United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Water
(4606)
Washington, DC 20460
EPA 816-K-99-001
October 1999

SEPA Drinking  Water
            and  Health
              What You Need
               o Know!
            What contaminants may be found in drinking water? ...
            Where does drinking water come from? ... How is
            drinking water treated? . .. What if I have special health
            needs? . .. What are the health effects of contaminants
            in drinking water? ... Who is responsible for drinking
            water quality? ... What is a violation of a drinking water
            standard? ... How can I help protect drinking water?

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 Introduction
 The United States has one of the safest water supplies in the world.
 However, national statistics don t tell you specifically about the quality
 and safety of the water coming out of your tap. That's because drinking
 water quality varies from place to place, depending on the condition of
 the source water from which it is drawn and the treatment it receives.

 Now you have a new way to find information about your drinking
 water, if it comes from a public water supplier (EPA doesn 't regulate
private wells, but recommends that well owners have their water tested
 annually). Starting in 1999, every community water supplier must
provide an annual report (sometimes called a consumer confidence
 report) to its customers. The report provides information on your local
 drinking water quality, including the water's source, the contaminants
found in the water, and how consumers can get involved in protecting
 drinking water. If you have been looking for specific information about
your drinking water, this annual report will provide you with the
 information you need to begin your investigation.

 These annual reports will by necessity be short documents.  You may
 want more information, or have more questions. One place you can go
 is to your water supplier, who is best equipped to answer questions
 about your specific water supply. This booklet will help you find other
 sources of information.

 At the end of this booklet there is a postcard with a listing of free
publications available from the Environmental Protection Agency
 about drinking water. To order a publication, please check off the
 items you would like to receive, and mail the card.  For other
 assistance, please visit http://www.epa.gov/safewater/ or contact the
 Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1-800-426-4791.

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WH
   hat contaminants may be found
in drinking water?

There is no such thing as naturally pure water. In nature, all water
contains some impurities. As water flows in streams, sits in lakes, and
filters through layers of soil and rock in the ground, it dissolves or
absorbs the substances that it touches. Some of these substances are
harmless. In fact, some people prefer mineral water precisely because
minerals give it an appealing taste. However, at certain levels, minerals, just
like man-made chemicals, are considered contaminants that can make
water unpalatable or even unsafe.

Some contaminants come from erosion of natural rock formations.
Other contaminants are substances discharged from factories, applied
to farmlands, or used by consumers in their homes and yards. Sources
of contaminants might be in your neighborhood or might be many
miles away. Your local water quality report tells which contaminants
are in your drinking water, the levels  at which they were found, and
the actual or likely source of each contaminant.

Some ground water systems have established wellhead protection
programs to prevent substances from contaminating their wells.
Similarly, some surface water systems protect the watershed around
their reservoir to prevent contamination. Right now, states and water
suppliers are working systematically to assess every source of drink-
ing water and to identify potential sources of contaminants. This
process will help communities to protect their drinking water supplies
from contamination, and a summary of the results will be in future
water quality reports.


Where does drinking water come from?

A clean, constant supply of drinking water is essential to every com-
munity. People in large cities frequently  drink water that comes from
surface water sources, such as lakes, rivers, and reservoirs. Sometimes
these sources are close to the community. Other times, drinking water

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suppliers get their water from sources many miles away. In either case,
when you think about where your drinking water comes from, it's
important to consider not just the part of the river or lake that you can
see, but the entire watershed. The watershed is the land area over
which water flows into the river, lake, or reservoir.

In rural areas, people are more likely to drink ground water that was
pumped from a well. These wells tap into aquifers—the natural
reservoirs under the earth's surface—that may be only a few miles
wide, or may span the borders of many states. As with surface water, it
is important to remember that activities many miles away from you
may affect the quality of ground water.

Your annual drinking water quality report will tell you where your
water supplier gets your water.
                                              Sources  of
                                           Drinking Water

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How  is  drinking  water treated?

