EPA - Water Quality - Pregnancy and Other Concerns

The press has reported on issues dealing with pregnancy and consumption of treated water. These stories appeared in the News on February, 11, 1998

Study Links Tap Water Chemical to Miscarriages

EPA Proposes Annual Tap Water Safety Report

Study Links Tap Water Chemical to Miscarriages

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Women who drink five or more glasses a day of ordinary tap water have a higher rate of miscarriage, and a byproduct of the chlorine used to purify water supplies may be to blame, researchers say.

But they said the studies were preliminary, and urged women not to switch to bottled water if they did not already drink it because it is not necessarily better.

Nonetheless, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which helped pay for the study, said it was already considering action to reduce allowable levels of these byproducts in drinking water.

The researchers said trihalomethanes, contaminants sometimes produced when chlorine is used to kill germs in water, seemed to be responsible.

Women who had a high exposure to trihalomethanes had a miscarriage rate of 15.7 percent compared to 9.5 percent among women with a low exposure to the chemicals.

"In all of our studies, except one small study, we did find that women who drank tap water had higher miscarriage rates than women who drank bottled water," Shanna Swan, chief of reproductive epidemiology at the California Department of Health Services, said in a telephone interview.

"However, averaged over all study areas, only 2 percent of women had a high enough exposure to these chemicals to significantly increase their risks," the researchers, whose findings will be published in the journal Epidemiology, added.

High exposure came from drinking five or more glasses of water every day that contained high levels of the chemicals.

Trihalomethanes are formed when acids from decomposing plant material react with the chlorine. Levels in the water vary day by day and from region to region.

The findings were based on a long-term study of women in three areas of California, and results did vary. But Swan said the general findings should apply almost everywhere.

"There is nothing particular to the way water is treated or chlorinated in California," Swan said.

"We are in the process of reviewing the study," an EPA official said. "We believe that additional research is needed before any conclusions can be made."

The official said more studies were being done around the country and confirmed the agency was already planning to lower allowable limits of trihalomethanes by 20 percent.

Swan's group interviewed 5,144 women in a prepaid health plan. Water companies provided data on trihalomethane levels.

Swan said her team did their best to make sure it was the chemicals in the water, and not some other factor, that caused the effect. "We did consider lots of things including exercise and stress and education and race and smoking and alcohol and pretty much everything anyone has suggested," she said.

She said women should not switch to bottled water and should certainly continue to drink plenty of water.

"Bottled water is not regulated as closely as tap water," she said. "There is no guarantee it is safer and it will vary in quality as much as tap water.

Worried women can refrigerate water in an open container for several hours, they can boil it and then cool it before drinking, or use a carbon water filter to try to remove some of the chemicals in it, she said. The EPA also made the suggestion.

Swan said chlorination of water was very important. "I don't think anyone would consider stopping chlorinating water," she said. "Chlorination has saved untold illnesses and lives."

"We of course want to emphasize to the American people that our tap water is the safest in the world but we need to be vigilant," the EPA official said. Concerned pregnant women should contact local water officials or their doctors for advice.

EPA Proposes Annual Tap Water Safety Report

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Clinton administration said Wednesday it would ask all drinking water systems to send an annual safety report to consumers following a study showing that women who drink large amounts of tap water have a higher rate of miscarriages.

The action by the Environmental Protection Agency came one day after researchers in California said a preliminary study showed women who drink five or more glasses a day of ordinary tap water have a higher rate of miscarriage, possibly because of the chlorine used to purify water.

EPA Administrator Carol Browner said the agency's proposed rule would require drinking water reports to tell consumers practical information such as whether tap water meets EPA's safety standards, the likely sources of any contaminants and what health risks exist in systems that violate the EPA's standards.

"We are now going a step further to ensure that Americans in the 21st century have the information they need about the safety of their drinking water, without having to rely on a distant bureaucracy," President Clinton said in a statement.

The rule would apply to all of the nation's 56,000 community water systems, which supply some 240 million Americans. EPA said large waste suppliers would have to mail their annual safety reports to customers while smaller systems could post the report in a central location or publish it in a local newspaper.

"Although the nation's drinking water supply is generally safe, the new information will provide consumers with a snapshot of the current state of their local drinking water supply," Browner said in a statement. "These reports will help Americans and their families, particularly those with special health needs, make informed decisions regarding their drinking water and their health."

Under the proposed EPA rule, the first water safety reports would be given to consumers by October 1999.

The California study, which was partly funded by the EPA, found that trihalomethanes -- contaminants sometimes produced when chlorine is used to kill germs in water -- seemed to be responsible.

Women who had a high exposure to trihalomethanes had a miscarriage rate of 15.7 percent compared to 9.5 percent among women with a low exposure to the chemicals, the study said.

The EPA said it would accept public comments on the proposed rule for 45 days, and finalize the regulation later this year.