Houston ranks #95 out of 100 in big city water rankings

3 chemicals above legal limits

Vilas Bhuchar, Dec 18, 09.

The City of Houston Public Works Drinking Water Operations, which serves 2,700,000 people, ranked #95 out of 100 on a Big City Water Ratings list formulated by the Environmental Working Group, although Houston’s drinking water, “continues to meet or exceed all Federal and State standards for safe drinking water,” according to the annual Water Quality Report (pdf).

The group’s data, the focus of a recent New York Times article, showed that millions of Americans drink unhealthy yet legal tap water. The City of Houston has long claimed to “produce water of a quality better than most other water providers in the nation,” but this new report focuses on areas of water quality regulation that the Environmental Working Group believes are not stringent enough in Federal or State policy, allowing the discrepancy between established ratings and the negative report for Houston.

In addition to the rankings, EWG’s website also includes a City of Houston Drinking Water Quality Report.

According to the report, Houston’s water, during various tests, contained 3 chemicals that were “at concentrations above the legal limit, the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCLs) established by the U.S. EPA.” In comparison, the report shows that the national average is 0.5.

The three chemicals and their descriptions are shown to be:
1.) Alpha particle activity - “form of radiation released from mining waste pollutants and natural sources.”
2.) Total haloacetic acids (HAAs) - “the sum of the concentrations of five related disinfection byproducts in a water sample - dichloroacetic acid, trichloroacetic acid, monochloroacetic acid, monobromoacetic acid and dibromoacetic acid.”
3.) Gross beta particle activity (pCi/L) - “form of radiation frequently associated with nuclear testing and radioactive mineral deposits.”

Tests also showed that Houston water contains 18 chemicals “at concentrations above health guidelines established by federal and state health agencies. These guidelines are typically set at levels that pose no significant health risk.” Again, in comparison, the report shows that the national average is 4.

Finally, while Houston fared poorly in the big city water rankings, other Texas cities did very well - Arlington, Fort Worth, Austin, and Dallas ranked #1, #3, #7, and #12 respectively.

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