Despite being the world’s wealthiest nation, the U.S. has communities that are still exposed to toxic tap water. Today, we hear how a city in New Mexico has struggled with high levels of arsenic in its water — and how its residents are fighting back.
Read more:
Fifty years after the passage of the Safe Drinking Water Act, which is supposed to limit toxins in Americans’ water, many people around the country cannot safely drink from the tap.
Drinking water samples tested in Sunland Park, a small New Mexico city, found illegally high levels of arsenic in each of the past 16 years. In 2016, levels reached five times the legal limit.
The city also reflects parts of the United States — low-income areas and Latino communities — that are particularly exposed to arsenic in their drinking water at higher rates than any other racial or ethnic group, even when controlling for socioeconomic factors.
In Sunland Park, residents’ complaints have mounted in recent months, and some are taking the first steps toward filing a lawsuit.
Today on “Post Reports,” we talk to investigative reporter Silvia Foster-Frau about her reporting from New Mexico and why problems with toxic water there — and elsewhere in the country — persist.
Today’s show was produced by Emma Talkoff. It was edited by Maggie Penman and Monica Campbell and mixed by Sean Carter.
Subscribe to The Washington Post here.
The Young Thug trial and how it could reshape music
The death of Iran’s president
The Campaign Moment: Trump accepted Biden’s debate proposal. Now what?
What to know about inflation right now
Rethinking identity in a fractured America
Body positivity in the age of Ozempic
The end of Google search as we know it
Is the Drake-Kendrick rap beef good for hip-hop?
The Campaign Moment: Trump trial delays, boos for MTG and Biden’s red line on Rafah
Will U.S. threats change Israel’s war?
Stormy Daniels takes the stand (and Trump curses)
How Pope Francis opened the Vatican to trans sex workers
Can U.S. aid to Ukraine make a dent in the war?
Deep Reads: One man threatened Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. Here’s what happened next.
The Campaign Moment: Campus protests, a jail threat for Trump and Kristi Noem’s late dog Cricket
The unprecedented health-care hack that may affect you
The precarious power of Speaker Mike Johnson
India's secret assassination plot on U.S. soil
What to know about the new bird flu outbreak
The Campaign Moment: The GOP's Marjorie Taylor Greene problem
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The 7
The World
The Daily
What Next | Daily News and Analysis
The Journal.