NRDC Report Examines Lead Violations, Slams EPA for Lack of Enforcement

A new report released this week by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) claims more than 18 million Americans got their drinking water from systems with lead violations in 2015. According to the report, the problem could be more widespread than originally thought because many water systems known to have such violations, such as Flint, Mich., do not even show up as having lead violations in the government database designed to track such problems.

“Americans take it for granted that the water flowing from their home taps is clean and safe, but all too often that assumption is wrong,” said Erik Olson, health program director at NRDC. “Shoddy data collection, lax enforcement of the law and cities gaming the system have created a potent brew of lead violations and unsafe drinking water from the water supplies used by millions of people across the nation.