Water Health in Hughson

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Matthew Richardson, Opinion Writer

In every story of an old western or some simple movie about a struggling civilization, sometimes the driving force of the plot is, oddly, the water. For what basically boils down to liquid life, it sure is easy to ruin and remove its most used feature, being the supplementation of life. However, surprisingly, it isn’t as hard as you would think it to be. Such has occurred for the water in Hughson.
While it isn’t immediately life threatening, there are assorted chemicals and metals within the water of Hughson that, with prolonged exposure, can cause Cancer. According to the EWG,  the chemicals in Hughson water include things such as Arsenic, which is at an outrageous 1,726x the legally healthy guideline. This chemical is a common poison in movies and throughout history, though luckily as it is in water, it is a little safer than it seems, though not by much. According to my research I made, prolonged exposure to sed chemicals can result in Cancer. And sadly, it isn’t exclusive to the poison. A recent rule breaker of the water permits, 1,2,3-Trichloropropane, has become a new rule breaker with a sharp 35x the guidelines for it. This is used for chemical production, a solvent for fats and waxes, and used to remove grease. Apparently being able to damage a liver and kidneys, the chemical is lucky to be lower than a huge problem, so the chance of it being a murder weapon is low. We also have Haloacetic acids, also known as (HAA5), in a miniscule 5.6x the guideline. Containing bromochloroacetic acid, bromodichloroacetic acid, chlorodibromoacetic acid and tribromoacetic acid, this chemical provides bladder cancer on overexposure, but luckily isn’t a huge occurring liquid in the waters of Hughson.
All this begs the question, is Hughson water safe?. Well, sort of. While just drinking it won’t cause you problems, drinking it too much might. Using distilled or boiled water is safer, or filtering the water. Other than that, drink at your own caution, though don’t just go out on a water fast due to this information.