When a water supplier takes untreated water from a river or reservoir,
the water often contains dirt and tiny pieces of leaves and other organic
matter, as well as trace amounts of certain contaminants. When it gets
to the treatment plant, water suppliers often add chemicals called
coagulants to the water. These act on the water as it flows very slowly
through tanks so that the dirt and other contaminants form clumps that
settle to the bottom. Usually, this water then flows through a filter for removal
of the smallest contaminants like viruses and Giardia.
    tad  Itocrrotb  WirSdir
   Follow a drop of water from the source through the
   treatment process. Water may be treated differently
   in different communities
   depending on the quality
   of the water which enters
   the plant. Ground water is
   located underground and
   typically requires
   less treatment than
   water from lakes,
   rivers, and streams.
Coagulation removes dirt and other particles in water. Alum and other chemicals
are added to water to form tiny sticky particles called "floe" that attract dirt
particles. The combined weight of the dirt and floe cause it to sink.
                     Disinfection: A small amount of chlorine is
                     added or some other disinfection method
                     is used to kill any bacteria or microorganism
                     that may be in the water.

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Most ground water is naturally filtered as it passes through layers of
the earth into underground reservoirs known as aquifers. Water that
suppliers pump from wells generally contains less organic material
than surface water and may not need to go through any or all of the
treatments described in the previous paragraph. The quality of the
water will depend on local conditions.

The most common drinking water treatment, considered by many to
be one of the most important scientific advances of the 20th century, is
disinfection. Most water suppliers add chlorine or another disinfectant
to kill bacteria and other germs.

Water suppliers use other treatments as needed, according to the
quality of their source water. For example, systems whose water is
contaminated with organic chemicals can treat their water with acti-
vated carbon, which adsorbs or attracts the chemicals dissolved in the
water.


What if  I  have special health needs?

People who have HIV/AIDS, are undergoing chemotherapy, take
steroids, or for another reason have a weakened immune system may
be more susceptible to microbial contaminants, including Cryptosporidium,
in drinking water. If you or someone you know fall into one of these
categories, talk to your health care provider to find out if you need to take
special precautions, such as boiling your water.

Young children are particularly susceptible to the effects of high levels
of certain contaminants, including nitrate and lead. To avoid exposure
to lead, use water from the cold tap for making baby formula, drink-
ing, and cooking, and let the water run for a minute or more if the
water hasn't been turned on for six or more hours. If your water
supplier alerts you that your water does not meet EPA's standard for
nitrates and you have children less than six months old, consult your health
care provider. You may want to find an alternate source of water that
contains lower levels of nitrates for your child.

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What  are the health effects
of contaminants in  drinking  water?

EPA has set standards for more than 80 contaminants that may occur in
drinking water and pose a risk to human health. EPA sets these standards to
protect the health of everybody, including vulnerable groups like children.
The contaminants fall into two groups according to the health effects that
they cause. Your local water supplier will alert you through the local media,
direct mail, or other means if there is a potential acute or chronic health
effect from compounds in the drinking water. You may want to contact them
for additional information specific to your area.

Acute effects occur within hours or days of the time that a person
consumes a contaminant. People can suffer acute health effects from almost
any contaminant if they are exposed to extraordinarily high levels (as in the
case of a spill). In drinking water, microbes, such as bacteria and viruses,
are the contaminants with the greatest chance of reaching levels high enough
to cause acute health effects. Most people's bodies can fight offthese
microbial contaminants the way they fight off germs, and these acute
contaminants typically don't have permanent effects. Nonetheless, when
high enough levels occur, they can make people ill, and can be dangerous or
deadly for a person whose immune system is already weak due to
HIV/AIDS, chemotherapy, steroid use, or another reason.

Chronic effects occur after people consume a contaminant at levels
over EPA's safety standards for many years. The drinking water
contaminants that can have chronic effects are chemicals (such as disinfec-
tion by-products, solvents, and pesticides), radionuclides (such as radium),
and minerals (such as arsenic). Examples of these chronic effects include
cancer, liver or kidney problems, or reproductive difficulties.
Who  is responsible for
drinking  water quality?

The Safe Drinking Water Act gives the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) the responsibility for setting national drinking water standards that
protect the health of the 250 million people who get their water from public

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water systems. Other people get their water
from private wells which are not subj ect to
federal regulations. Since 1974, EPA has set
national standards for over 80 contaminants
that may occur in drinking water.

