water safety

It’s only water — until you’re drowning in problems

Damage control

November 6, 2020

Water may be the staff of life, but any amount of water — from a few drips to heavy downpours — can do damage if it gets into the wrong place at the wrong time.

EPA takes a step in PFAS Action Plan

February 21, 2020

The EPA has proposed “regulatory determinations” for two chemicals whose presence in drinking water has raised alarm among the public and health experts. The agency is proposing to regulate two contaminants perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) – but not six others: 1,1-dichloroethane, acetochlor, methyl bromide, metolachlor, nitrobenzene, and RDX.

Do microplastics in drinking water threaten health?

August 23, 2019

With plastic pollution having emerged as a significant environment and health crisis, the World Health Organization (WHO) is calling for more research into the potential effect on human health of microplastics in drinking water. “We urgently need to know more about the health impact of microplastics because they are everywhere - including in our drinking-water,” says Dr Maria Neira, Director, Department of Public Health, Environment and Social Determinants of Health, at WHO.

Here are the health, environmental concerns keeping us up at night

Falls, climate change, tsunamis

April 18, 2019

What Americans fear most in terms of health and wellness is not necessarily what is currently posing the most danger to them, according to a recent survey by SafeWise. In The State of Safety, a report based on the results of the survey, the independent review site found that falls are the biggest health and wellness concern, while an accidental overdose is way down on the list, coming in at number nine for both men and women.

Groundbreaking Legionella prevention model reported

Number of cases has jumped since 2002

April 16, 2019

A groundbreaking new hazard analysis formula is expected to significantly aid users in preventing Legionella growth in buildings' water systems. Designed by J. David Krause, Ph.D., MSPH, CIH, vice chair of AIHA's Indoor Air Quality Committee and a nationally known expert in toxicology, public health and risk assessment, the tool evaluates the combined effectiveness of control measures used to prevent Legionella and other waterborne pathogens.

La. workers drank potentially unsafe water for years

August 29, 2018

Employees and visitors at a Louisiana manufacturing facility drank potentially contaminated drinking water for four years after deficiencies in the water system were identified, according to the EPA and the DOJ. The two federal agencies say they’ve reached a settlement with CertainTeed Corporation to resolve alleged violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) at the company’s Lake Charles Polymer Plant in Westlake, Louisiana.

Recorder sheds little light on duck boat tragedy

July 30, 2018

The captain of a tourist duck boat that sank near Branson, Missouri July 19 briefed his passengers about how to use life jackets before the amphibious vehicle entered the water, according to National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) technicians, who’ve been studying a recording from “Stretch Boat 7.” Seventeen people died when the amphibious vehicle sank in Table Rock Lake during a severe storm.

A FairWarning story

Fluoride in the water: Too much of a good thing?

Dan Ross

December 15, 2017

In the early 1900s, a young dentist named Frederick McKay moved to a Colorado town where the residents’ teeth — though in some cases stained chocolate brown — had far less decay than was typical back then. He and other researchers eventually linked the phenomenon to fluoride in the town’s drinking water – a eureka moment that would usher in what is often called one of the 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century.

Drinking water still unsafe in Puerto Rico

October 30, 2017

Two months after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, residents of the U.S. territory are still being told to boil water from rivers and streams before using it to drink, bathe, wash or cook with. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said that if it’s not possible to boil water – for at least a minute - water may be disinfected with bleach. That warning is part of an EPA update on Hurricane Maria’s effects on Puerto Rico.

EPA reg helped reduce arsenic in U.S. drinking water

Study shows federal government plays critical role in protecting human health

October 27, 2017

New research conducted at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health finds exposure to arsenic in drinking water was significantly reduced among Americans using public water systems following a 2006 EPA regulation on maximum levels of arsenic. Compliance with the regulation led to a decline of 17 percent in levels of urinary arsenic, equivalent to an estimated reduction of more than 200 cases of lung and bladder disease every year.