Environmental Protection Agency's Egregious Error Misled Public on Drinking Water - March 22, 2004 Vol. 5, No. 6

March 22, 2004 Vol. 5, No. 6:

Published: 03/22/2004

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Environmental Protection Agency's Egregious Error Misled Public on Drinking Water

A March 5 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Inspector General's report revealed that EPA consistently misstated information on the quality of the nations drinking water over the years 1999 to 2002. EPA claimed in several documents during that time that that 91 percent of citizens had access to safe drinking water. According to other EPA documents reviewed by the Inspector General and interviews with state officials, however, only about 81 percent of the country had access to safe drinking water in 2002 much less than the published 94 percent estimate for that year. This is a difference of 30 million people at risk from contaminated water. This erroneous assertion has left millions of people unknowingly at risk.

Individual states did not report all violations to EPA; therefore, the agency presented a flawed and incomplete national picture, according to the Inspector General's report. EPA’s acting assistant administrator, Benjamin H. Grumbles, conceded that the agency’s data is incomplete but it was not trying to deceive the public, it was simply reporting the information from the national reporting system. Utilities, which test drinking water for nearly 100 pollutants, provide the data to the states. There are 54,000 water systems nationwide, and EPA has no way to determine how many unreported violations occur in these systems.

The District of Columbia’s recent discovery of lead contamination in a number of homes has caused greater scrutiny over the quality of drinking water. Since the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority discovered the contamination two years ago, many contend that EPA should have taken quicker action and alerted the city’s residents.

A troubling number of recent cases indicate that EPA has not been fully honest in reporting information to the public. The Report on the Environment released last June was heavily edited before its release. EPA deleted an entire section on climate change due to political pressure from the White House. In the past two years, EPA also issued gag orders restricting discussion about perchlorate contamination of drinking water. EPA recommended extensive testing for the chemical after its detection in drinking water and lettuce supplies. The Pentagon and defense contractors disagreed with EPA’s risk-assessment of perchlorate, which is used in rocket fuel. EPA later restricted its employees from talking to the public and lawmakers about any danger.