The average American tends to take safe drinking water for granted; that is until a new drinking, water crisis such as the Flint lead contamination saga, surfaces, leading everyone to wonder what contaminants might be lurking in the water that flows from their taps.

The Flint water crisis was certainly a wake-up call for American consumers, and according to Erik Olson, director of the Natural Resource Defense Council's Health program, when it comes to water safety issues, Flint is not an isolated case. Millions of Americans living in other towns and cities around the country are supplied with water contaminated with lead or other pollutants.

The NRDC together with the NGO Clean Water Action have been hard at work trying to enforce the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, serving as a public watchdog during every stage of the process. While these organizations have realized many victories in their fight for clean water, consumers should still be cautious about potential pollutants that may be present in their water supply or distribution network.

Lead is Not the Only Issue

All water suppliers providing drinking water to consumers in the US must ensure that the water they supply meets drinking water safety standards. If these standards are met, consumers can safely drink the water that flows from their taps. However, violations are widespread, and very often water supplied to consumers contains pollutants that are not regulated by the EPA.

A recent NRDC report shows that in 2015, around 77 million US consumers received drinking water from water systems that were in violation of federal protections, and more than 30% of these consumers were dependent on water supplies that failed to meet federal health standards. Furthermore, water suppliers serving millions of other US consumers either didn't conduct adequate water safety tests or failed to warn consumers or report the results of these tests to the health authorities. Considering that many pollutants are not even regulated or monitored, these figures are likely to be an understatement rather than a true reflection of how widespread the problem is. For example, pollutants such as PFOA/PFOS and perchlorate occur in tap water across America, but they are not regulated and therefore are not included in the already staggeringly high figures mentioned above.

Children, pregnant women and people with compromised immune systems face a higher health risk when exposed to the following pollutants:

• Lead - a heavy metal that can leach into water from lead water pipes, fixtures and fittings, particularly when corrosive water is moving through the system, can cause behavioral and neurological problems in children and also pose a health risk to adults.

"It's a more common problem in cities with older water systems," explains Kristi Pullen Fedinick a scientist with NRDC Health program, "but what a lot of people don't realize is that even relatively new brass fixtures and faucets can still contain significant amounts of lead. Just because your home is less than 20 years old doesn't necessarily mean you're lead-free."

• Atrazine - an endocrine-disrupting pesticide that is widespread in US freshwaters, as well as drinking water supplied to homes across the Midwest and southern states.

• Pathogens - disease causing parasites, bacteria and viruses can make their way into drinking water supplies that are not properly treated to kill these pathogens.

• Chlorine treatment by-products - when present in high concentrations, by-products of the water disinfection process may pose a health risk, including a risk of cancer and a reproductive health risk.

• Other contaminants - arsenic, nitrates, radioactive contaminants, vinyl chloride, perchlorate and pharmaceuticals are other potentially hazardous contaminants found in drinking water across the country.

To ensure that you water is free from these contaminants we highly recommend that you filter your drinking water with a good quality drinking water filter from our range of Berkey filters.