How Safe is the Water Coming Out of South Florida’s Faucets?
BOCA RATON, Fla. — Water quality is a public health issue, and when that is compromised, it poses a problem for every person who turns on the tap. There is work to be done in closing the gap between what is legal and what is safe when it comes to the water circulating the community.
It’s important that residents know what is coming out of their faucet, because even if a filter is being used for drinking, that water is still used for everything from showering to washing the dishes.
Most of the water in South Florida comes from the Floridan aquifer, a water system that is around 2,000 feet below land, and stretches across Florida and parts of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina. The aquifer is comprised of limestone surrounded by water which is pumped up to the ground to be used.
When it comes to the contaminants in tap water, several factors come into play. The contaminants could be from the source, as the aquifer is easily contaminated because of the runoff and chemicals such as pesticides and other elements that may enter the water supply through drainage.
However, the culprit isn’t only the aquifer itself, but also the water treatment process, and while there are government regulations put in place to make sure the water is safe, it doesn’t mean that the final product is ideal for consumption.
“The City of Boca Raton’s water passes through several treatment techniques before it reaches the resident’s home,” said Ashtan Wydock, the Laboratory Manager for the City of Boca Raton’s Quality Control Division. “The use of chloramine treatment along with regular distribution system maintenance ensures the city’s water quality is maintained.”
According to Wydock, the city’s water is fully in compliance with state, federal, and local laws.
However, according to the Environmental Working Group, “legal does not necessarily equal safe.” While legal limits are imposed by federal officials, they may not have been updated in some time, or they may be safe, but that doesn’t always mean that the standards are ideal.
The EWG clearly outlines the contaminants found in the tap water, and breaks down each level in comparison to the “legal limit” and their own health guideline.
One of the contaminants are haloacetic acids (HAAs), which form when chlorine used to disinfect the drinking water reacts with the natural composition of the water. The legal limit is 60 parts per billion, while the EWG’s recommended health guideline is 0.1 parts per billion, meaning the amount of contaminants in the water may be legal, but that doesn’t mean it’s healthy.
The actual amount found in the tap is over 25 parts per billion, which is well above the health guideline set by the EWG. Some of the other contaminants include chromium, radium, and trihalomethanes, all of which exceed the health guidelines.
All four of these contaminants are mainly a result of the water treatment process, or industry runoff. Many of the chemicals are part of the purification process, which removes contaminants that come from the source, but creates other harmful chemicals at the same time. Meaning, through the process of “purification,” they actually end up adding more harmful chemicals.
These guidelines aren’t set up by any local or federal governments, but by the environmental group itself, an organization whose sole intent is to provide the public with safety standards that reflect the wellbeing of the effected communities.
According to the EWG’s website, they are a “non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to protecting human health and the environment.”
“These types of systems are monitored on both a monthly and annual basis, and those frequencies may change depending on the system’s sampling results,” said Jon Moore, the Communications Manager for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. “Currently, approximately 90 contaminants are regulated under National Primary Drinking Water Regulations established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.”
According to Moore, the EPA also has secondary standards set for aesthetic reasons, like color and taste, but those are not the primary concern. The primary method of regulation is allowing a certain level of contaminants to be present in the water without it becoming “dangerous.”
The problem lies in the fine line between what’s legal and what is actually safe, which is something that the city has been working toward mending.
The city of Boca Raton has been imposing a new plan of action called iSip, or the Innovative Sustainable Infrastructure Program, which has a goal of improving the city’s treatment process to be more sustainable and eco-friendly.
The plan, according to the city’s website, will involve updating the underground infrastructure of the water and sewer pipes, focusing first on deterioration and the age of the existing infrastructure to ultimately create a more efficient, cleaner, and more sustainable system of water treatment.
“The benefits of this program will be the renewal or replacement of critical water and sewer infrastructure resulting in the continued high-level-of-service for our customers well into the future,” said Wydock.
However, until iSip is put in place, the current circulation of tap water remains unchanged, and could be less than desirable, especially for those who are immunocompromised.
Even with a household water filter, many chemicals can still pass through, making it difficult to have truly clean drinking water. The best purification method according to the EWG is a reverse-osmosis filter, which is not your average Brita filter. However, even those cannot completely rid the water of these harmful chemicals.
Wydock stated that although she was confident that the city’s standards are of good quality, “residents that are immunocompromised should always seek advice regarding drinking water from their health care providers.”
