SAFE WATERSAN FRANCISCO
Our Water Can Be Safe For Everyone
Join other concerned residents to eliminate harmful and costly chemicals from SF's tap water.
Does our drinking water deserve its good reputation?
We San Franciscans are proud of our tap water. From pure Sierra snowmelt, this water has to be treated for safety, and we trust the City to do its best.
A growing number of governmental and non-profit organizations are warning us about the hazardous chemicals in SF's water.
It is now time to address these concerns and bring our water into the 21st century. Proven alternatives already exist for providing safer drinking water.
By working together, we can make San Francisco’s water safe for everyone.
At SafeWaterSF.org, you can learn the truth about what’s in our water and what you can do to help improve our system through education and leadership.
At-Risk Groups
Many San Franciscans should not drink tap water. This is an alert to the elderly, HIV/AIDS patients, pregnant women and infants, dialysis patients, hypothyroid sufferers, and others.
Business Burden
SF restaurants, cafes and other businesses are forced to choose between paying for expensive filtration to serve safe water or pass on SFPUC's chemicals to their clientele.
Environmental Racism
African American and Hispanic residents are disproportionately harmed by toxic chemicals present in SF tap water. Visible biomarkers have shown an exponential rise in exposure.
What Do You Really Know about SF's Drinking Water?
Don't feel bad. Most people don't truly understand our water and the chemistry behind it.
What are contaminants and what do you need to know about them?
The San Francisco PUC produces an Annual Quality Report. Read the latest report from 2019 here.
How well do you understand the report? Turbidity? Alkalinity? Byproduct of disinfection? What do these terms mean?
Get your questions answered today by our experts.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention says:
Drinking fluoride from tap water during the time of birth to age 8 can lead to a disease called dental fluorosis that causes permanent alterations inside your mouth. In America, this disease is more prevalent among African Americans and Hispanics.
Erin Brockovich says:
Adding fluoride to "water supplies...results in uncontrollable doses and ubiquitous contamination of drink and food with...an inorganic chemical characterized by chemists as a poison and labeled as a neurotoxin."
The American Medical Association says:
"It is not feasible to monitor the consumption rate or toxic buildup of fluoride in individuals who consume" fluoride in tap water.
United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young says:
"I'm most deeply concerned for poor families who have babies. If they can not afford water free of fluoride for their babies' milk formula, do their babies not count? Of course they do. This is an issue of fairness, civil rights, and compassion."
UNESCO’s Bioethics Document, Article 6 (2010) says:
”In no case should a collective community agreement or the consent of a community leader or other authority substitute for an individual’s informed consent.”
Henry Rodriguez, League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) says:
"The Hispanic community is no longer going to be silent on this issue. Fluoridation is about forcing us to be medicated through our drinking water without our consent or full disclosure of the risks."
The Union of E.P.A. Scientists says:
"Recent, peer-reviewed toxicity data, when applied to EPA’s standard method for controlling risks from toxic chemicals, require an immediate halt to the use of the nation’s drinking water reservoirs as disposal sites for the toxic waste of the phosphate fertilizer industry."
Senator Mark Leno says:
"It's time San Francisco revisited the fluoridation issue.I don't want to blow this out of proportion and jeopardize public confidence in our public water supply system. But this is something that should be looked at."
The San Francisco Precautionary Principle Ordinance says:
"Science is also creating new compounds and chemicals that are already finding their way into mother's milk and causing other new problems. New legislation may be required to address these situations."
Dr. Alveda King says:
"This is a civil rights issue. No one should be subjected to drinking fluoride in their water."
The National Kidney Foundation says:
"There is consistent evidence that impairment of kidney function results in changes to the way in which fluoride is metabolized and eliminated from the body, resulting in an increased burden.... Monitoring of fluoride intake...would be prudent for people with stage 4 or 5 chronic kidney disease."
Ed Begley, Jr. says:
"I'm concerned because there are many studies that indicate an association between lowered IQ and levels of fluoride, which offer no margin of safety to protect all our children, especially low-income families who can not afford avoidance measures."
With Safe Water San Francisco, you can learn the truth about what’s in our water and what you can do to help improve our system through education and leadership.
Safe Water San Francisco is a project of Clean Water California (501c3)
California Non-Profit Corporation #C3580300; EIN 46-3100464