scholarly journals The widespread and unjust drinking water and clean water crisis in the United States

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Tom Mueller ◽  
Stephen Gasteyer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
The United States ◽  
Clean Water ◽  
Water Crisis ◽  
Social Dimensions ◽  
Community Water Systems ◽  
Full Picture ◽  
Using Data

AbstractMany households in the United States face issues of incomplete plumbing and poor water quality. Prior scholarship on this issue has focused on one dimension of water hardship at a time, leaving the full picture incomplete. Here we complete this picture by documenting the full scope of water hardship in the United States and find evidence of a regionally-clustered, socially unequal nationwide household water crisis. Using data from the American Community Survey and the Environmental Protection Agency, we show there are 489,836 households lacking complete plumbing, 1,165 community water systems in Safe Drinking Water Act Serious Violation, and 21,035 Clean Water Act permittees in Significant Noncompliance. Further, we demonstrate this crisis is regionally clustered, with the specific spatial pattern varying by the specific form of water hardship. Elevated levels of water hardship are associated with the social dimensions of rurality, poverty, indigeneity, education, and age—representing a nationwide environmental injustice.

Associations of Community Water Lead Concentrations with Hemoglobin Concentrations and Erythropoietin-Stimulating Agent Use among Patients with Advanced CKD

2021 ◽  
pp. ASN.2020091281
Author(s):  
John Danziger ◽  
Kenneth J. Mukamal ◽  
Eric Weinhandl
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Kidney Disease ◽  
The United States ◽  
Water Systems ◽  
Adverse Outcomes ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Community Water Systems ◽  
Community Water ◽  
Lead Levels

BackgroundAlthough patients with kidney disease may be particularly susceptible to the adverse health effects associated with lead exposure, whether levels of lead found commonly in drinking water are associated with adverse outcomes in patients with ESKD is not known.MethodsTo investigate associations of lead in community water systems with hemoglobin concentrations and erythropoietin stimulating agent (ESA) use among incident patients with ESKD, we merged data from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Safe Drinking Water Information System (documenting average 90th percentile lead concentrations in community water systems during 5 years before dialysis initiation, according to city of residence) with patient-level data from the United States Renal Data System.ResultsAmong 597,968 patients initiating dialysis in the United States in 2005 through 2017, those in cities with detectable lead levels in community water had significantly lower pre-ESKD hemoglobin concentrations and more ESA use per 0.01 mg/L increase in 90th percentile water lead. Findings were similar for the 208,912 patients with data from the first month of ESKD therapy, with lower hemoglobin and higher ESA use per 0.01 mg/L higher lead concentration. These associations were observed at lead levels below the EPA threshold (0.015 mg/L) that mandates regulatory action. We also observed environmental inequities, finding significantly higher water lead levels and slower declines over time among Black versus White patients.ConclusionsThis first nationwide analysis linking EPA water supply records to patient data shows that even low levels of lead that are commonly encountered in community water systems throughout the United States are associated with lower hemoglobin levels and higher ESA use among patients with advanced kidney disease.

Environmental Protection in the United States Pulp, Paper, and Paperboard Industry: An Overview of Regulation of Wastewater Under the U.S. Clean Water Act

1988 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca W. Hanmer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Clean Water Act ◽  
Paper Industry ◽  
Oxygen Demand ◽  
The United States ◽  
Pulp And Paper ◽  
Clean Water ◽  
Pulp Paper

The pulp, paper, and paperboard industry in the United States is the larqest industrial user of water with half of the facilities discharging wastewater directly to our Nation's waters. The major pollutants of concern have historically been the conventional pollutants: biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), total suspended solids (TSS), and pH. Biological treatment systems are currently employed to reduce these pollutants. Sludges generated by these treatment systems have been categorized as nonhazardous and are generally landfilled. Under the Clean Water Act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has promulgated all the reguired regulations for this industry. The national regulations are applied to individual pulp and paper mills through permits issued by EPA Regional or State staff. Permit limits can be written that are more restrictive than the national regulations to protect local water guality. In its current projects concerning the pulp and paper industry, EPA is focusing on the reduction of toxic pollutants. The Agency is conducting a joint EPA/industry program to study dioxin discharges at bleached kraft mills. The Agency will also undertake a comprehensive review of the pulp and paper regulations in 1988.

