High Arsenic in Domestic Well Water Could Affect 2 Million People in The U.S.

Clean drinking water can be easy to take for granted if your home taps into treated water sources. But more than 44 million people in the U.S. get their water from private domestic wells, which are largely unregulated. Of those, a new report estimates that about 2 million people could be exposed to high levels of naturally occurring arsenic in their water. The study appears in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology.

Long-term exposure to inorganic arsenic, which is found in the earth’s crust and is widely distributed in the environment, can potentially cause a variety of health problems including cancers. Also, recent research suggests that for pregnant women, low-level exposure could affect fetal growth and pre-term birth. Municipal water-treatment systems can filter arsenic out, but monitoring and mitigating contaminants in well water is up to private owners.