Millions of people in the U.S. are drinking water that fails to meet federal health standards, including by violating limits for dangerous contaminants.

Latinos are disproportionately exposed, according to the Guardian’s review of more than 140,000 public water systems across the U.S. and county-level demographic data. Water systems in counties that are 25 percent or more Latino are violating drinking water contamination rules at twice the rate of those in the rest of the country.

America’s worst public water systems—those that have accrued more than 15 “violation points” for breaking standards over five years—serve more than 25 million Americans, the research shows. An estimated 5.8 million are Latino. (Read more about how the Guardian did its analysis.)

Read more...