>>
thank you.
>>>
new report from "the new york times" says millions of americans are drinking dirty and sometimes
toxic water
. illegal concentrations of contaminants including arsenic,
radio active
substances and bacteria in our
water supply
and the
federal government
has known about the violations, but in many cases nothing has been done to correct the problems. i'm joined by the former
environmental crimes
prosecutor in the
department of justice
. david, thanks for joining me today. are we looking at an incompetent, impotent
epa
?
>>
no, not at all, nancy. obviously, this is a very disturbing report. people have a right to expect that when they go to the faucet in the kitchen and get a glass of water that it's going to be safe. but it's not all that surprising that there would be violations of
drinking water
standards. that's very different from saying that people's health is in any kind of immediate danger. so, it's a disturbing report, but it's not -- we shouldn't alarm people.
>>
we all know there are trace amounts of all kinds of things we would really be surprised to know that are in our water and our food and in our air, but if only 6% cases that were brought to the
epa
's attention are ever correct ed or acted upon, man, 6% doesn't pass anything. it doesn't seem like there's much meat or bite coming out of the
epa
to strengthen the
water supply
in this country.
>>
well, nancy, you're certainly right. if only 6% of the cases were being corrected, that would be a very serious problem. but what the 6% figure represents is the fact that in only 6% of the cases has
epa
sought any kind of
court order
, brought legal charges against the local
drinking water
supply companies. so it's not that the problem ? goes unaddressed. i think
epa
, quite rightly, in the states who work with
epa
quite rightly emphasized trying to help
drinking water
systems get in compliance with the law. that's the primary focus under the safe drinking act, not bring lawsuits against municipalities.
>>
i understand that. one, what's the potential health threat to me and my family and, two, how am i supposed to know if my water is okay?
>>
yeah, those are great questions. i do think consumers should do what they can to know what the
drinking water
quality is in their community. unfortunately, the government is required to tell us. they're required to tell us at least once a year, whether there are any problem with his
drinking water
in our community and any time there's a problem that poses an immediate threat to
public health
, they're supposed to
let us
know, tell us that we need to boil water, tell us we need to use filters, tell us if it's an extreme case that we need
bottled water
. we should never be in a situation where anybody is at immediate risk. the more difficult question is what are we doing to make sure that we're protecting people over the long haul, to make sure that they're not chronic exposure situations.
>>
i hope we're doing that. david uhlmann, thank you very much. a reminder that a lot of schools have their own
water supply
systems, too.
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