E PA has set standards for more than 80 contaminants that may occur in drinking water and pose a risk to human health. EPA sets these standards to protect the health of everybody, including vulnerable groups like children. The contaminants fall into two groups according to the health effects that they cause. You may want to contact the supplier for additional information specific to your area.
Acute effects occur within hours or days of the time that a person consumes a contaminant.
In drinking water, microbes, such as bacteria and viruses, are the contaminants with the greatest chance of reaching levels high enough to cause acute health effects. Most people's bodies can fight off these microbial contaminants the way they fight off germs, and these acute contaminants typically don't have permanent effects. Chronic effects occur after people consume a contaminant at levels over EPA's safety standards for many years. Examples of the chronic effects of drinking water contaminants are cancer, liver or kidney problems, or reproductive difficulties. Read Children and Drinking Water Standards .