Are Vulnerable Communities More Affected by Heavy Metals Contamination?
About the author:
Jonathan Sharp serves as the Chief Financial Officer of Environmental Litigation Group, P.C., a law firm specializing in toxic exposure, representing communities exposed to heavy metals.
Everyone should have access to safe, clean water. The UN has even deemed clean water a human right. Water is essential for living a dignified existence, but despite America's overall riches and prosperity, access to safe drinking water is not guaranteed. Environmental quality issues disproportionately affect communities of color in the U.S. In the United States, major environmental challenges include poor air quality, hazardous drinking water, and climate change.
Between 2007 and 2017, 63 million Americans drank hazardous water, according to USA Today. Unclean water can lead to major health difficulties, and studies show that polluted rivers disproportionately affect poor and minority communities. A considerable socioeconomic disparity exists in the U.S., but there is also a substantial difference in water quality between different classes of people and ethnicities. Low-income and minority groups are often disproportionately exposed to pollution sources, and these correlations continue even after income is adjusted. Communities with lower median incomes, lower homeownership rates, and higher proportions of non-white population have been found to be exposed to higher levels of nitrate, arsenic, and lead. This is a nationwide issue that highlights how power plays a role in discrimination.
Safe Drinking Water Act & Water Regulations
The Safe Drinking Water Act was created by Congress in 1974 to safeguard groundwater and other public drinking supplies. Since then, the U.S. EPA has been in charge of monitoring all public drinking water on a federal basis, defining national standards, and assessing health risks. The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) regulates water quality in the U.S. by establishing nationwide monitoring and reporting standards for 88 contaminants. However, in recent years many public water systems have been found to have much higher levels of contaminants, especially heavy metals, than what is considered safe.
Metals like iron, zinc, selenium, and copper are essential for health and biochemistry. Heavy metals like lead, mercury, and arsenic are harmful in low amounts, and they accumulate in human tissues over time. Lead exposure is never safe. Ingestion is the main source of exposure to lead in water. Showering is normally safe because lead rarely penetrates the skin.
Effects of Lead in Drinking Water
Flint, Michigan, is only one of several examples of poor communities suffering from an environmental disaster, with 40% of its residents living below the poverty line. Old pipes exposed 6,000 to 12,000 children to lead in drinking water, causing a 58% increase in fetal deaths.
Lead in drinking water poses numerous serious health risks. Lead is a heavy metal that can cause serious health difficulties like cardiovascular disease, anemia, brain damage, harm the nervous system, reproductive troubles, and potentially even cause cancer. Lead exposure also causes behavioral and learning issues in children, as well as brain and nervous system damage.
Effects of Arsenic in Drinking Water
Natural deposits of arsenic, as well as runoff from agricultural, mining, and industrial processes, can contaminate drinking water supplies. When compared to surface water supplies such as lakes, streams, and rivers, the level of arsenic present in groundwater supplies — such as wells — is typically higher.
The exact mechanism through which arsenic affects our body is not completely understood. Inorganic arsenic in drinking water has been linked to a variety of health problems in humans, including cancer, thickening and discoloration of the skin, problems with the blood vessels, high blood pressure, and heart disease; nerve effects such as numbness and pain; and interference with some critical cell functions.
Acute exposure to extremely high amounts of arsenic can result in symptoms such as stomach discomfort and nausea; vomiting; diarrhea; headaches; weakness; and even death. Children's IQ scores may be affected by long-term exposure to low quantities of arsenic (0.005 milligrams per liter (mg/L)) arsenic from their drinking water, according to some studies.
Currently, The EPA agreed on 10 ppb to balance costs and health hazards. However, CR scientists have long advocated for an EPA limit of 3 ppb or less, as have other health experts and environmental advocacy groups like the Natural Resources Defense Council. Almost every sample CR examined showed detectable arsenic, with 10 (or 8%) having levels between 3 and 10 ppb.
Importance of Local Regulations
A community's government is responsible for enacting laws that promote public safety and welfare. A clean environment is essential for human well-being.
Pollution and other degradations may cause real harm and it is the duty of public officials to protect something as essential as water. Race seems to be the strongest correlation between slow and poor enforcement of the federal drinking water law in towns across the country, according to a Natural Resources Defense Council report Watered Down Justice.
Those affected by contaminated drinking water should be aware that governments of all size are often slow to address these problems, and the best way to combat that problem is to reach out to representatives in all levels of government and consistently demand proper enforcement of existing laws and, if necessary, even more stringent new laws.
U.S. EPA can be slow to take urgent regulatory action, even in instances where contamination exceeds levels that its scientists have determined are not safe. Whether it is lead in Flint, Michigan, or PFAS in many other cities, it is imperative this contamination be addressed sooner rather than later.