posted October 08, 2004 01:13 AM         

Fish with both male and female sexual tissue have been discovered near wastewater treatment plants on the South Platte River and Boulder Creek in Colorado. And it's been discovered that utilities across the country have been lying for years about the lead levels in their drinking water. Biologist John Woodling says, ''This is the first thing that I've seen as a scientist that really scared me.''
The sex changes in fish are probably being caused by hormones from birth control bills and hormone replacement that end up in the water. Barbara Biggs, of the Metro Wastewater Reclamation District, says, ''We don't want to leap to any conclusions yet. There are a lot of estrogen sources in the environment, and this is going to take time.''

Denver and nearby suburban areas pump their drinking water from shallow aquifers connected to the South Platte. It's not known whether the chemicals are present in their water supplies or how the hormones will affect the humans who drink the water.

Carol D. Leonnig and Jo Becker and David Nakamura report in the Washington Post that utilities across the country are manipulating or withholding water test results for lead to avoid regulation, which is a violation of federal laws. Millions of Americans are drinking more lead than they're being told is in their water, which is particularly dangerous for pregnant women and young children.

Philadelphia and Boston have discarded tests that showed high readings or have avoided testing homes that are most likely to have high levels of lead. New York City has withheld hundreds of test results that show high lead levels, while assuring residents that the water is safe to drink. Lead levels in water in the District of Columbia are among the highest in the nation, a problem the utility concealed for months.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has gone along with this deception. In 2003, it ordered utilities to correct violations in only 14 cases, which is less than one-tenth the number ordered in 1997.

If drinking bottled water the solution? The problem is that most of this water isn't tested at all, and some of it is actually bottled tap water.

Jim Elder, who headed the EPA's drinking water program from 1991 to 1995, says utilities are engaging in "widespread fraud and manipulation…I fear for the safety of our nation's drinking water. Apparently, it's a real crapshoot as to what's going to come out of the tap and whether it will be healthy or not."

If this keeps up, we're all going to need healing.