The NY times toxic waters series.
My relationship to the NY Times is tenuous- while I think they do bring up important issues i feel that their slant is always far less urgent or revealing then the situation merits (especially anything they've written around Natural Gas Drilling)- However with their Toxic Water Series I must admit they've done a wonderful job. I first noticed this series with their front page story around drinking water with the little boy's teeth, it also really helped hit home the failure of NYC's CSS system- and showed very plainly all the CSOs stating clearly- that virtually every time it rains in NYC it pollutes. However the most interesting article I read was the one I posted to our news forum- about La's water. I had actually just returned from a Grey water installer's workshop in LA- when I read that article in the airport! That reservoir is a few mins drive from my friends house (the one where they put all the black plastic balls)- and i kept thinking I drank that water. And to lesson to all the people who object to the Dr's work- it baffles me. I really don't understand their argument. Also the Clean Water Act- I really don't understand how we can be following an out dated law- that 1) we don't properly enforce and also 2) when environmental conditions are rapidly changing (or degrading) and we are also probably dealing with a whole host of new chemicals, dynamic industries and also years of all these chemicals interacting with each other....the series has a great link on the left side that allows you to search by state what contaminants in our water supply- even thought it met two standards: the legal limits established by the Safe Drinking Water Act, and the typically stricter health guidelines. The data was collected by an advocacy organization, the Environmental Working Group, who shared it with The Times.
In the Catskill/Delaware system (I live in Brooklyn):
Trichloroacetic acid levels were below legal limits, but above health guidelines
11 contaminants found within health guidelines and legal limits: Bromodichloromethane, Chloroform, Copper, Dibromoacetic acid, Dibromochloromethane, Dichloroacetic acid, Lead (total), Monobromoacetic acid, Monochloroacetic acid, Total haloacetic acids (HAAs), Total trihalomethanes (TTHMs)
2 contaminants tested for but not found: Arsenic (total), Bromoform
Who puts in place the health regulations vs the Safe Drinking water act? What are NYCs health regulations- how does it compare to other cities? How are the people who regulate the health regulations hired or voted in?
I then clicked on another link to a drinking water quality report shows by the water utility and provided to the Environmental Working Group (EWG) by the New York Department of Health- Bureau of Public Water Supply Protection. It is in the next post which shows their results.
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