Folks, hard to imagine in this wacky world, our government would need to set an acceptable standard for perchlorate -- a toxic chemical used to make rocket fuel -- but they did late last week.

The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) limit of 24.6 parts per billion (ppm) in drinking water was determined to guide Superfund cleanups and whether the goverment should regulate perchlorate as a contaminant of drinking water. However, the EPA's preliminary ruling two years ago on perchlorate -- 1 ppm -- was considered too stringent by the Pentagon.

As you well know, perchlorate has been linked to thyroid problems and is considered to be particularly dangerous to children. And, the Natural Resources Defense Council believes that increased limit the EPA set is too low and won't protect those most vulnerable to it: Babies and pregnant women.

Moreover, that higher standard could put millions of people living near Superfund and military sites at great risk. To that end, California and Massachusetts have proposed limits on perchlorate contamination far more restrictive than the current new EPA level.

With clean water so crucial to your health, it's about time you give up tap water and start filtering your home's water supply.

Just don't think drinking bottled water will help you sidestep the problem, however. Some bottled water is no cleaner than tap water.

Washington Post February 19, 2005