Tucson Water says drinking water safe; environmental group warns of chromium-6 in US

TUCSON, AZ (Tucson News Now) - A new report from an environmental group claims the carcinogen chromium-6 is in the tap water of 200 million Americans, including here in Pima County.

Tucson Water spokesman Fernando Molina said the water here is safe.

He said chromium-6 occurs naturally in our groundwater, and there are some higher levels of the compound in a few wells that are part of a decades-old Superfund site.

Molina said that water goes through a cleaning process.

The Environmental Working Group has created its report with the goal of having the federal government establish regulatory standards for chromium-6.

The feds don't have any, though they do have standards for chromium.

"The federal standard for chromium is 100 parts per billion and we are well below that amount. What we do with chromium-6 is we look at what the state of California has done. They have established a standard of 10 parts per billion and we are below that," Molina said. "We continue to monitor federal activities with respect to chromium-6 because there's a lot of scientific investigation taking place to day that will help determine what a maximum contaminant level or regulatory stand would be set at."

Tucson Water said it tests for more than 150 possible contaminants in our water.

The utility puts out water quality reports so customers can keep track.

Click HERE to see them.