Your tank water....

[Mugwump]

...where does it come from...??....no politics here....this issue has been 'brewing' for years, so plenty of blame to go around....do you know your water?
I feel that the defunding of the EPA over the years by states in financial trouble has fostered a good part of the problem. That's if the EPA was actually doing it's job anyway..? before being cut back. Then there's greed.....etc...

A very damning outlook on the American life involving clean water in the United States tonight by American Hero Erin Brockovich. Infrastructure in America is dated and crumbling. We are in a state of emergency nationwide and yet no one is talking about it unless you're in Flint. Flint isn't just in Michigan, Flint is in your own town yesterday. What are you drinking? What are you bathing in? What is shortening your life right now? Seriously, the presidential election and the Zika virus can take the back seat.

[BallAquatics]

For the 20 years I worked in environmental remediation, there was always a double standard where the EPA was concerned.  The farmers and any form of government, local, city, state, federal, could do as they pleased, but if you were an individual, or small business then you paid the price.

For years most cities in this country had their storm sewers tied into their sanitary sewers.. so when it rained they had more water coming into the treatment plants than they could handle.  No problem, the EPA just let them divert.  Divert meaning, just dump raw sewage into the streams or rivers that they normally discharged their treated water into.

As for the farmers.....  I can't tell you how many jobs I was on where we would get a contamination hit on a monitor well.  Oh well the local health departments and state and federal EPA would be out in force looking to crucify someone.  When the labs came back it was from farm run-off, everybody packed up and went home.   No matter that the ground water was still contaminated, it didn't count if it was farm or government generated.

My water,  I've got the safest water in Clark county Ohio.  I'm just down the road from a landfill that I helped to close back in 1995.  The EPA and the health dept check the water around here several times a month.  Across the county at Mom & Dad's, it only gets checked if something bad happens.....
It also doesn't hurt that it's well water and not contaminated with corrosion inhibitors, disinfectants, algaecides, biocides, etc.....

Dennis

[Mugwump]

For the 20 years I worked in environmental remediation, there was always a double standard where the EPA was concerned.  The farmers and any form of government, local, city, state, federal, could do as they pleased, but if you were an individual, or small business then you paid the price.

For years most cities in this country had their storm sewers tied into their sanitary sewers.. so when it rained they had more water coming into the treatment plants than they could handle.  No problem, the EPA just let them divert.  Divert meaning, just dump raw sewage into the streams or rivers that they normally discharged their treated water into.

As for the farmers.....  I can't tell you how many jobs I was on where we would get a contamination hit on a monitor well.  Oh well the local health departments and state and federal EPA would be out in force looking to crucify someone.  When the labs came back it was from farm run-off, everybody packed up and went home.   No matter that the ground water was still contaminated, it didn't count if it was farm or government generated.

My water,  I've got the safest water in Clark county Ohio.  I'm just down the road from a landfill that I helped to close back in 1995.  The EPA and the health dept check the water around here several times a month.  Across the county at Mom & Dad's, it only gets checked if something bad happens.....
It also doesn't hurt that it's well water and not contaminated with corrosion inhibitors, disinfectants, algaecides, biocides, etc.....

Dennis

We're on top of the biggest aquifer in Illinois, I believe....Dekalb has great water....naturally soft too.....but being we're in big time corn country, I can't help but wonder if all the farm runoff hasn't seeped down over the years...the water report shows everything is in good shape..but is it really....?
I sure hope so....Our son's and families all live around here.....

[BallAquatics]

It was always my experience with farm run-off that it affected the water supply in one of two ways.  1). It simply runs into a stream or other water way that in turn supplies a reservoir for a municipalities drinking water, or 2). It penetrates into the ground water around improperly, or poorly constructed water well casing.

It takes many many years for surface water to reach the aquifer.  That's why the water is drying up in northern California where they used to grow almonds and such.  They get rain, but it takes so long for it to get to the aquifer it is almost inconsequential.  In most cases where the aquifer does get contaminated, it's due to concentrate toxic materials being buried and having a much shorter distance to travel.

Dennis

[Mugwump]

It was always my experience with farm run-off that it affected the water supply in one of two ways.  1). It simply runs into a stream or other water way that in turn supplies a reservoir for a municipalities drinking water, or 2). It penetrates into the ground water around improperly, or poorly constructed water well casing.

It takes many many years for surface water to reach the aquifer.  That's why the water is drying up in northern California where they used to grow almonds and such.  They get rain, but it takes so long for it to get to the aquifer it is almost inconsequential.  In most cases where the aquifer does get contaminated, it's due to concentrate toxic materials being buried and having a much shorter distance to travel.

Dennis

Yes, you're right there about California, and the western states in general. Plus the dams are a curse too. Hoover dam on Lake Mead alone loses more water to evaporation, and porous rock absorption, than is used for crops and people. These states have carelessly altered water flow to the extent that they have become a hindrance to any decent water supply.

Our aquifer is huge, our use by population minimal, because Lake Michigan supplies most municipal water to the adjoining counties...add to that, we get plenty of rain and snow over the seasons, we should be alright for awhile I guess....I still worry tho after reading the nightmares some places are experiencing at the moment.....and how many more will come to light now because of the recent troubles being exposed, and the fresh inquiries too.