Drinking Water- Benchmarks, Standards and Guidelines Established to Protect Public Health

The following is a description of some the benchmarks, standards and guidelines EPA used to evaluate environmental conditions in the aftermath of the World Trade Center disaster.

In addition to routine monitoring conducted by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, EPA sampled drinking water from 13 water mains under city streets in lower Manhattan on September 15. New York City receives about 1.3 billion gallons of drinking water each day from reservoirs north of the city. Samples are typically taken at water main distribution points, not at the tap.

The samples were analyzed for a wide range of potential drinking water contaminants, including PCBs, metals and bacteria. EPA evaluated the samples against federal Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs), drinking water standards for each contaminant set to protect human health. No contaminants were detected above these protective standards.

In addition, EPA analyzed the samples for asbestos. EPA's standard for asbestos in drinking water is 7 million fibers per liter of water. This standard is intended to protect people from health risks due to asbestos exposure. No samples exceeded this standard.

The New York City Department of Environmental Protection continues to carry out routine drinking water monitoring.

View Monitoring Data for Drinking Water