The Environmental Protection Agency says the average American consumes more than 6 billion gallons of drinking water per year, and it’s not just the water we drink.
According to a study released Wednesday by the Associated Press, the average Americans drinking water supply is also polluted.
According the EPA, the nation’s drinking water supplies are contaminated by more than 50,000 chemicals, including arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, and chromium.
“The data shows that Americans drink water that is laced with chemicals,” EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said in a statement.
“We must be responsible for all our drinking water.”
The EPA found that about half of the chemicals found in drinking water are known carcinogens, and that more than 70 percent of the water is unsafe for human consumption.
A study released in March by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health showed that nearly half of Americans have water in their tap, and nearly 10 percent have drinking water that has been contaminated.
EPA also found that the U.S. population consumes about 1.3 trillion gallons of water each year.
