"With joy you will draw water at the fountain of salvation," exclaims this Sunday's responsorial from the Book of Isaiah. You might not, however, want to drink water from your own tap, according to a study that revealed that millions of people in the U.S. drink dirty water.

More than 20 percent of the nation's water treatment systems have violated key provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act over the past five years. The law requires communities to deliver safe tap water to local residents. But since 2004 the water provided to nearly 50 million people has contained illegal concentrations of chemicals like arsenic or radioactive substances like uranium as well as dangerous bacteria often found in sewage, according to an analysis of federal data by the New York Times.

Regulators were informed of each of those violations as they occurred. But regulatory records show that fewer than 6 percent of the water systems that broke the law were ever fined or punished by state or federal officials. Studies indicate that drinking water contaminants are linked to millions of instances of illness within the United States each year.

A half-dozen current and former EPA officials said in interviews that they tried to prod the agency to enforce the drinking-water law but found little support. "There is significant reluctance within the EPA and Justice Department to bring actions against municipalities, because there's a view that they are often cash-strapped, and fines would ultimately be paid by local taxpayers," said David Uhlmann, who headed the environmental crimes division at the Justice Department until 2007.

It is unclear precisely how many illnesses are linked to contaminated drinking water. Many of the most dangerous contaminants regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act have been tied to diseases like cancer that can take years to develop. But scientific research indicates that as many as 19 million Americans may become ill each year due only to parasites, viruses, and bacteria in drinking water.

Source: An article by Charles Duhigg for the New York Times