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EPA Moves to Roll Back Drinking Water Standards

82 points by thelastgallon 1y ago

remh 1y ago
I’ve lived in developing countries where corruption is rampant and things take a long time to improve. Tap water was not drinkable there, and it sucked to have to rely on water jugs or water filters of unknown quality. We are not there in the US but the enshittification is accelerating.
billybuckwheat 1y ago
I'm sure that RFK Jr. will soon be touting the wonders of raw water (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raw_water https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raw_water).
- thelastgallon 1y ago
  Isn't that just free homeopathy?
Throaway152 1y ago
This won't end well lol
- yen223 1y ago
  On the contrary, this will end with wells
  - Throaway152 1y ago
    This won't end wells?
    - collingreen 1y ago
      Damnit... upvote
syntaxing 1y ago
It’s a shame. I have a RO filter because I don’t trust the government to maintain water quality. I know plenty of people with the double RO filter for their well water. Its really a travesty what water quality has become.
- dyauspitr 1y ago
  Yeah double RO filter for my well water here and it’s good drinking water. I worry about the RO membranes though, they are ultimately a type of plastic… and forcing water through plastic at high pressure…
- Gigachad 1y ago
  Needs to be a humanitarian effort to get clean drinking water to America.
- csdreamer7 1y ago
  > It’s a shame. I have a RO filter because I don’t trust the government to maintain water quality. I know plenty of people with the double RO filter for their well water. Its really a travesty what water quality has become. Last I checked the Federal government does not manage private wells. There are exempt under the Clean Water Act.
  - syntaxing 1y ago
    Where do you think pollution in private wells come from…
- RiverStone 1y ago
  You should use a RO or carbon filter even if the government is doing everything right. Chlorine needs to stay in city water to disinfect all the distribution pipes throughout a city. But at point of use, you should not be drinking/bathing in chlorine or chlorine disinfection byproducts.
mycall 1y ago
It is one of hundreds of things which will be rolled back when a different party administration comes to power.
- apothegm 1y ago
  If a different party is ever again given a legitimate opportunity to come to power.
hermannj314 1y ago
Scientific concensus that this is harmful, small bickering on how to set standards, but due to a bureacratic triviality nothing will be regulated at all in any capacity for several years, which happens to align perfectly with the incentives of industry that were struggling to comply with these standards. Awesome. I am sure the people in charge are smart and this is the best path forward for all of us. After all, that is the promise of free and fair elections.
- hn_throwaway_99 1y ago
  Jessica Knurick, who IMO posts great content on social media, has a great take on this. The whole MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) movement is an absolutely brilliant masterstroke by corporate interests. Get people up in arms about pseudoscientific bogeymen like artificial dies. Then claim as a major win how you've gotten big food companies to pinky promise that they'll stop using these dyes in Fruit Loops and sodas in a few years - because of course we'll all be super healthy once we're downing naturally dyed Fruit Loops and soda. Meanwhile, gut environmental regulations that actually do have a measurable positive impact on health, make healthcare even more unaffordable, and kick lots of people off Medicaid so rich people can get a tax break. But hey, at least you'll be the beacon of health since you can now gobble your fries cooked in lard instead of those naughty seed oils.
  - bodiekane 1y ago
    A minor improvement to your argument here- artificial dyes are legitimately harmful in many cases. There are good reasons why the EU had already banned multiple chemicals that were still allowed in the US, and it's a good thing to update the American standards to the EU ones (which are generally more focused on human health as opposed to corporate profits). The focus and prioritization is definitely out of line though, and it's particularly absurd in the face of the rolling back of pollution protections and removing access to healthcare. Basically, it's focusing on a minor problem rather than the major ones. (But the minor problem is a legitimate one, and we should be solving all of them).
    - 1y ago
accengaged 1y ago
australia - we drink straight from the tap. its practically filtered
- potato3732842 1y ago
  Most of the US does too. And of those that don't it's mostly because their water is supplied by a well in an area where the groundwater has minerals that affect smell/taste and it's cheaper to buy bottled than to filter them.
- Throaway152 1y ago
  I think the USA is the only 1st world country with legitimate problems in the potable tap water department. Well, them and Canadian Indigenous reserves lol. But those have been described as 3rd world anyways.

