{"id":41749,"date":"2016-07-02T16:36:43","date_gmt":"2016-07-02T20:36:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=41749"},"modified":"2016-07-02T16:36:43","modified_gmt":"2016-07-02T20:36:43","slug":"americas-toxic-water-supply-flint-is-the-norm-not-the-exception","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=41749","title":{"rendered":"America’s Toxic Water Supply: Flint is the norm, not the exception"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shocking Report: Over 5,300 U.S. Water Systems Are In Violation Of The Law \u2014 Poisoning Millions<\/h1>\n

<\/p>\n

Claire Bernish
\n<\/a>Activist Post<\/p>\n

According to a new report, some 18 million Americans \u201clive in communities where the water systems are in violation of the law.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Flint apparently marked the tip of a nefarious iceberg, and lead isn\u2019t the only contaminant polluting drinking water for millions in the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cImagine a cop sitting, watching people run stop signs, and speed at 90 miles per hour in small communities and still doing absolutely nothing about it \u2014 knowing the people who are violating the law. And doing nothing,\u201d illustrated<\/a> Erik Olsen, health program director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, which analyzed EPA data for the report. \u201cThat\u2019s unfortunately what we have now.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the NRDC\u2019s scathing report, \u201cWhat\u2019s In Your Water? Flint and Beyond<\/a>,\u201d lead contamination in Flint \u2014 the subject of national outrage and scandal \u2014 is \u201cnot anomalous.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

In fact, 5,363 water systems in the U.S. in 2015 violated the federal Lead and Copper Rule \u2014 putting around 18 million people at risk of consuming those contaminants \u2014 and virtually none of those responsible faced any penalties, much less criminal charges.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor more than a year, government officials callously downplayed or ignored Flint\u2019s toxic water and the majority-black community\u2019s cries for help,\u201d the report asserts. \u201cFederal EPA, state, and state-appointed local environmental officials belittled and refused to listen to Flint residents and their advocates.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Startlingly, Flint was not listed among the communities with lead-tainted water despite ongoing contention, scandal, and controversy, a responsibility of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality \u2014 itself directly involved in the scandal.<\/p>\n

In addition to an acerbic critique of the Flint water crisis \u2014 blamed partially on inadequate guidelines and regulatory rules \u2014 the NRDC study found over 1,000 community water utilities exceeded \u2018actionable\u2019 lead levels set forth by the EPA. According to the report:<\/p>\n

These violations included failures to properly test the water for lead or conditions that could result in lead contamination, failures to report contamination to state officials or the public, and failures to treat the water appropriately to reduce corrosion.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Some 3.9 million people were subjected to the water with levels above 15 parts per billion (ppb) \u2014 at least 10 percent of homes tested \u2014 in 1,110 community supplies.<\/p>\n

Rather alarmingly, the true extent of the contamination of water supplies in the U.S. might not be fully understood. According to the NRDC, underreporting \u2014 an issue known to the EPA \u2014 is endemic for several reasons.<\/p>\n

<\/h4>\n

Improper monitoring, \u201cusing testing methods or strategies that avoid detecting contamination,\u201d prevents violations from being accurately recorded or reported, while incorrect documentation and simple failures in reporting violations to the EPA for its database are all common.<\/p>\n

As in the case of Flint, these failings around the country \u201cmay hide serious health threats.\u201d The report continues:<\/p>\n

NRDC has documented underreporting problems in the EPA\u2019s drinking water database for 25 years; the EPA itself admits that \u2018audits and assessments have shown that violation data are substantially incomplete.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Despite the astronomical number of violations \u2014 and public at risk because of them \u2014 lack of enforcement and penalty run rampant.<\/p>\n

[A]ccording to the EPA\u2019s data, states and the EPA took formal enforcement action against just 11.2 percent of the over 8,000 violations that occurred in 2015 \u2014 leaving 88.8 percent free from any formal enforcement action. Formal enforcement actions were taken against less than one in five health-based violations (17.6 percent). Furthermore, penalties were sought or assessed for only a tiny fraction (3 percent) of violations.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To resolve or alleviate the issue of widespread contamination, NRDC recommends \u201csignificant investment\u201d in water infrastructure nationwide, including the replacement of over 6 million lead service lines, replacing aging or decaying portions of distribution systems, and improvements at treatment plants.<\/p>\n

Further recommendations include necessary clarification and updating of regulations and rules surrounding acceptable levels of various contaminants, including the go-to but oft-violated EPA Lead and Copper Rule.<\/p>\n

While Flint marked a departure from the norm, or an outright shift in roles, with dedicated citizens and scientists committed to exposing lead contamination, the report notes, but,<\/p>\n

We cannot expect such an unlikely set of watchdogs to emerge in the face of every lead crisis.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Indeed, NRDC cautioned, \u201cAs long as we have this culture of hiding violations and attacking staff members who do their jobs, more Flints can be expected.\u201d<\/p>\n

___
\nhttp:\/\/www.activistpost.com\/2016\/06\/shocking-5300-water-systems-poisoning-millions.html?utm_source=Activist+Post+Subscribers&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=f348d48eb7-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_term=0_b0c7fb76bd-f348d48eb7-387756237<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shocking Report: Over 5,300 U.S. Water Systems Are In Violation Of The Law \u2014 Poisoning Millions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41749\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}