While EPA and state governments set and
enforce standards, local governments and
private water suppliers have direct responsibility
for the quality of the water that flows to your tap.
Water systems test and treat their water, maintain the
distribution systems that deliver water to consumers, and report on their
water quality to the state. States and EPA provide technical assistance to
water suppliers and can take legal action against systems that fail to provide
water that meets state and EPA standards.
What is a violation  of
a drinking water standard?
Drinking water suppliers are required to monitor and test their water many
times, for many things, before sending it to consumers. These tests deter-
mine whether and how the water needs to be treated, as well as the effec-
tiveness of the treatment process. If a water system consistently sends to
consumers water that contains a contaminant at a level higher than EPA or
state health standards or if the system fails to monitor for a contaminant, the
system is violating regulations, and is subj ect to fines and other penalties.

When a water system violates a drinking water regulation, it must
notify the  people who drink its water about the violation, what it
means, and how they should respond. In cases where the water pre-
sents an immediate health threat, such as when people need to boil
water before drinking it, the system must use television, radio, and
newspapers to get the word out as  quickly as possible. Other notices
may be sent by mail,  or delivered with the water bill. Each water
suppliers'  annual water quality report must include a summary of all
the violations that occurred during the previous year.

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How can I help protect drinking water?

Using the new information that is now available about drinking water, citizens
can both be aware of the challenges of keeping drinking water safe and take
an active role in protecting drinking water. There are lots of ways that
individuals can get involved. Some people will help clean up the watershed
that is the source of their community's water. Other people might get involved
in wellhead protection activities to prevent the contamination of the ground
water source that provides water to their community. These people will be
able to make use of the information that states and water systems are
                                             gathering as they
                                             assess their sources
                                             of water.

                                             Other people will
                                             want to attend
                                             public meetings to
                                             ensure that the
                                             community's need
                                             for safe drinking
                                             water is considered
                                             in making decisions
                                             about land use. You
                                             may wish to
participate as your state and water system make funding decisions. And all
consumers can do their part to conserve water and to dispose properly of
household chemicals.
        For more information, visit
  http://www.epa.gov/safewater/
     Call
                   or call the Safe Drinking Water Hotline at
                             1-800-426-4791

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      To order a printed copy of any of the following documents:
      o  call the Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 800-426-4791 OR
      o  fill in, cut out, fold, staple, and mail the card below

      These are only  some of our free publications. To  learn  about others,
      order our publications  catalog, visit our web site, or call our Hotline.
g^\~
I
     Name
     Street address                                            Apt.
     City                                            State            Zip
      o  Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water Publications (810-B-99-001)
      o  Water on Tap: A Consumer's Guide to the Nation's Drinking Water
         (815-K-97-002)
      o  It's YOUR Drinking Water: Get to Know it and Protect it!: How the right-
         to-know provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act can help you learn about
         and protect your drinking water. (810-K-99-002)
      o  EPA/CDC Guidance for People with Severely Weakened Immune Systems
         (816-F-99-005)
      o  Lead in Your Drinking Water: Actions You Can Take to Reduce Lead in Your
         Drinking Water (810-F-93-001)
      o  America's Drinking Water in 1997 (816-F-99-001)
      o  Safe Drinking Water is in Our Hands: poster (815-F-98-008) and booklet
         (815-F-98-007) that list the contaminants that EPA regulates
      o  Getting Involved in Protecting Your Community's Source of Drinking Water
         (816-F-97-009)
      o  Citizen's Guide to Groundwater Protection (440-6-90-004)
      o  Citizen Monitoring: Recommendations to Public Water System Users
         (570-9-90-005)
      o  What You Can Do to Keep Your Drinking Water Safe (570-9-90-500)
      o  Underground Injection Wells and Your Drinking Water(813-F-94-001)
      Drinking water contaminant fact sheets:
         o  Inorganic Chemicals [metals & minerals] (811-F-95-002-C)
         o  Synthetic Organic Chemicals [pesticides] (811-F-95-003-C)
         o  Volatile Organic Chemicals [industrial chemicals & solvents] (811-F-95-004-C)

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US Environmental Protection Agency
Water Resource Center (RC-4100)
401 M St. SW
V\fetshington, DC 20460

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