Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority workers try to reach valves that control the flow of water in and out of Highland Park Reservoir No. 1 outside the membrane filtration plant in Highland Park neighborhood of Pittsburgh on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017. Tests by the state Department of Environmental Protection showed low levels of chlorine in water at a facility that draws water from the city’s Highland Park reservoirs.
Credit: Rebecca Droke/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/AP

WOLFFORTH, TEXAS — As many as 63 million people — nearly a fifth of the country — from rural central California to the boroughs of New York City, were exposed to potentially unsafe water more than once during the past decade, according to a News21 investigation of 680,000 water quality and monitoring violations from the Environmental Protection Agency. (emphasis added)

The findings highlight how six decades of industrial dumping, farming pollution, and water plant and distribution pipe deterioration have taken a toll on local water systems. Those found to have problems cleaning their water typically took more than two years to fix these issues, […]