Drinking water loaded with toxic contaminants, study warns

Well, well, well.

New research from the University of New Mexico warns that water from many wells and community water systems across the US contains unsafe levels of known or suspected carcinogens — and calls for infrastructure upgrades.

The shocking paper was published last month in the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology following a meeting of senior scientists.

“There were several of us that have expertise in dealing with these particular contaminants, and we were seeing that they’re not always at safe levels in drinking water sources for a number of reasons,” said Johnnye Lewis, a co-author of the study and professor emerita in the university’s Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Researchers identified contaminants such as arsenic, uranium, fracking fluids, lead, nitrates and chlorinated disinfection byproducts, along with man-made per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), more commonly referred to as “forever chemicals,” which have been tied to a wide range of health problems and prompted government action.

“Some of these, like uranium and arsenic — and even nitrates — are just common,” Lewis said. “They commonly occur in groundwater, and sometimes it is the source that you have access to.”

One concern is that some of these chemicals mix together.

There has been limited examination on that front, Lewis said.

“We’re only really now starting to come up with good methods to assess what those mixtures do,” she explained. “There’s always a lot of uncertainty, because a mixture is not the same in one community as it is in the next.”

Study authors also noted that larger water systems may have the ability to remove or dilute some of the chemicals, but not all Americans have access to that infrastructure.

More than 43 million Americans obtain their drinking water from private wells, according to the research, while community water systems serve about 320 million Americans.

This paper “highlights the need for a concerted effort to invest in upgrading our drinking water infrastructure … and require[s] more stringent chemical safety testing,” the authors said, emphasizing worry about droughts increasing demand and reducing supply for water.

“For me, the thing that is most concerning is that you start looking at drought and the stresses that that puts on looking for additional water sources,” Lewis added, highlighting recent troubles in the Western US. “The potential for making sure those sources are clean could become more limited.”