According to the Environmental Working Group, 85 utilities in Arizona have drinking water with nitrate levels above 5 ppm, affecting 403,910 Arizonans.
“Nitrate can be a marker for other contaminants,” Schaider said. “We’ve found public and private drinking-water wells with high levels of nitrates also have high levels of unregulated wastewater contaminants like pharmaceuticals and consumer product chemicals.”
The problem: if chemical contaminants in underground water sources are not regulation, they don't get measured or monitored.The source: Nitrates and arsenic were used in vast tracts of former agricultural acreage that were converted to residential land-use.
"More than 5.6 million Americans have possibly unsafe levels of nitrates in their drinking water, and Hispanic residents are the most affected."
For some reason the study's focus are Hispanic residents who were/are the majority of field workers. The study found that
"The most common source of nitrate contamination is agricultural fertilizer, and 57 percent of all farmworkers in the U.S. are Hispanic, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture."
Hispanic farmworkers are not the only people impacted >
“The vast majority, over 99 percent, of the systems that we studied do meet the federal drinking-water standard of 10 ppm, . . .But 5 ppm was chosen due to questions about whether the current drinking-water standard is adequately protective to everyone’s health.”
According to the Environmental Working Group, 85 utilities in Arizona have drinking water with nitrate levels above 5 ppm, affecting 403,910 Arizonans.
This isn't the first time it’s been revealed that Hispanics may be exposed to dangerous drinking water at higher rates than other groups.
A 2005 study found Hispanic residents in Arizona were more likely to get their water from a system that exceeded safe arsenic levels.
