"In Sanders, Arizona, residents drank uranium-contaminated water for years."

"On a sweltering day last July, a team of scientists stood before a crowded room of people from the tiny town of Sanders, Arizona, and showed them a photo of a dilapidated wooden shack covered by hole-filled tarps. This, the scientists explained, was the town's water source.

Tonya Baloo, a longtime resident and mother of two, did a double take. 'It looked like a Third World country,' she says. 'I was like, "Is this Africa?"'

The researchers' next image—a chart with a flat red line cutting through yellow bars—was even more worrisome. Tommy Rock, a Ph.D. candidate studying water contamination at Northern Arizona University, explained that the red line was the Environmental Protection Agency's threshold for uranium allowed in public water systems: 30 micrograms per liter. The yellow bars represented uranium levels in Sanders' water supply dating back to 2003. They hovered around 50 micrograms per liter.

For more than a decade, the chart showed, people in Sanders had been drinking contaminated water."

Julia Lurie reports for Mother Jones June 6, 2016. [2]

SEE ALSO:

"In U.S. Drinking Water, Many Chemicals Are Regulated — But Many Aren’t" (Washington Post) [3]

"The Battle Over Public Drinking Water Has Just Begun" (Climate Progress) [4]

"More Questions On How Wisconsin Will Protect Lakes, Drinking Water" (Wisconsin State Journal) [5]

"Tainted North Alabama Drinking Water Back Within Safe Levels, New Tests Show" (Birmingham News) [6]

"Report: Las Vegas’ Drinking Water Safe — Even With That Pinch Of Uranium" (Las Vegas Review-Journal) [7]

"Dozens of Portland Schools Had High Lead Levels In Drinking Water; Here Are Some Of The Worst (searchable database)" (Portland Oregonian) [8]