Amidst water crises around the nation, several Houstonians may be switching to the bottle.
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Last year, high concentrations of the same cancer-causing chemical that effectively poisoned the entire California community featured in Academy Award winning film ‘Erin Brokovich’ was found in some of Houston’s drinking water.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u81DWD_pWiQ
“We’ve instructed our water department to see what the cause is to study specifically for chromium 6 in that water reservoir,” City Councilman Steve Le said at a capital improvements project meeting on the issue. “Chromium 6 has been shown to cause cancer. The question is, what is the level?”
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The EPA regulates levels for water quality control at the federal level; however, there are no current controls specifically for chromium 6.
In Houston, the cancer-causing agent was found at rates nearly 300 times higher than the level recommended by health agencies across the nation.
The potentially dangerous levels of chromium 6 are reportedly isolated to the Alief area at this time, but this is not an isolated water quality incident:
“Our drinking water is safe,” Carol Haddock, with Houston Public Works, said at the same CIP meeting where Le addressed his constituents. “I want everybody in this room to hear and understand that our drinking water is safe.”
But attendees, including Alief-area resident Pamela Boneta, were unconvinced:
“It’s a level that can make people get cancer and all other kinds of illnesses. Legally it’s safe, but ethically it is not safe, and people are going to die from it.”
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Maybe she’ll make the switch to other locally sourced H20 while Houston works to clean up the mess:
In the meantime, stay thirsty – for information – Houston.