Is Tap Water the Same in Every City?

Bottled water is a booming business, and a new report from an environmental group underscores the fact that it is not only popular, but possibly necessary.

According to a recent study by the Environmental Working Group, many cities and regions across the United States are supplying residents with potentially harmful tap water. The research builds on previous work by the Environmental Protection Agency that analyzed water samples in search of so-called PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances).

The study identified 20 places where the water contains PFAS levels of at least 10 parts per trillion, including Philadelphia, Miami, and Washington, DC, and several places with levels over 100 parts per trillion. There were 43 locales where levels reached 1 part per trillion, including Las Vegas, New York, and Nashville, Tennessee.

PFAS, which are commonly called "forever chemicals" because they tend to remain in the environment for very long periods of time, have been linked to health problems such as raised cholesterol, obesity, reproductive issues, liver disease, and kidney disease.

While Meridian, Mississippi was the only place completely free of PFAS, Seattle, Washington and Tuscaloosa, Alabama were cited as having levels of less than 1 part per trillion. Although the EPA has set an acceptable contamination level of 70 parts per trillion, the limit is unenforceable, and many states have opted for much stricter limits.

In fact, toxicologist Linda Birnbaum, director of the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences, has said the limit should be far lower, perhaps even .1 part per trillion. “If you look at the data, pancreatic tumors are present at very, very low concentrations,” Birnbaum said at a 2019 conference on PFAS.

Trading tap for a bottle: