4 Ways the Government Shutdown Is Messing with Your Health

More great news regarding the shutdown!

#3: Your water supply is up for grabs… by bacteria and pollution.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was hit particularly hard by the shutdown, furloughing 94 percent of its employees. The agency can’t monitor air pollution emitted by factories and coal-fired power plants, nor can it monitor all the Superfund sites it’s trying to clean up. But it also can’t monitor your local water supply. "Nobody is going to be out inspecting wastewater-treatment plants, drinking-water-treatment plants, or landfills," John O’Grady, a union representative at the EPA’s Chicago office, told The Guardian newspaper. Although local water departments are required to test your drinking water on a regular basis, state governments are responsible for reporting violations of safe drinking-water standards to the EPA. If the EPA isn’t functioning, there’s no one to review those violations and enforce compliance with the law. There’s also no one monitoring rivers, lakes, and streams—which provide drinking water in some areas—for pollution from farms and factories.

Source: http://www.rodalenews.com/government-shutdown-impacts?cm_mmc=TheDailyFixNL-_-1466432-_-10152013-_-4_Ways_the_Government_Shutdown_Is_Messing_with_Your_Health_title