Water Pollution, Contaminated Water Supplies, Rocket Fuel Contamination, Crack Cocaine In Water Supply

There was a time when we joked and laughed when people did things that defied good reasoning. We would laugh out loud, and remark, "It's the water", when the question was posed as to why an odd instance occurred. We are no longer laughing, and since we now know it is the water. Read the facts below to see how the water in America has been deliberately tainted, and it becomes clear that the minds of Americans have been severely affected by these pollutants. The best advice we can give to you is to avoid the water, drink only deep spring well water, imported from outside the U.S. Know the source of your water BEFORE you buy it. Wal-mart sells spring water from Texas and Arkansas, but won't say where the wells are.Click here to add text.

SEVERE ROCKET FUEL POLLUTION - 22 STATES - WATER, MILK AND PRODUCE AFFECTED

Carcinogenic and thyroid-toxic perchlorate from rocket fuel is causing massive water pollution problems across the U.S.Pollution of water supplies by perchlorate, a toxic chemical widely used in rocket fuel and some types of explosives, has now been found in 22 states in the U.S. It was thought that perchlorate pollution would be restricted to places where rocket fuel was made or used, but it has since been tied to plants around the U.S. that made munitions, fireworks and even the charges that deploy airbags. Along with explosives, naturally perchlorate-rich fertilizer imported from Chile has contaminated wells on New York's Long Island, forcing the closure of some. Perchlorate can damage the thyroid gland, which controls growth, development and metabolism, and is also known to cause cancer.

Milk from cows raised in some parts of California may expose infants and children to more of a toxic rocket fuel chemical than is considered safe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the State of Massachusetts, according to unreleased tests by state agriculture officials and independent laboratory tests commissioned by Environmental Working Group (EWG). In the first study to look for perchlorate in California supermarket milk, EWG found the rocket fuel chemical in almost every sample tested - 31 out of 32 samples purchased from grocery stores in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Perchlorate, the explosive component of solid rocket fuel, can affect the thyroid gland's ability to make essential hormones. For fetuses, infants and children, disruptions in thyroid hormone levels can cause lowered IQ, mental retardation, loss of hearing and speech, and motor skill deficits

Perchlorate contamination has forced hundreds of wells in California to close during the last six years, and more close almost weekly, prompting water officials to consider rationing and bottled water to cover anticipated shortfalls. A former Kerr-McGee Corp. rocket fuel plant outside Las Vegas still leaches as much as 900 pounds of perchlorate a day into a wash that drains into the Colorado River, the main water source for much of Arizona, southern California and southern Nevada. "It's really one of the most massive pollution problems the water industry has ever seen," says Timothy Brick of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Perchlorate contaminates more than 350 drinking water sources in California alone. Nationally, perchlorate contamination of drinking water has been confirmed by testing in 22 states. Among contaminated sources is the Colorado River, which not only provides drinking water for Los Angeles, Phoenix, Las Vegas and other cities, but also irrigates 1.4 million acres of farmland in California and Arizona. Many crop and feed plants, including lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes and alfalfa, concentrate perchlorate in their tissues when grown with contaminated water. The perchlorate ingested by cows in their water and feed is passed along in milk.

Across the U.S., millions more eat vegetables grown with Colorado River water, although test results show that leafy vegetables such as lettuce grown with contaminated irrigation water take up, store and concentrate potentially harmful levels of perchlorate. Overall, the vegetables were found to have an average of more than 2,600 micrograms of perchlorate per kilogram - thousands of times higher than what the EPA considers to be a safe amount in a liter of water.

In Tennessee, perchlorate contamination was found in three areas: the former Redstone Arsenal Rocket Engine facility on the east side of the arsenal, also site of a former Thiokol rocket motor manufacturing plant; an open burn/detonation area on the south part of the arsenal; and several rocket engine test stands now owned by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. 151 water wells were tested. 31 have detectable levels. Maximum found in an unnamed stream that runs along the plant boundary is 59 parts per billion.

ALL 50 STATES - CRACK COCAINE IN THE WATER

According to the Koch Crime Institute, people who come into contact with the toxic byproducts of smoking or cooking the drug are susceptible to headaches, nausea, dizziness, confusion, breathing difficulties, skin and eye irritation and burns. That doesn't just include first responders or those living in the lab. Those who move into a place where meth was cooked -- even months after the fact -- are sensitive to the toxic effects. Officials know there are lingering health problems from coming into contact with the byproducts of cooking meth, but there is little research. According to studies done by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, meth residues may be fatal to young children. Benzene, an ingredient in some meth recipes, is known to cause cancer. Other chemicals used have caused decreased mental function, anemia, kidney damage and birth defects According to officials with the North Metro Task Force, the manufacture of every pound of methamphetamine creates 5 to 6 pounds of toxic waste. Cooks often pour leftover chemicals and toxic sludge down household drains, into toilets, into storm drains or directly onto the ground. Solvents and other byproducts of meth can persist in soil or groundwater for years. All stages of the cooking process involve flammable and highly toxic substances.

WATER POLLUTION BY STATE - HOW DOES YOUR STATE MEASURE UP - CLICK HERE