Is Texas Tap Water Laced With Arsenic?

Texas has a major arsenic problem, and public interest advocates say that just like in Flint, MI, public officials are failing to protect residents from toxic drinking water.

“Drinking water systems serving 51,000 people in several dozen rural Texas communities exceeded federal drinking water standards for arsenic for more than a decade, according to a report [published] by an environmental group,” the Austin American-Statesman reported.

The Environmental Integrity Project, a public interest group, spelled out the threat in a report titled “Don’t Drink the Water.” It says there’s a toxic level of arsenic in the water supply in 65 Texas communities, serving more than 82,000 people, and that the state is failing to help residents find alternative supplies.

“About 51,000 of these people in 34 communities have been exposed to contaminated drinking water for at least a decade, many at levels several times higher than the arsenic limit,” the group’s report said.

Two examples are Jim Hogg County in South Texas and the City of Seagraves in West Texas. The residents in these communities have been exposed to arsenic concentrations three to four times higher than the federal limit for at least five years, the report said, citing data from the state.

The federal limit for arsenic in drinking water is 10 ppb. “Studies link inorganic arsenic ingestion to a number of health effects. These health effects include cancerous effects (skin, bladder, lung, kidney, nasal passages, liver, and prostate cancer); and non-cancerous effects (cardiovascular, pulmonary, immunological, neurological, and endocrine (e.g. diabetes) effects),” according to the U.S. EPA.

The main argument in the report is that, similar to Flint, MI, state regulators are failing to give residents enough information about the dangers of their water supply.

“The drinking water disaster in Flint, Michigan, reminds us how important it is for government to let the public know when to avoid drinking contaminated water,” the report argues.

“Despite the health risks, Texas fails to tell consumers to stop drinking the water and instead implies that it is safe. When local water utilities find violations, federal law requires local water utilities to tell consumers that lifetime exposure to arsenic concentrations above 10 ppb may increase cancer risk. But Texas also requires the advisories to state: ‘This is not an emergency… You do not need to use an alternative water supply,’” the report said.

The Austin American-Statesman spoke to state regulators about the claims in the report.

“Texas officials say the arsenic doesn’t pose an immediate threat and that the federal guidelines are conservative,” the news report said. “State environmental officials say they are working with the drinking water systems to prod them into compliance.”

Michael Honeycutt, who runs the toxicology division at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality “said the federal standard is based on research involving far greater exposure levels for decades,” according to the news report.

Research has linked drinking water contaminated with arsenic to developmental challenges in children

"Research involving hundreds of Maine children might represent a breakthrough about whether exposure to arsenic in drinking water — even at very low levels — could lead to reduced intelligence," the Kennebec Journal reported.

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