July/August 2004 Living Now
Safe Drinking Water

by Kevin Kasowski

Most of us take safe drinking water for granted. You might be surprised to learn, however, that not all Oregonians can necessarily count on clean drinking water when they turn on the tap ... and you may be even more surprised to learn that alternatives, like bottled water, pose health and environmental dangers of their own.

Get the Lead Out


Lead is one of the most dangerous pollutants found in our environment, especially for young children. Lead has been strongly linked to cognitive impairment, hyperactivity, psychiatric disturbances and developmental delay, as well as (in adults) reduced fertility, anemia, hypertension and chronic kidney and heart disease. While the water that comes into your house from drinking water systems may be clean, copper pipes in some houses, schools and office buildings built before 1985 were sealed with lead solder that can leach into your drinking water. You can call the Lead Hotline (503-988-4000 in the metro Portland area; 1-800-368-5050 elsewhere in Oregon) to get a sense of whether your water should be tested, and if so, resources that are available to help you. Don't panic: even if you find high lead levels, you can take some simple steps to minimize your exposure. First, be sure to flush out the water that's been in the pipes for more than a couple of hours by running your tap for 15- 30 seconds. Use only cold water for cooking (hot water leaches more lead). You can also install a drinking water filter that can filter out lead (as well as other contaminants).

For a searchable website that certifies drinking water filters for their ability to reduce lead, as well as nearly 50 other chemicals go to: http://nsf.org/certified/DWTU/

In a recent 10-year period, sales of bottled water tripled, driven in part by consumers who think it's safer than tap water since it's regulated by the FDA. However, buyer beware: FDA rules for water bottlers require less frequent testing than those for large municipal water systems and one recent study found that nearly 1 in 3 brands of bottled water had samples with levels of contamination higher than California standards. (In fact, some kinds of bottled water are actually nothing more than repackaged tap water.) Oregon has stricter regulations for Oregon-based bottlers, but only a tenth of a staff position to actually enforce them. The added environmental impacts of bottled water also bear mention: your recycled plastic water bottles often end up in a landfill or a garbage incinerator (where burning plastic can also generate dioxins) because the market for recycled plastic is sporadic. In short, if you live in a community that has had water contamination issues, or even if you're just concerned about the possibility, the best advice is to install a water filter (see above), and avoid using bottled water as much as possible.

How Safe Is Your Drinking Water?

If you live in metro Portland, Eugene-Springfield, Salem- Keizer, Medford-Ashland or Bend-Redmond, you needn't lose sleep over what's in your drinking water (except for the possibility of lead contamination, see related story). According to EPA data, your drinking water suppliers have not had any recent health violations, and even violations of monitoring requirements are unusual. However, other Oregon communities as large as Woodburn, Sandy and Creswell have violated EPA health standards for bacteria, as have dozens of smaller water systems such as those that serve campgrounds, country stores and resorts (something to think about next time you travel). Monitoring of drinking water at smaller districts is also abysmal (on average, they incur 2-3 monitoring violations every year) so you can never be entirely sure what is in the water. Finally, many Oregonians rely on untreated well water that can be extremely vulnerable to pollution, e.g., the state recently identified high levels of nitrates (associated with "blue baby" syndrome) in wells in rural areas in the southern Willamette Valley.

To find out more about the quality of your local drinking water system, follow this link: www.epa.gov/enviro/html/sdwis/sdwis_ov.html

Kevin Kasowski is the Development Director of the Oregon Environmental Council (OEC), a non-profit, membership organization that works to bring Oregonians together for a healthy environment. Visit their website at
www.orcouncil.org.