Arsenic in drinking water-problems and solutions

1999 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Viraraghavan ◽  
K. S. Subramanian ◽  
J. A. Aruldoss
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Ion Exchange ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
The United States ◽  
Activated Alumina ◽  
Column Studies ◽  
Maximum Contaminant Level ◽  
Aluminum Salts ◽  
Contaminant Level

The current United States maximum contaminant level for arsenic in drinking water is set at 50 μg/l. Because of the cancer risks involved, Canada has already lowered the maximum contaminant level to 25 μg/l; the United States Environmental Protection Agency is reviewing the current allowable level for arsenic with a view of lowering it significantly. Various treatment methods have been adopted to remove arsenic from drinking water. These methods include 1) adsorption-coprecipitation using iron and aluminum salts, 2) adsorption on activated alumina, activated carbon, and activated bauxite, 3) reverse osmosis, 4) ion exchange and 5) oxidation followed by filtration. Because of the promise of oxidation-filtration systems, column studies were conducted at the University of Regina to examine oxidation with KMnO4 followed by filtration using manganese greensand and iron-oxide coated sand to examine the removal of arsenic from drinking water; these results were compared with the data from ion exchange studies. These studies demonstrated that As (III) could be reduced from 200 μg/l to below 25 μg/l by the manganese greensand system. In the case of manganese greensand filtration, addition of iron in the ratio of 20:1 was found necessary to achieve this removal.

scholarly journals Michigan Oil and Gas Update

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
William A. Horn ◽  
Joshua D. Beard
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
The United States ◽  
Safe Drinking Water ◽  
Protection Agency ◽  
Part C ◽  
Underground Injection ◽  
Injection Control

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (“EGLE”), formerly the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, is in the process of seeking primary enforcement responsibility from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) for its Underground Injection Control (“UIC”) program for Class II wells pursuant to Part C of the Safe Drinking Water Act (“SDWA”).

scholarly journals Review of perchlorate occurrence in large public drinking water systems in the United States of America

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 681-694
Author(s):  
Steven J. Luis ◽  
Elizabeth A. Miesner ◽  
Clarissa L. Enslin ◽  
Keith Heidecorn
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
The United States ◽  
Water Systems ◽  
Contaminant Monitoring ◽  
Public Drinking Water ◽  
Regulatory Bodies ◽  
Public Drinking

Abstract When deciding whether or not to regulate a chemical, regulatory bodies often evaluate the degree to which the public may be exposed by evaluating the chemical's occurrence in food and drinking water. As part of its decision-making process, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) evaluated the occurrence of perchlorate in public drinking water by sampling public water systems (PWSs) as part of the first implementation of the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR 1) between 2001 and 2005. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the current representativeness of the UCMR 1 dataset. To achieve this objective, publicly available sources were searched to obtain updated perchlorate data for the majority of large PWSs with perchlorate detections under UCMR 1. Comparison of the updated and UCMR 1 perchlorate datasets shows that the UCMR 1 dataset is no longer representative because the extent and degree of occurrence has decreased since implementation of UCMR 1. Given this finding, it seems appropriate for regulatory bodies engaged in decision-making processes over several years to periodically re-evaluate the conditions that prompted the regulatory effort, thereby ensuring that rules and regulations address actual conditions of concern.

Occurrence of Viruses in Treated Drinking Water in the United States

1985 ◽  
Vol 17 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 689-700 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elmer W. Akin
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Virus Detection ◽  
Enteric Virus ◽  
Viral Disease ◽  
The United States ◽  
Contaminated Drinking Water ◽  
Treated Drinking Water ◽  
The U.S

Health concerns regarding waterborne transmission of enteric viruses began to develop around 1940 in the United States (U.S.) with the isolation of poliovirus from human feces and sewage. The implication of these isolations for the transmission of viral disease through contaminated drinking water stimulated research on methodology for virus detection, recovery and assessment from water. Although virus methods research is still an important area of study, relatively sensitive procedures became available during the past decade for recovering many enteric virus types from large-volume samples of drinking water. Controversy surrounded many of the early reported isolations of viruses from treated drinking water using these procedures due to the suspicion of laboratory contamination. The occurrence of viruses in drinking water treated by currently accepted procedures has still not been proven by the U.S. experience although the likelihood may be gaining support. However, a virus survey of 54 water supplies and extensive studies of two water systems by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency did not demonstrate viral contamination of treated water derived from surface sources.