82 points by thelastgallon 1y ago

remh 1y ago

I’ve lived in developing countries where corruption is rampant and things take a long time to improve. Tap water was not drinkable there, and it sucked to have to rely on water jugs or water filters of unknown quality. We are not there in the US but the enshittification is accelerating.

billybuckwheat 1y ago

I'm sure that RFK Jr. will soon be touting the wonders of raw water (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raw_water https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raw_water).

thelastgallon 1y ago
Isn't that just free homeopathy?

Throaway152 1y ago

This won't end well lol

yen223 1y ago
On the contrary, this will end with wells
- Throaway152 1y ago
  This won't end wells?
  - collingreen 1y ago
    Damnit... upvote

syntaxing 1y ago

It’s a shame. I have a RO filter because I don’t trust the government to maintain water quality. I know plenty of people with the double RO filter for their well water. Its really a travesty what water quality has become.

dyauspitr 1y ago
Yeah double RO filter for my well water here and it’s good drinking water. I worry about the RO membranes though, they are ultimately a type of plastic… and forcing water through plastic at high pressure…
Gigachad 1y ago
Needs to be a humanitarian effort to get clean drinking water to America.
csdreamer7 1y ago
> It’s a shame. I have a RO filter because I don’t trust the government to maintain water quality. I know plenty of people with the double RO filter for their well water. Its really a travesty what water quality has become. Last I checked the Federal government does not manage private wells. There are exempt under the Clean Water Act.
- syntaxing 1y ago
  Where do you think pollution in private wells come from…
RiverStone 1y ago
You should use a RO or carbon filter even if the government is doing everything right. Chlorine needs to stay in city water to disinfect all the distribution pipes throughout a city. But at point of use, you should not be drinking/bathing in chlorine or chlorine disinfection byproducts.

mycall 1y ago

It is one of hundreds of things which will be rolled back when a different party administration comes to power.

apothegm 1y ago
If a different party is ever again given a legitimate opportunity to come to power.

hermannj314 1y ago

Scientific concensus that this is harmful, small bickering on how to set standards, but due to a bureacratic triviality nothing will be regulated at all in any capacity for several years, which happens to align perfectly with the incentives of industry that were struggling to comply with these standards. Awesome. I am sure the people in charge are smart and this is the best path forward for all of us. After all, that is the promise of free and fair elections.

hn_throwaway_99 1y ago
Jessica Knurick, who IMO posts great content on social media, has a great take on this. The whole MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) movement is an absolutely brilliant masterstroke by corporate interests. Get people up in arms about pseudoscientific bogeymen like artificial dies. Then claim as a major win how you've gotten big food companies to pinky promise that they'll stop using these dyes in Fruit Loops and sodas in a few years - because of course we'll all be super healthy once we're downing naturally dyed Fruit Loops and soda. Meanwhile, gut environmental regulations that actually do have a measurable positive impact on health, make healthcare even more unaffordable, and kick lots of people off Medicaid so rich people can get a tax break. But hey, at least you'll be the beacon of health since you can now gobble your fries cooked in lard instead of those naughty seed oils.
- bodiekane 1y ago
  A minor improvement to your argument here- artificial dyes are legitimately harmful in many cases. There are good reasons why the EU had already banned multiple chemicals that were still allowed in the US, and it's a good thing to update the American standards to the EU ones (which are generally more focused on human health as opposed to corporate profits). The focus and prioritization is definitely out of line though, and it's particularly absurd in the face of the rolling back of pollution protections and removing access to healthcare. Basically, it's focusing on a minor problem rather than the major ones. (But the minor problem is a legitimate one, and we should be solving all of them).
  - 1y ago

accengaged 1y ago

australia - we drink straight from the tap. its practically filtered

potato3732842 1y ago
Most of the US does too. And of those that don't it's mostly because their water is supplied by a well in an area where the groundwater has minerals that affect smell/taste and it's cheaper to buy bottled than to filter them.
Throaway152 1y ago
I think the USA is the only 1st world country with legitimate problems in the potable tap water department. Well, them and Canadian Indigenous reserves lol. But those have been described as 3rd world anyways.