国家地理:拉响关于水质的警报(2)

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Across the country, water systems are old, badly maintained, and in dire need of modernizing -- from lead service lines in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Newark, New Jersey, to silt and debris in drinking water after heavy rain in Austin, Texas, to fecal contamination in Penn Township, Pennsylvania. Worse, some are managed by dysfunctional agencies where incompetence and socioeconomic and racial bias may determine whether a community is made sick by its drinking water. The reality is that we can no longer assume that our water is safe to drink.

在美国各地，自来水系统老旧、维护不善，亟需现代化，像是威斯康星州密尔瓦基和纽泽西州纽瓦克的铅制水管问题、德州奥斯汀在暴雨过后的饮用水中有淤泥和碎屑、宾州佩恩镇的粪便污染。更糟的是，有些小区由运作失常的机构管理，这些机构的无能，或是社会经济和种族偏见，可能会决定一个小区是否因饮用水而生病。事实就是，我们不能再认定饮用水是安全的了。

How unsafe is it? Depending on the source of contamination and the exposure, health effects include neurological problems and developmental disabilities in children (lead), interference with hormones (perchlorates), and increased risk of cancers of the skin, bladder, and kidney (arsenic). The Environmental Protection Agency regulates more than 90 contaminants—but a hundred more that are tracked are so far unregulated.

自来水有多不安全，取决于污染源和接触环境，对健康的影响包括了儿童神经系统问题和发展障碍（铅）、干扰体内激素（过氯酸盐），以及增加皮肤癌、膀胱癌和肾脏癌的风险（砷）。美国环境保护局规范了超过 90 种污染物，但迄今为止，还有一百多种污染物未列管。