Essay On Safe Drinking Water Act Of 1974

Having a nice cold glass of water is taken for granted by many, yet that necessity can be a safety concern for others. From environment racism to lax governmental oversite the monitoring of water sources has become a hot issue. While Americans have some of the cleanest and safest water in the world, unsafe water is still found across the country.

Many contaminates can be found in the countries water supply, some are monitored while many more are not. The Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 covers lead, arsenic, atrazine, glyphosate, Legionella, and giardia, and contains a list of “as-yet unregulated substances” that may be “of concern.” The list is far larger than the EPA can regulate due to the lengthy process of deeming them unsafe and lack of funding. The list being ever growing the task of determining what needs regulated is purely reactionary. New chemicals are developed daily and put into use long before the testing can be completed. In fact, the standards for proving the need for testing is so high, only “only 200 of the 84,000 chemicals in use today” require manufacturer

Add to that the fact that although these may be federal laws, state and local governments are left with the task of monitoring water safety. Moreover, many local utilities are dealing with aging pipes, they are aware of the safety risk of lead exposure but lack funding to upgrade their infrastructure. In fact, service lines containing lead are estimated between “3 million and 10 million” and would cost approximately $30 billion for replacement. Beyond lead piping, leaking pipes need replaced, it would cost and estimated “$1 Trillion over the next 25 years” in