You don't want to know how bad it is in the states. My brother lives at the shore. There was a well documented book published, it's title is the name of his township. It's a heavily populated area and they've lived there since the early 70's. But every couple years they're advised to stop drinking tap water. That's just one area. Nationwide I can't even imagine water quality. I remember a story from Pennsylvania I believe where the water had such a high content of something hazardous that you could light what was coming out of the spigot.
From 1952-1990, the Ciba-Geigy Corporation (now Ciba Specialty Chemicals) operated a dye manufacturing plant in Toms River. Waste products from the plant were either stored in some 69,000 drums or were treated and pumped through a pipeline to the Atlantic Ocean. In 1980, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection required Ciba-Geigy to begin groundwater monitoring and drum removal at the plant site. In 1983, the Toms River site was placed on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Superfund list. The EPA discovered that the waste on the site was leaching into the groundwater below. In 1989 it ordered Ciba-Geigy to begin cleaning up the site and the groundwater.
Owners of the Reich Farm had leased part of the property in 1971 to an independent waste hauler.
In December of that year the owners discovered 4,500 waste drums bearing Union Carbide labels had been dumped on the land, and waste products had been poured into trenches. From 1972-1974 Union Carbide removed drums, trench waste, and contaminated soil. Unfortunately, the land lies above an aquifer which was the main source of drinking water for the entire township then. In 1974 the Dover Township Board of Health closed 148 private wells near the Reich Farm after finding contamination, and the homes were permanently connected to an alternate water supply.
Residents in the area believe that the local water company, Toms River Water Company (now United Water Toms River), mishandled the water supply when it became evident that it was contaminated, and did not treat the water adequately to make it safe.
Childhood cancer rate rises
In the 1990s it seemed as if the number of children with cancer in the Toms River area was growing. In response to the residents' concerns, the New Jersey Department of Health in 1996 studied the problem and found that between 1979 and 1995, 90 children in the township were diagnosed with cancer.
