ABSTRACT
Is drinking water contamination really a problem-a serious problem? The answer to the first part of the question depends on where your water comes from. As to the second part of the question, we refer you to a book (or the film based on the book) that concerns a case of toxic contamination that you might be familiar with-A Civil Action, by Jonathan Harr. The book and film portray the legal repercussions connected with polluted water supplies in Woburn, Massachusetts. Two wells became polluted with industrial solvents, apparently causing 24 of the town’s children who lived in neighborhoods supplied
by those wells to contract leukemia and die over a span of 12 years-a rate several times the national average for a community of its size. The families involved sued two companies for dumping toxic waste. Their attorney, Jan Schlichtmann, emphasized that Woburn was only one example of an underlying pathology that threatens many other communities.