Flint, Michigan, and the Politics of Safe Drinking Water in the United States

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Sara Hughes
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Financial Distress ◽  
Multiple Scales ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Water Crisis ◽  
Safe Drinking Water ◽  
Structured Interviews

Flint’s drinking water crisis has brought renewed⸺and needed⸺attention to the importance of safe drinking water in the United States. The Flint water crisis was the result of a confluence of factors operating at multiple scales in time and space. My aim is to draw out more explicitly the role of policy, and specifically rationalized policy, in incentivizing and allowing the mistakes and decisions that most proximately led to the Flint water crisis. I build on and extend existing analyses of the Flint water crisis, drawing on thirteen semi-structured interviews and publicly available reports, testimony, newspaper articles, and secondary data. My analysis brings to the fore the particular vulnerability to the marginalizing effects of rationalized policy and its implementation of poor and minority communities in the United States, and it reveals the stickiness and entrenchment of these rationalized policies. The response to the Flint water crisis, both in Michigan and nationally, has centered on renewed commitment to risk-based standards and rulemaking for safe drinking water protections, and maintains interventionist approaches to municipal financial distress. I discuss important alternatives that are emerging and indicate areas for future research on the politics of safe drinking water.

Effect of NaCl on antimony and phthalate compounds leached from PET bottles

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 766-772 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piyawan Leechart ◽  
Duangrat Inthorn ◽  
Paitip Thiravetyan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Room Temperature ◽  
The United States ◽  
Protection Agency ◽  
Pet Bottles ◽  
Nacl Concentration ◽  
Inner Surface

Nowadays polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles are commonly used as food containers as they are lightweight. PET bottles contain antimony (Sb) and phthalate compounds. In contact with food, antimony and phthalate molecules could migrate from the inner surface of a PET bottle to the food. Therefore, we studied the effect of NaCl concentration in PET bottles on the leakage of antimony and phthalates. It was found that the concentration of antimony leached into the solution was about 6 ngl−1 after 5 days storage at room temperature in the absence of NaCl. Increasing NaCl concentrations to 6% caused a decrease in the amount of soluble antimony in the solution to 2 ngl−1 under the same conditions. In addition, the maximum leakage of phthalate compounds of about 130 ngl−1 occurred after 35 days of storage at 60 °C in 0.1% NaCl. It was found that the leakage of phthalate compounds decreased at higher NaCl concentrations (NaCl 0.5%–30%). Higher NaCl concentrations led to a decrease in the migration of antimony and phthalate compounds into the solution. This might be due to the fact that antimony and phthalate compounds form complexes with NaCl. However, the leakage of these compounds was lower than the standard guidelines of the United States Environmental Protection Agency for drinking water.

scholarly journals Drinking water public right-to-know requirements in the United States

2008 ◽  
Vol 6 (S1) ◽  
pp. 43-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veronica Blette
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
The United States ◽  
Water Utilities ◽  
Right To Know ◽  
Local Public Health ◽  
Health Community ◽  
State Compliance ◽  
Utility Managers

The United States Environmental Protection Agency implements a national drinking-water program under the authority of the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act. Amendments to the Act in 1996 added new provisions to enhance consumer understanding of drinking-water issues. Notification requirements associated with annual consumer confidence reports, source water assessments and state compliance reports are intended to enhance the public's knowledge of the quality of their drinking water. Water utilities are also subject to public notification requirements to provide more timely information to consumers in response to violations of health standards. These right-to-know requirements are intended to build the public's confidence, but communicating with consumers can be challenging for both utility managers and government leaders. This paper discusses the need for timely communication, the challenge of providing information when there is uncertainty in the science and the importance of preparing to respond to critical incidents. Because surveys have shown that other members of the community may have better access to consumers or are more trusted, it is important for water utilities to establish relationships with the media and the local public health community.

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