Arsenic In Drinking Water

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Arsenic is a carcinogen which causes many cancers including skin, lung, and bladder as well as cardiovascular disease. It also is associated with diabetes. Wikipedia says that in America the U.S. Government’s Environmental Protection Agency has a standard of 10 parts per billion. Some people think that this is too high a level. For example the state of New Jersey has set their legal limit at 5 parts per billion.

Arsenic is naturally occurring in groundwater, especially water that is drawn from deeper wells as is the case for much of the tap water in El Paso, Texas.
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There have been a number of cases of people being harmed by excessive arsenic in their drinking water. According to Wikipedia, “Approximately 20 incidents of groundwater arsenic contamination have been reported from all over the world. Of these, four major incidents were in Asia, including locations in Thailand, Taiwan, and Mainland China. South American countries like Argentina and Chile have also been affected.”

According to a database that was prepared by the National Resources Defense Council in February 2000 the water in El Paso ON AVERAGE contains 6.8 parts per billion of arsenic, but there was one sample of water measured which contained 16.6 parts per billion (ppb). Since the EPA standard is 10 ppb, one would think that this subject merits watching closely and maybe even a certain amount of concern. LINK: http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/arsenic/appa.asp
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It is interesting to note that the tap water in San Antonio, Texas which comes from a limestone formation has approximately 1/3 the arsenic contamination as the water in El Paso.
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LINK: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenic_contamination_of_groundwater
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