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Chemical contaminants are among the most abundant impurities in water sources, and they can be both natural and man-made. They don’t alter the characteristics of water as noticeably as physical pollutants. Natural chemical pollutants include nitrogen, arsenic, and toxins produced by bacteria.
Almost half of the tap water in the United States is contaminated with chemicals known as “forever chemicals,” according to a study from the US Geological Survey.
Natural presence of chemicals, particularly in groundwater, can also be of health significance, including arsenic and fluoride, while other chemicals, such as lead, may be elevated in drinking-water as a result of leaching from water supply components in contact with drinking-water.
Chemicals from pesticides and fertilizers in water may increase cancer risk and reproductive problems, and can impair eye, liver, kidney, and other body functions. Similar problems can result from exposure to water near industrial plants.
Water pollution is the release of substances (such as chemicals or microorganisms) or energy (in the form of radioactivity or heat) into surface and subsurface waters to the point that the substances interfere with beneficial use of the water or with the natural functioning of ecosystems.
J. Alfredo Gómez. Director. gomezj@gao.gov. (202) 512-3841. PFAS are all around us—in household products we use each day and some of the food we eat and the water we drink. In fact, their prevalence is so widespread that most Americans have traces of PFAS in their blood.Frequently referred to as “forever chemicals” because they break ...
But no federal limits have been set on the concentration of the chemicals in water, as they have for other pollutants such as benzene, uranium and arsenic. With a new presidential...
Many emerging chemicals, such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), microplastics, and 1,4-dioxane, have drinking water as the dominant exposure pathway for many...
Examples of chemical contaminants include nitrogen, bleach, salts, pesticides, metals, toxins produced by bacteria, and human or animal drugs. Biological contaminants are organisms in water. They are also referred to as microbes or microbiological contaminants.
Water, substance composed of the chemical elements hydrogen and oxygen and existing in gaseous, liquid, and solid states. It is one of the most plentiful of compounds and has the important ability to dissolve many other substances, which was essential to the development of life.