Planetizen Newswire
Keep up with essential planning news and commentary, delivered to your inbox every Monday and Thursday.
Water Standards Out of Touch With Reality
American drinking water meets federal safety standards, but some say it's only because those standards are far too low and don't accurately reflect the potential for contamination.
"Only 91 contaminants are regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act, yet more than 60,000 chemicals are used within the United States, according to Environmental Protection Agency estimates. Government and independent scientists have scrutinized thousands of those chemicals in recent decades, and identified hundreds associated with a risk of cancer and other diseases at small concentrations in drinking water, according to an analysis of government records by The New York Times.
But not one chemical has been added to the list of those regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act since 2000."
Sinc 2004, more than 62 million Americans have been exposed to contaminated drinking water, according to this investigation from the New York Times.
Full Story:
Published on Wednesday, December 16, 2009 in
Topics
- Houston Just as Expensive as New York City, Study Says
- Mapping the Land Uses of the United States
- The High Costs of Housing Development: It's Complicated
- The Latest Trend in Redevelopment: Parking Lot to Multi-Family Residential
- Virginia Upzoning and Accessory Dwelling Unit Bills Killed Quickly in Committee
- Overcoming the Obstacles of Land Use for Renewable Energy
- U.S. Transit Ridership Growing Again
- The World's Streets Are Becoming Less Connected, Study Shows
- Future of Massive S.F. Bay Area Housing Project Uncertain Due to Labor Dispute
- Fewer Baby Boomers Choose Urban Lifestyles Than Previous Generations
- Revealing the Secret Landlords of U.S. Real Estate
- Proposed Law Would End Development Review Exemption for Homeless Shelters
- Market Street in San Francisco Closes to Cars Today
- Legislation Would Prevent Rural-to-Urban Water Transfers in Arizona
- Report: Last-Mile Deliveries to Increase 78% by 2030
- Houston More Expensive Than New York? Not So Fast
- As Tolls Increase, Vehicle Trips Decrease on Dynamically Priced Express Lanes
- Opinion: Historic Preservation's Climate Problem Reveals its Class Problem
- What to Expect from Transit Construction in 2020
- Overcoming the High Carbon Debt of Electric Vehicle Production
