DES MOINES, Iowa — Health officials statewide met in Des Moines, Iowa to discuss a widespread problem across the state involving tap water being polluted with poisonous arsenic, according to the Des Moines Register.

The element occurs in Iowa’s soil naturally by leaching to the groundwater and health officials are asking private well owners to pay for their own tests even though large public water supplies test them regularly, stated the article.

“All of them (public water systems) have arsenic problems,” said Diane Moles of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources water-supply staff. “They need to either put in treatment or be able to blend them down” by mixing in clean water from other uncontaminated sources.

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