Riverside Public Utilities says water research was flawed: Click to watch video.
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Rick Welshiemer
InstantRiverside.com
The controversy over a water reporter that poorly-ranked Riverside on a nationwide list continued Tuesday night. After an exclusive interview with InstantRiverside.com, Environmental Working Group researcher Nneka Leiba, claimed Riverside was ranked number 2 on a list of cities with the dirtiest water.
Following the Tuesday interview the group worked to diffuse growing criticism by releasing a statement they claimed was meant to “expand on the methodology and results” of their recent released report.
EWG’s original report was first made public on its website. Over the weekend the story gain traction on CNN. Leiba stated that “the nation’s water had at least 316 contaminants, and 202 of these containments are not regulated by EPA.” In an interview with InstantRiverside.com’s Craig Fiegener, (Click here to watch our first report with Nneka Leiba. ) Leiba said that Riverside’s public utilities tap water contained nitrates that exceed legal safety limits.
Tuesday night, speaking before the Riverside City Council, Riverside Public Utilities General Manager David Wright said Riverside’s water system is constantly tested, and the results are public knowledge. Wright called EWG’s report “misleading” and said that “Riverside’s water has never had a water quality violation.”
In EWG’s recently released statement, they claim that “all of the data included in the study came directly from the state agencies responsible for drinking water.”
According to Leiba, who admitted her group didn’t do any direct testing, and has never been to Riverside, the data included in the study was collected from 2004-2009 data provided by the the California Department of Public Health.
EWG, Tuesday, said since its report went public, “not a single municipal water utility has contacted [them] with data corrections.” EWG welcomes any of the utilities to contact them with questions or comments, and the opportunity to provide them with “valid data” that would overturn their published results, according to its latest statement.
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Filed under Video Library, News A1, Review, Consumer News, Headline
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
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December 16th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
This is a load of nonsense. Anyone who lives in Riverside can pour a glass from tap and “see” just how bad the water is. Give it a smell and a taste and you will be buying bottled water real quick. We need and uprising and I am saddened that the politicians and Mayor can’t see this. I would rather drink pond water than our cities tap water.
December 19th, 2009 at 6:48 am
Shakedown artists at the Environmental Working Group.
December 23rd, 2009 at 11:35 pm
If you can “see” how bad the water is, have your pipes checked.. I think people tend to confuse air bubbles when the water first comes out of the tap as pollution. If it was, it would remain cloudy. As for the “smell”. I never noticed any. I have been a Riverside resident for 44 years, and never had any issue with the water. Again, bad taste and smell could be your plumbing.. BTW Craig, thanks for exposing that “report” for what it was, a way to sell filters..