A new and novel review of the toxic pollutants in California drinking water reveals that cumulatively, these pollutants can cause 15,000 cases of cancer. In a paper published in the journal Environmental Health, scientists at the Environmental Working Group calculated the combined health impacts of carcinogens and other toxic contaminants in 2,737 community water systems in California.

“Normally public water systems are monitored for regulated contaminants and while the majority of water systems pass state and federal standards, drinking water that’s perfectly legal can pose serious health risks,” Tasha Stoiber, Ph.D., the study’s lead author, tells Newsmax.  “We did our assessment based on health-based limits, not legal standards, which are often driven by economic and other factors.

Stoiber says that this “first of its kind” study used California state information because its water data is easily available and of high quality. She says that the contaminants in the water were measured according to their combined cancer risk factors.

While individual types of cancer were not studied, the senior scientist at EWG says that arsenic, for example, has been associated with increased risk for bladder, lung and skin cancer. Hexavalent chromium is associated with increased risk of stomach cancer, she says.

Stoiber says readers can check EWG’s tap water data base to see if contaminants have been detected in their own drinking water at https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/.

“Even if detected contaminants are below the federal legal standards, we recommend filtering your drinking water,” Stoiber advises.