For decades the Environmental Protection Agency has enforced strict rules about contaminants in drinking water, but some environmental scientists say those rules don't go far enough to protect Americans' health. Those scientists argue the EPA has been slow to update standards or add new contaminants to the list of potentially hazardous substances the federal government regulates in drinking water.
An environmental activist organization based in Washington D.C. called the Environmental Working Group created a nationwide searchable database to illustrate the concerns expressed by their toxicologists.
The EWG database allows users to search for their utility and view the latest EPA inspection and violation records.
Eyewitness News looked at both databases and found water utilities throughout the tristate area meeting federal guidelines but also containing substances like arsenic, radium, and trihalomethanes well above the levels EWG toxicologists recommend in order to eliminate the risk of any health effect.
"Just because it's legal, doesn't necessarily mean it's safe," said Alexis Temkin, a toxicologist at EWG. "Our guidelines are based on what carries no level of risk."
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