Local News
Environmental Groups Asking EPA to Take Action in Texas Arsenic Issue
After a report came out in 2015 that displayed the levels of arsenic in certain Texas towns’ water supply, environmental groups are asking the EPA to step in.
Six environmental groups have reached out to the Environmental Protection Agency to “issue guidance ordering the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to stop telling people it’s OK to consume water with high arsenic levels for extended periods,” as the El Paso Times reported.
At least three El Paso communities have arsenic in quantities higher than 10 parts per billion in drinking water reports, while the EPA lists only 10 parts per billion to be “safe for human health.”
The environmental groups claim that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has been downplaying the levels for a long time and there are “34 communities in which 51,000 people have been chronically exposed to high arsenic levels.” Due to the number of people affected, the groups are advocating for the EPA to drop the hammer on state regulators to warn the communities themselves.
In Tornillo in El Paso County, the EPA previously stepped in to give the town a “$3.2 million grant…for a filtration system that would remove arsenic. The system should be online by the end of the year.”
