What’s in the water? You don’t want to know

By Jennifer J. Foster

AOL Health highlighted this New York Times article about water pollution across America, and the results ... well, they just might leave you reaching for a soda can.

From agricultural to industrial waste, carcinogens of all kinds were found in disturbing and dangerous amounts in supposedly safe water sources throughout the country: An astonishing 40 percent—40 PERCENT!!—of U.S. community water systems are in violation of the Safe Water Drinking Act, which sets drinking-water quality standards and is directly linked to the Clean Water Act. That has real consequences: 23 million people received low-quality drinking water over the course of the study.

That is the entire population of Alabama ... TIMES FIVE, folks.

And we’re being told that water is good for you!

Worst of all, state governments and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declined to prosecute the majority of pollution offenders.

So ... break the law, deliver poisonous water, ignore warnings and continue the cycle ... no problem.

Where is the outrage about this?

And I have another question that should be of interest to my fiscally conservative friends: What is the EPA doing with all the money it is given to enforce the Clean Water Act?

I’m sure that if we were to line the names of the polluters up with campaign contributions to the politicians in the worst-off states, we wouldn’t find any connections ... would we?

But we don’t want to be cynical or anything.

The 10 worst states for water quality, according to the study, are—in descending order—New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Nevada, New York, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Wisconsin and California.

May I suggest ... one of these?