Memphis water meets health standards but that doesn't mean it's safe, group says

July 26--Although all public drinking water in Shelby County meets government health standards, an environmental group that studied utility systems nationwide has identified contaminants it says are flowing from local taps in unsafe concentrations.

The Environmental Working Group on Wednesday is releasing a national tap water database listing pollutants detected by utilities and reported to state and federal agencies. Of the 48,712 water systems in the database, more than 40,000 had found known or likely carcinogens that, while in compliance with legal limits, exceed levels that scientists say may pose health risks, the group said.

"Just because your tap water gets a passing grade from the government doesn't always mean it's safe," EWG President Ken Cook said in a prepared statement.

Of the six water systems in Shelby County included in the database, all had tap water meeting health-based standards enforced by state and federal regulators. But each also had detected at least one contaminant in levels above guidelines based on the "best and most current science" to protect against cancer, EWG said.

Public drinking water supplies in the Memphis area are drawn from a deep, abundant aquifer known as the Memphis Sand.

The release of the EWG database follows the recent disclosure that the Tennessee Valley Authority detected high levels of arsenic and lead in shallow ground water near its Allen Fossil Plant in Southwest Memphis. There is no evidence the toxic pollutants have seeped into the Memphis Sand, however.

For the Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division, which supplies water to 257,000 homes and businesses, EWG identified radiological contaminants -- radium-226 and radium-228 -- as well as compounds known as trihalomethanes as being above health guidelines. Both types of pollutants can lead to an increased risk of cancer, according to the report.

The radiological contaminants are naturally occurring in ground water, although oil and gas production activities can stir up higher levels. Trihalomethanes consist of a group of chemicals created when water is treated with chlorine and other disinfectants.

During the course of its regular sampling, MLGW found trace levels of nine other contaminants, including industrial pollutants and disinfection byproducts, but they were all at levels below health guidelines.

The EWG report also noted that MLGW is in violation of some monitoring or reporting requirements imposed by the Safe Drinking Water Act.

MLGW President and CEO Jerry Collins said Tuesday that he hasn't had a chance to discuss specifics of the report with the utility's laboratory officials. But he has no doubts about the safety of local drinking water.

"We are extremely confident that the water we produce for our customers to drink is the best drinking water in the country," Collins said.

The other local water systems included in the database are those serving Bartlett, Collierville, Germantown, Millington and the Naval Support Activity-Mid-South base.

Of the six Shelby water systems in the report, the one with the most contaminants above health guidelines was Collierville's, which had three. In addition to radiological contaminants and trihalomethanes, hexavalent chromium, a carcinogen associated with industrial discharges, was found in potentially unsafe levels in the town's water.

The chromium likely is traceable to Smalley-Piper industrial site off of U.S. 72, which was added to the national priority list for cleanup under the federal Superfund program in 2005 after hexavalent chromium and other toxic compounds were found in ground water, soil and sludge.

Reach Tom Charlier at thomas.charlier@commercialappeal.com or 901-529-2572 and on Twitter at @thomasrcharlier.

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