Citizens urge EPA to keep safer arsenic levels in drinking water

A network of more than 250,000 people is being tapped to protest the Bush administration's decision to reverse higher standards for drinking water, according to the president of Working Assets, a telecommunications company that promotes online activism.

"The drinking water in the U.S. often contains unacceptable levels of cancer-causing arsenic. These new regulations would have merely brought the U.S. into line with World Health Organization standards," said Michael Kieschnick, president of Working Assets. "The government can't kill this new regulation without a public comment period. We're urging all concerned citizens to speak out now to reduce this pollutant in our drinking water."

The Bush administration Tuesday withdrew a regulation approved by the Clinton administration that required the acceptable level of arsenic in drinking water to be reduced from the current 50 parts per billion down to 10 parts per billion. Working Assets today will issue a Citizen Alert that calls on people to flood lawmakers' offices with letters and e-mails in protest of the arsenic decision.

Kieschnick especially hopes that citizens living in areas with particularly bad water contact EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman and their lawmakers. According to the EPA, cities with the highest level of arsenic in their drinking water sources include Los Angeles, Calif.; Albuquerque, N.M.; Norman, Okla.; Chino Hills, Calif.; Sun City West, Ariz.; and Scottsdale, Ariz.

"The Bush administration is yielding to powerful supporters and lobbyists in the mining industry, a main producer of arsenic. Bush received more money from the mining industry during his campaign that any other candidate for federal office," said Kieschnick, "The irony is that the EPA itself has estimated 13 million Americans are currently at risk from diseases linked to arsenic exposure, such as diabetes, birth defects and many kinds of cancer."

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Tyler Baggs contributes and publishes news editorial to http://www.water-purification-filters.com.  Get educated on the benefits of water purification systems and water filters available.