It’s high summer, and across the country folks are slipping on those suits and dipping in those toes while frolicking in lakes, rivers, oceans, and local community pools. Here in California, we know to keep on eye on beach closures and bacteria counts, all in an effort to keep ourselves healthy, and our water clean. But can we trust the information we’re receiving?
Maybe not.
According to a new report released last week by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO), many states across the country are not accurately noting elevate levels of arsenic and chlorine in drinking water. After the GAO reviewed EPA audits of 43 states (conducted from 2007–2009), the GAO found a number of instances where violations discovered by the states were not reported to the EPA. In fact, in 2009, 84% of monitoring violations and 26% of health violations were not reported to the EPA. The GAO determined that these inaccuracies undermined data collection under the Clean Water Act (CWA) while also severely hampering oversight efforts.
According to the report, “unreported health-based and monitoring violations and incomplete enforcement data limit EPA’s ability to identify water systems with the most serious compliance problems and ensure that it is achieving its goal of targeting for enforcement of those systems with the most serious compliance problems.”
The report states that in order for the EPA to monitor contaminant levels in the nation’s drinking water, the agency must first have “complete and accurate data.” Due to budget cuts—16% (1.6 billion) last year—the agency diminished much of its data collection over the last few years. The GAO recommends in the report that EPA resume that task in order to guarantee that states are accurately reporting health and safety violations. The GAO also suggests that EPA explore the option of taking enforcement action against states that fail to comply.
In a statement in response to the report, Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.)—a member of the Natural Resources Committee—said, “They say that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it—but when it comes to drinking water, it turns out that all too often, EPA has no idea whether it’s broke.”