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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Environment
Kyle Bagenstose

Drinking water of millions of Americans contaminated with ‘forever chemicals’

person filling up cup of water from tap
New data shows that about one-in-10 drinking water systems contain the two most notoriously dangerous forever chemicals. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Drinking water consumed by millions of Americans from hundreds of communities spread across the United States is contaminated with dangerous levels of toxic chemicals, according to testing data released on Thursday by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The data shows that drinking water systems serving small towns to large cities – from tiny Collegeville, Pennsylvania, to Fresno, California – contain measurable levels of so-called “forever chemicals”, a family of durable compounds long used in a variety of commercial products but that are now known to be harmful.

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