Millions in Michigan exposed to potentially unsafe chemicals in their water

The nonprofit Environmental Working Group’s new nationwide tap water database shows Michigan and U.S. water systems have a number of contaminants, either unregulated or within regulatory levels, that scientific study shows pose a health risk. Wochit (Photo: naumoid, Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Nearly 6 million Michigan residents drink, cook with and otherwise use tap water with an unregulated heavy metal, hexavalent chromium, at levels above where scientific study shows a cancer risk exists, a database compiled by an environmental nonprofit organization shows.

It’s the same contaminant made famous in the 1990s, when law clerk Erin Brockovich investigated Pacific Gas & Electric’s contamination of groundwater over decades with hexavalent chromium in the Mojave Desert near Hinkley, California.

Average levels of the chemical in the town were more than 50 times higher than the public health guideline limit established now, and far above the levels found in Michigan tap water. Brockovich — whose crusade was chronicled in the 2000 movie, “Erin Brockovich,” starring Julia Roberts — helped spearhead a lawsuit that led to a $333-million settlement from PG&E to about 600 Hinkley residents, the largest toxic tort injury settlement in U.S. history.

Millions of Michigan tap-water users are also exposed to […]

Full article: Millions in Michigan exposed to potentially unsafe chemicals in their water

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