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Hexavalent Chromium Found in Syracuse Water
The Environmental Working Group released findings from a survey of municipal water supplies and listed Syracuse as one of 31 cities where the study found hexavalent chromium or chromium 6 in the water. Chromium 6 can be linked to stomach cancer in humans.
Dr. John Hassett, professor of chemistry at SUNY-ESF, told WSYR TV reporter Jan Carabeo, "We certainly shouldn't overreact because we have very high quality drinking water in Central New York."
Hassett noted, "The levels they find in Syracuse are very, very low, something like one-tenth of a part per billion." Concentrations would need to be thousands of times stronger before there were a significant health risk.
Chromium is naturally occurring and probably comes from the rocks in Skaneateles Lake, the source of most of Syracuse's water supply.