as present or present above the “health advice”. While you can search for water filters by pollution, many pollutants are not shown in the report when you search for filters. For example, dichloroacetic acid is one of the pollutants in reports (“Dichloracetic acid cancer”, the label reads), but you cannot find a filter that can handle this chemical. Instead, no advice is given on what to do.
Is my water safe?
If your water meets EPA guidelines, you should be fine.
But the EWG says we also need to pay attention to the guidelines that are set as public health goals. Both the EPA and other bodies, such as the California Water Management Board, set guidelines such as a maximum target for pollution , and then they set a binding limit as close to that target as technology allows. This means that sometimes the two numbers are quite far apart, because there may not be a test that detects very low concentrations of the pollutant, or there is no real way to treat the water to reduce pollution. level.
So if your water is below the official limit, it could mean that your water company cannot reduce it. On the other hand, nobody says we need more of these pollutants. So this is one of those things where you are probably fine, but could be better. Is it worth buying (and throwing away) water filters if tap water isn’t really dangerous? Your call, but I will continue to drink tap water right now.
Should we all just drink bottled water?
Bottled water is probably no better than tap water. The EWG and I agree with this . Some bottled waters are actually just bottled tap water. Sometimes they are filtered. But they are not required to check for contaminants. Unless something is seriously wrong with your local water – like the way you live in Flint – there is no advantage to drinking bottled water.