Wouldn't you love to live in the number one city in the nation? Well, you do. Norman, Oklahoma, is leading the nation in the amount of arsenic in the water supply. Everyone here today should be concerned about this because arsenic is a poison that is slowly killing us through our water intake. Today, we'll be discussing three ideas that will enlighten us on the seriousness of arsenic. First, we will talk about a serious problem with arsenic in water supplies; then we will talk about how using a reverse osmosis system could be a solution for this problem; and then finally, we can see how the city of Norman can benefit from using a reverse osmosis system.

First, I would like to talk to you about the serious problem of arsenic in water supplies. Many of you here today might be thinking, "Well, how does arsenic in water affect me?" It affects us both internally and externally. First, according to a 1999 study from the National Academy of Science, arsenic causes bladder, lung, and skin cancer. It also affects the central nervous system, as well as heart and blood vessels. And it can also cause serious birth defects as well as reproductive problems. Next, it also affects us externally. In the article, "Drinking Without Harm" from the September 2000 issue of Scientific American, it listed several side effects for people who drink water that has arsenic in it. They stated that one can ingest low doses of arsenic for eight years before noticing white and black spots begin to appear upon the skin. If this poisoning continues, these spots can turn into leprosy-like lesions that will encrust the palms of your hands and the soles of your feet. Next comes cancer, particularly bladder and lung. And then, finally, death. The National Resources Defemse Council stated in their February 2000 report that one out of every hundred people who drink water with arsenic levels of 30 parts per billion, which is what we have here in Norman, Oklahoma, will get cancer. That's one out of every hundred people. So, as you walk to your next class, look around and realize, out of the 25,000 students here at the University of Oklahoma, 250 of them will get cancer because of the arsenic in the water. One of these people could be you. I'm sure by now most of you are checking your skin for spots and thinking, "Why doesn't the government do something about this?" The EPA has recently changed their standard for arsenic levels from 50 parts per billion to a maximum amount of 10 parts per billion and every community has until the year 2006 to have the water supplies in compliance with this rule. So what kind of problem does this cause for the number one city in the nation? If the requirements are not met, the city of Norman will have to shut down twenty-nine of its wells because the arsenic levels are too high. These wells have averages of over 30 parts per billion. This is three times the maximum amount that the EPA is allowing. In the article "Wells Don't Need EPA Standards" from the March 7th, 2001 edition of the OU Daily, they stated that some of these wells have had arsenic levels of over 100 ppb and the city is still providing this water to the community, even though the EPA states in their rule that the maximum amount can only be 10 ppb. As for the water here at the University of Oklahoma, it isn't any better. All six of OU's wells have averages of over 30 ppb. Once again, this is three times the maximum amount that the government will allow. As you can see from statistics, arsenic is a serious problem here in the city of Norman, Oklahoma.

Now, I'd like to move to my second point, which is discussing how using a reverse osmosis system can be a solution to this problem. This is a picture of a reverse osmosis system and, simply put, this process consists of running the water through a filter in a treatment plant so that the arsenic will be removed. These systems can be installed for both private or public use, and a citizen can install one of these systems in their home for around $200. This might not seem like very much to us but it could be very expensive for some college students. Secondly, the city of Norman and the University of Oklahoma should consider using a reverse osmosis system to treat their water. Once again, this might be very expensive but we have to do something; otherwise, our wells will be shut down. This would cause the city of Norman to lose 1.7 million gallons of water each day, and the University of Oklahoma would lose over 1 million gallons of water each day, also. For us here on campus, this could be a major problem. How would you like to have your water completely shut off? Or, better yet, what if the university told you that you would only have water in your room for one hour each day? I know this might sound ridiculous but it could happen if the arsenic levels are not reduced.

Now I'd like to move to my third and final point, which is discussing how the city of Norman can benefit from using a reverse osmosis system. The use of these systems could help clean the arsenic out of the water so that we would all be able to drink it once again. Reverse osmosis cleans 99.5% of all metals such as arsenic from water. These systems can also help us in preventing acts of terrorism. The organization Heartland of America said that terrorists could try to use poison in our water systems to kill us. You can see from this chart that reverse osmosis can filter out things such as bacteria, viruses, and other contaminations that terrorists could try to use in poisoning us through our water system. These are just two of the many ways that we, as citizens of Norman, can benefit from using a reverse osmosis system.

In conclusion, today we have discussed three ideas concerning the seriousness of arsenic here in Norman, Oklahoma. First we discussed the serious problem of arsenic in water supplies. Then we talked about how using a reverse osmosis system can be a solution to this problem and, finally, we discussed how the city of Norman can benefit from using a reverse osmosis system. I know that many of you here today are huge OU sports fans and you always want to see OU rank number one, no matter what the event might be. Well, today I'm going to tell you that there are some things that you just don't want to be number one at. Norman, Oklahoma, should be leading the nation in something besides the amount of arsenic in their water supply. If you're concerned about your life or the health of others around you, please contact your Norman City council members and express to them your serious concern for this deadly problem of arsenic in the Norman water supply. Thank you.