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...standards. But even if you can trust the company, the report won't tell you what happens to the water in the dank recesses of your own plumbing system. The only way to know precisely what's coming out of your tap is to have your water tested. The EPA's Safe Drinking-Water Hotline (800-426-4791) offers names of testing laboratories in individual states. The hot line can also answer technical and health questions such as "How much cryptosporidium is too much...
...Control shows that in 1989 and 1990, 4,288 people in 16 states got sick, and four died, from bacteria and viruses in their water. And last spring the nonpartisan General Accounting Office found, among other things, that many water systems do not test for all the pollutants the EPA considers dangerous, and don't evaluate distribution systems, operators or inspectors. Based on these and other studies, the N.R.D.C. has identified several especially worrisome hazards...
ARSENIC: The dangers of low-level exposure are still being debated, but some 350,000 people may be taking in more than the EPA allows...
LEAD: The risks have been known for years, but plenty of lead still gets into drinking water, since testing for the heavy metal is not universal. About 560,000 children have unacceptably high levels of lead in their blood, which could lead to neurological problems. The EPA also calculates that 680,000 cases of high blood pressure in adult men could be prevented by reducing lead in drinking water...
...tobacco industry, which sued the EPA over the report, disputes the court judgments against smoking parents, arguing that the case against secondhand smoke hasn't been proved. In fact, some prominent scientists, including epidemiology expert Alvan Feinstein of the Yale medical school, believe the EPA may have overstated the evidence in its study. Nonetheless, most health researchers agree it is prudent to keep children away from smoke as much as possible...