The EPA Has Found More Than a Dozen Contaminants in Drinking Water but Hasn’t Set Safety Limits on Them
The EPA Has Found More Than a Dozen Contaminants in Drinking Water but Hasn’t Set Safety Limits on Them
The inaction on regulating contaminants — including those that likely cause cancer, reproductive or developmental issues — found in the water of millions of Americans illustrates shortcomings in the U.S. response to environmental threats, say experts.
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The biggest issue with the EPA setting limits is finding labs that can measure to those levels with any sort of accuracy or precision. In the article they mention California's limits are 5 parts per trillion. That's 10^-12 or 0.000000000005. It's really hard to find equipment that can measure that low with out some dilution factors. This makes it hard to set standards. If you can't measure it, you can't regulate it.