The Effects Of Drinking Water On The United States

It is often believed that unsafe drinking water is strictly a critical health issue in impoverished third world countries. However, in recent years in the United States, one of the most developed countries in the world, we are experiencing multiple incidences of widespread public water contamination. In 2014, news stations across America were flooded with the devastating water crisis in Flint, Michigan and though this is the most recent occurrence, it is not an isolated incident. Though Flint was the most widely recognized incident, in the same year two other distressing cases of unsafe tap water also occurred in two other United States cities. While several of these cases of water contamination in the U.S. have been unintentional, other†¦show more content†¦During the late 60’s and early 70’s a series of studies were conducted on public water supplies due to health concerns, which concluded that many treatment facilities were inadequate (2000). In an effort to address public health concerns, Congress enacted the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) of 1974, which was amended in 1986 and 1996 (2000). The SDWA outlines the federal standards for public drinking water, waste management, protection of drinking water sources, and the financial infrastructure for projects (Tiemann, 2014). The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for enforcing policies and regulations concerning public drinking water. The EPA estimates that the U.S. contains approximately 155,000 public water systems (Environmental Protection Agency, 2015). The three main water systems include community water, which include residential buildings, transient non-community water, which include campgrounds and gas stations, and non-transient non-community water, which include hospitals and schools (Environmental Protection Agency, 2015). Community water comes from surface water, such as rivers and lakes or from ground water in wells (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014). However, individual water systems, which include streams, ponds, bottled water, and privately owned wells, are not regulated by federal standards (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014). The EPA