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Sunday, April 21st, 2019

Can the US’s unsafe water crisis unite Americans?

Author:     George Goehl
Source:     The Guardian (U.K.)
Publication Date:     Mon 8 Apr 2019 13.29 BST
 Link: Can the US’s unsafe water crisis unite Americans?
Stephan:   I went to Europe for the first time in 1956, and before we left I was counseled to be careful about drinking water from the faucet. In those days Americans were very proud of the fact that you could go anywhere in the country and drink the water that came out of the faucet. How sad it is that this is no longer true, although that hasn't really penetrated into the consciousness of most Americans.  Now we read this in a European newspaper. Highly symbolic to my mind.

The disaster of lead-laden drinking water in Flint, Michigan illustrated the vulnerability of our water supply.’
Credit: Carlos Osorio/AP

I was a teenager in southern Indiana when news broke that Westinghouse Electric had dumped polychlorinated biphenyls at multiple sites across Monroe county, contaminating our community’s water supply. It was an early lesson not to take clean water for granted in America.

Every day, millions of Americans wake up and drink tap water that is unsafe. According to one study, up to 21 million Americans are getting water from systems that violate health standards. Reporting by the Guardian shows that at least 33 major US cities have skirted water quality testing in much the same vein as Flint and the state of Michigan.

A hidden scandal: America’s school students exposed to water tainted by toxic lead

People throughout the country are more concerned about water pollution than they have been in nearly 20 years. Urban or rural, Republican or Democrat, we […]

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