EPA to Tighten Drinking Water Rules

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Stricter drinking-water limits on four contaminants that can cause cancer will be issued within the next year, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson said Monday.

Two of the chemicals (acrylamide and epichlorohydrin) are impurities that can be introduced into drinking water during the water treatment process, and the other two (tetrachloroethyleneylene and trichloroethylene) are used in industrial and textile processing, CBS News and the Associated Press reported.

Since 2004, violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act have been found at 20 percent of U.S. water treatment systems, putting more than 49 million people at risk, according to an analysis of federal data. Only 6 percent of those water treatment systems were fined or punished by state or federal officials.

On Monday, a U.N. report said that more people die from polluted water every year than from all forms of violence, including war, CBS News and the AP reported.