Seven public water systems in Atlantic County tested positive for chromium-6, the the cancer-causing toxin that was made famous in the 2000 Julia Roberts movie "Erin Brockovich," according to a new study published Tuesday by the Environmental Working Group.



Although the water provided by local agencies does not exceed the U.S. Environmental Protection's maximum of 100 parts per billion of total chromium, two systems do exceed 0.02 parts per billion, a level that California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment set as a public health goal in 2011, the study explains. That level "would pose negligible risk over a lifetime of consumption," according to the study.

The other five entities remain below that level.



Here are the local agencies and the average levels of Chromium-6 detected, according to the study:

Atlantic City MUA: 0.038 ppb

Brigantine Water Department: 0.018 ppb

Egg Harbor City: 0.035 ppb

Hammonton: 0.008 ppb

Longport: 0.015 ppb

NJ American Water of Atlantic County: 0.032 ppb

The Oaks of Weymouth Water Company: 0.095 ppb The toxin causes cancer, reproductive problems and liver damage even from little exposure, the report says. Environmental Working Group estimates that if left untreated, Chromium-6 in tap water will cause more than 12,000 excess cases of cancer by the end of the century.

California set 0.02 parts per billion as its goal after Brockovich was successful in building a case against the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) of California in 1993 that blamed the company for contaminating local water. The Environmental Working Group, a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to protecting human health and the environment, analyzed federal data from nationwide drinking water tests showing that the compound contaminates water supplies for more than 200 million Americans in all 50 states.

"Yet federal regulations are stalled by a chemical industry challenge that could mean no national regulation of a chemical state scientists in California and elsewhere say causes cancer when ingested at even extraordinarily low levels," according to the report.



Larry Hajna, a spokesman for the N.J. Department of Environmental Protection, issued a statement, noting New Jersey utilizes the EPA's standard for total chromium (see full statement below).

"No New Jersey water supplies have exceeded this level," he said. "New Jersey is participating in the federal Environmental Protection Agency's collection of testing data for hexavalent chromium."

EPA STATEMENT ON CHROMIUM IN DRINKING WATER