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December 5, 2008
The nine community water systems tested are representative examples that serve populations of 3,000 to over a million. They include the Potomac River in the Maryland/Washington, D.C. area, the White River in Indiana, Elm Fork Trinity River in Texas, Neuse River in North Carolina, Chattahoochee River in Georgia, Running Gutter Brook in Massachusetts, Clackamas River in Oregon, Truckee River in Nevada, and Cache La Poudre in Colorado.
This briefing was held in cooperation with the USGS Office of Water Quality and its National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program.
On December 5, the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) and the Water Environment Federation (WEF) held a briefing where the US Geological Survey (USGS) released new data collected at sources of public drinking water at nine sites across the country. The water was tested for more than 260 compounds, mostly man-made, including pesticides, solvents, gasoline hydrocarbons, personal care and household-use products, disinfection by-products, and manufacturing additives. Many of these chemicals have been found in surface water for years, but these studies specifically analyzed contaminants at drinking water intake locations, as well as the quality of the drinking water after treatment.