Thursday, July 21, 2011

Is your drinking water unsafe?

In recent EPA findings, over 48 states have failed to report water violations to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Many states are failing to report violations such as high levels of arsenic and chlorine. The GAO is trying to inform people that the U.S. still has the safest drinking water around but they did release a statement saying "waterborne-disease outbreaks caused by ­microorganisms do still occur.” Even though the water is reported to still be safe, there are numerous reports of illness outbreaks due to the drinking water. There are many solutions to these problems. States just need to make it more of an effort to make sure that they are keeping up with EPA regulations on testing and other required tasks. There aren't many barriers besides the lack of funding in some states. Employees just need to make sure they're doing their complete tasks.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/audits-show-health-violations-in-drinking-water/2011/07/19/gIQAWlpoOI_story.html

1 comment:

  1. I think that it is totally ridiculous for so many states to have not reported water violations. As one of the most developed countries in the world, the United States has access to the most advanced technology there is, and so should use it. Why wouldn't states report high levels of arsenic and chlorine, whether the levels are dangerous or not? Even if it is not fatal now, if the levels of these chemicals have risen, then they will continue to rise. If states lack the funding to keep their water safe, then they definitely lack the funds to care for hundreds or thousands of sick people if the chemical concentration becomes too strong. Therefore, states should begin to concentrate more on the future effects of this, rather than the fact that it isn't necessarily harmful now. I agree that employees should work harder to do their job correctly, but I also think that employers need to take responsibility for their workers and make sure that everything that should happen definitely happens.

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