Environmental advocacy groups are urging EPA to track the presence of tiny plastic particles in tap water.
A petition sent Monday and signed by 176 groups urges EPA’s water office to add micro- and nanoplastics to its list of emerging chemicals subject to monitoring in public water systems.
“The science is clear and alarming: Microplastics are everywhere in our world and in all of our bodies, posing a very serious threat to human health,” said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch, which led the petition, said in a statement.
Every five years under the Safe Drinking Water Act, EPA must pick up to 30 unregulated contaminants to be monitored in public water utilities nationwide, which is a data collection project that determines whether or not the chemical should be regulated.
