With the current economic and environmental state, several Bloomington residents are ditching plastic bottles of water to fill up reusable water bottles with the goodness straight from the tap. While this effort may save some money and help out the ozone, how safe is Bloomington tap water?
Bloomington’s drinking water source comes from the surface water of Lake Monroe. Built in 1964, the lake solved Bloomington’s ground water shortage. Had the lake not been built IU was considering moving to a different location or the city would have had to keep relying on the water shipped in by rail cars.
Now that the groundwater shortage supply is taken care of, Bloomington has to deal with the contaminants in Lake Monroe. Rachel Atz, Water Quality Coordinator for Bloomington, explains, “The biggest concern for Bloomington’s water quality is persistent development and recreational activities on or around Monroe Reservoir.”
Because the lake is used for recreational activity and a few companies are built around the lake, there are bound to be some contaminants.
An analysis of the Bloomington water record reports for the past four years shows positive testing for Lead, Nitrate, Coliform bacteria, Copper, Barium and Sodium among other contaminants regulated for testing by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, USEPA. These contaminants are either added to the water, naturally present in the environment or caused by runoff from soil, fertilizer or factory waste.
Although the contaminants are known to increase blood pressure (Barium, Lead), cause liver or kidney damage (Copper, Lead), or cause harm to young children (Nitrate, Lead) the levels in the Bloomington water are significantly lower than the regulations set by the EPA. In fact, SPEA professor and aquatic ecologist, Todd Royer states that “Because Lake Monroe is so large it would take a tremendous amount of contamination to affect our safety.”
And the safety of Bloomington water seems to be increasing. From the 13 contaminants detected in 2008, nine decreased or stayed the same from 2007. Drops in contaminant levels of Copper, Nitrate, Lead, Trihalomethanes, Haloacetic Acids, and Organic Carbon support the increased safety of Bloomington tap water. This increased safety is also seen by the significant drop in Lead levels from 5.2 ppb (parts per billion) in 2005, 2006 and 2007 to only 3.8 ppb in 2008.
While this may surprise some citizens, Atz and Royer aren’t shocked. Atz states that the city of Bloomington has “never violated a maximum contaminant rule and are well within all regulated water quality standards.” Royer claims, “We just have a pretty clean source of water in Lake Monroe.”
The safety and quality of the water can be chalked up to the rigorous testing schedule of both raw water, from Lake Monroe, and finished water, the tap water throughout the city. “To ensure high quality water at all times, we sample every hour, on the hour; 24 hours a day and seven days a week,” explains Atz. The tests are performed by licensed Water Treatment Operators that sample from the Monroe Water Treatment Plant as well as at six locations throughout the city.
All of the tests on Bloomington tap water follow guidelines and standards set by the EPA. These regulations aren’t in place for bottled water. Instead, the Food and Drug Administration or FDA regulates bottled water, and if that water doesn’t cross state lines, it’s not regulated at all.
A report released this month by the Environmental Working Group, EWG, explained the hazards of bottled water. The study examined 10 popular brands of bottled water sold at major retailers. It found 38 contaminants including “disinfection byproducts, fertilizer residue and pain medication.”
One of the contaminants tested for, Trihalomethanes or disinfection byproducts was found to have levels of 88-113 ppb in several of the bottled water. That’s over double the amount found in Bloomington’s drinking water, which levels ranged from 40-54 ppb.
The EWG explains that with bottled water, since it’s not heavily regulated and since the testing results don’t have to be disclosed to the public, you never know what you’re getting.
The EWG report goes onto explain the health risks involved with bottled water. “One bottled water brand spurred a 78% increase in the growth of the breast cancer cells compared to the control sample.”
The health issues aren’t the only high cost of bottled water. An average gallon of bottled water costs $3.79. This is over 1,000 times the costs of Bloomington tap water which averages to $3.00 for 1,000 gallons.
In an effort to go green and to gain some green in your wallet, go ahead B-Towners, drink up- straight from the tap.
