With the passage of House Bill 81, Utah will ban the addition of fluoride to public drinking water systems beginning May 7, 2025. Community water fluoridation has come under scrutiny in recent years due to concerns about its affect on children’s IQ.
In a first-of-its-kind study analyzing large population-level datasets, researchers from the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine estimated that communities exposed to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) -contaminated drinking water experience up to 33 percent higher incidence of certain cancers.
A recent study has revealed that nearly 100 million people in the U.S. are exposed to unregulated chemicals in their drinking water—including solvents, refrigerants, and PFAS—with Hispanic populations most disproportionately affected.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently published a series of background documents on different viruses, bacteria, and parasites to inform the revision of drinking water quality guidelines and guidelines on sanitation and health.
Citing concerns that the Trump Administration could roll back or weaken Biden-era EPA drinking water standards for PFAS, a bill has been introduced in California that would set state-level limits for harmful “forever chemicals” that are at least as protective as current federal standards.
Scientists have developed a new method for detecting fecal contamination in water using human viral DNA, which can help improve the safety of water sources while also allowing for microbial source tracking of contamination.
An analysis conducted by Pesticide Action Network Europe (PAN Europe) raises concerns about trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), a type of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS), in European mineral waters, which are sourced from deep underground and are typically believed to be more protected from pollutants than other waters.
A survey of municipal drinking water in the U.S. has revealed the pervasive presence of a little-understood contaminant, chloronitramide anion. The researchers call for urgent research into its toxicity—especially considering its structural similarity to other toxic compounds.
