Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Chicago has a lot of things floating around in its drinking water that residents probably shouldn’t be consuming, including the toxic metal hexavalent chromium.
An investigation by the Chicago Tribune found that the city’s water contains levels of chromium more than 11 times higher than California’s new health standard for the chemical.
Water from Lake Michigan, which supplies seven million Chicagoans and others, was tested, revealing it had up to 0.23 parts per billion of chromium. California, the first state in the nation to establish a public health goal for the metal, allows only 0.0.2 parts per billion.
Chicago’s water also was found to have trace amounts of sex hormones, prescription drugs, flame retardants, DEET (bug spray) and bisphenol A (plastics additive).
The source of the hexavalent chromium in Chicago’s drinking water is not proven, but records do show that last year U.S. Steel and Arcelor Mittal dumped 2,350 pounds of chromium into Lake Michigan and its tributaries, less than nine miles from one of Chicago's water intakes.
-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky
Toxic Chromium Found in Chicago Drinking Water (by Michael Hawthorne, Chicago Tribune)
Odd Chemicals Turn Up in Drinking Water (by Michael Hawthorne, Chicago Tribune)
42 Disease Clusters Identified in 13 States (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)
Erin Brockovich Town Faces Unfortunate Real-Life Sequel (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)
Comments