Make a New Year’s resolution to drink more water. We are quickly approaching the time of year where we look for a fresh start and make changes to improve our lifestyles. We create new resolutions and aspirations for the upcoming year. The thought of ringing in 2018 with a healthy start is one that excites … More New Year, New You: Benefits of Drinking Water
Public Health Goals (PHG) are often mistaken as law, however they are goals set by the state as to what level a contaminant no longer poses a significant health risk. They are not regulated, but are established as a recommendation by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA). Conversely, Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCL) are … More What are Public Health Goals? Maximum Contaminant Levels and water regulations in California
Evidence of chromium 6 in public water systems has been making headlines. A recent report compiled by the Environmental Working Group, a non-profit research agency, stated that higher than recommended levels of chromium 6 was found in water being delivered to two-thirds of all Americans. While this information may come across as startling, it is … More Is Chromium 6 Contaminating U.S. Public Water Systems?
In the United States, public drinking water is regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Additional regulation is also enforced by individual states. The EPA is responsible for studying potential contaminants, also referred to as constituents, and determining whether they may be harmful to humans. According to the Safe Drinking Water Act, a contaminant … More Constituents of Emerging Concern: Monitoring for Contaminants in Drinking Water
Tap Water Day is almost here and YourSoCalTapWater is getting excited! May 7th is a day to celebrate the important role that clean, safe tap water plays in our lives, here in Southern California. Started by the American Water Works Association, Tap Water Day is the last day of Drinking Water Week; another reason to … More Tap Water Day – Celebrating Southern California’s Tap Water Quality and Reliability
Meet Dr. Andy Eaton, the Technical Director at Eurofins Lab. He’s working on a nation-wide effort to test tap water to learn if there are trace amounts of substances that we don’t yet include in the day-to-day testing all tap water must undergo. While the U.S. has some of the safest tap water in the … More Relentlessly Testing Water Safety
An Interview with OCWD’s Jason Dadakis Imagine waking up one morning, stumbling into the bathroom half asleep, turning on the tap to brush your teeth, and out comes seawater. Proximity to the Pacific is one of the perks of living in Orange County, but barring some bizarre decorating craze of the future, no one wants … More Protecting the Treasure Beneath Our Feet
Hexavalent chromium, better known as chrom-6, became infamous as a cancer-causing chemical in the movie Erin Brokovich. The movie followed the true story of the residents of Hinkley, California, who became ill with many different types of cancers after the town’s water supply became contaminated with chrom-6. The contamination came from a Pacific Gas & … More Base Chrom-6 Limit on the Best Available Science
Recently, some interests have alleged that drinking water in different parts of the country contains unsafe levels of disinfection byproducts. Disinfection byproducts (DBPs) are compounds that can result from cleaning tap water and killing the bacteria and viruses that cause illnesses like typhoid and cholera. Disinfecting water is critical to our health – it is … More Disinfection Byproducts in the News