**THIS ARTICLE IS A WORK IN PROGRESS AND WILL BE UPDATED SOON!**
Bloomington’s drinking water source comes from the surface water of Lake Monroe. Built in 1964, the lake solved Bloomington’s ground water shortage. Had the lake not been built IU was considering moving to a different location or the city would have had to keep relying on the water shipped in by rail cars.
Now that the groundwater shortage supply is taken care of, Bloomington has to deal with the contaminants in Lake Monroe. Rachel Atz, Water Quality Coordinator for Bloomington, explains, “The biggest concern for Bloomington’s water quality is persistent development and recreational activities on or around Monroe Reservoir.”
Because the lake is used for recreational activity and a few companies are built around the lake, there are bound to be some contaminants.
An analysis of the Bloomington water record reports for the past four years shows positive testing for Lead, Nitrate, Coliform bacteria, Copper, Barium and Sodium among other contaminants regulated for testing by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, USEPA. These contaminants are either added to the water, naturally present in the environment or caused by runoff from soil, fertilizer or factory waste.
Although the contaminants are known to increase blood pressure (Barium, Lead), cause liver or kidney damage (Copper, Lead), or cause harm to young children (Nitrate, Lead) the levels in the Bloomington water are significantly lower than the regulations set by the EPA. In fact, SPEA professor and aquatic ecologist, Todd Royer states that “Because Lake Monroe is so large it would take a tremendous amount of contamination to affect our safety.”
And the safety of Bloomington water seems to be increasing. From the 13 contaminants detected in 2008, nine decreased or stayed the same from 2007. Drops in contaminant levels of Copper, Nitrate, Lead, Trihalomethanes, Haloacetic Acids, and Organic Carbon support the increased safety of Bloomington tap water. This increased safety is also seen by the significant drop in Lead levels from 5.2 ppb (parts per billion) in 2005, 2006 and 2007 to only 3.8 ppb in 2008.
While this may surprise some citizens, Atz and Royer aren’t shocked. Atz states that the city of Bloomington has “never violated a maximum contaminant rule and are well within all regulated water quality standards.” Royer claims, “We just have a pretty clean source of water in Lake Monroe.”
The safety and quality of the water can be chalked up to the rigorous testing schedule of both raw water, from Lake Monroe, and finished water, the tap water throughout the city. “To ensure high quality water at all times, we sample every hour, on the hour; 24 hours a day and seven days a week,” explains Atz. The tests are performed by licensed Water Treatment Operators that sample from the Monroe Water Treatment Plant as well as at six locations throughout the city.
All of the tests on Bloomington tap water follow guidelines and standards set by the EPA. These regulations aren’t in place for bottled water. Instead, the Food and Drug Administration or FDA regulates bottled water, and if that water doesn’t cross state lines, it’s not regulated at all.
A report released this month by the Environmental Working Group, EWG, explained the hazards of bottled water. The study examined 10 popular brands of bottled water sold at major retailers. It found 38 contaminants including “disinfection byproducts, fertilizer residue and pain medication.”
One of the contaminants tested for, Trihalomethanes or disinfection byproducts was found to have levels of 88-113 ppb in several of the bottled water. That’s over double the amount found in Bloomington’s drinking water, which levels ranged from 40-54 ppb.
The EWG explains that with bottled water, since it’s not heavily regulated and since the testing results don’t have to be disclosed to the public, you never know what you’re getting.
The EWG report goes onto explain the health risks involved with bottled water. “One bottled water brand spurred a 78% increase in the growth of the breast cancer cells compared to the control sample.”
The health issues aren’t the only high cost of bottled water. An average gallon of bottled water costs $3.79. This is over 1,000 times the costs of Bloomington tap water which averages to $3.00 for 1,000 gallons.
In an effort to go green and to gain some green in your wallet, go ahead B-Towners, drink up- straight from the tap.
**THIS ARTICLE IS A WORK IN PROGRESS AND WILL BE UPDATED SOON!**
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