Tap Water Hazards

Your Feb. 11 article and editorial on tap water reported an increased risk of miscarriage for pregnant women who drink five or more glasses of tap water daily.

Before any further condemnation of tap water, we need statistics on the incidence of miscarriages for pregnant women who drink five or more glasses of bottled water daily. We should also have information on how many people (pregnant or others) drink five or more glasses of water daily.

This current furor (a boon for the bottled water industry) about tap water reminds me of the experience my wife and I had in London and Paris, where restaurants refused to serve us tap water. Instead, we were served bottled water priced at well over $2.

EDGAR ROSEN MD

Santa Barbara

* Re “EPA Seeks Warnings for Tap Water Consumers,” Feb. 12: Several things cry out for comment. The California law they seek to emulate nationwide hasn’t helped Californians.

Now MWD officials say they are spending $200 million for ozone treatment plants to reduce chlorine use, which won’t be operational for five years. When did they start this program? They have known for 50 years that chlorine was dangerous, (cancer causing), but always said it was not dangerous unless it came in contact with organic matter (i.e., you and me, plus plants and trees).

What about the aerospace chemicals that have shut down many wells in California? They knew about them for 50 years, but didn’t even design a test for them at allowable levels until last year.

As long as big business is more concerned with making money than with the public’s health and well-being, we will be subject to these horrors, the one fatal flaw of our capitalistic system.

DAVID BRUNK

Gardena