Yuck! Report says Jacksonville Drinking Water is Not Clean

ut according to a new report, there may be big problems lurking in that water. The Environmental Working Group, or EWG, studied Jacksonville water for five years.

Its tests found 23 different toxic chemicals, from cleaning by-products, including chloroform to lead, arsenic and carcinogens with levels higher than allowed by the federal government.

Those tests ranked the River City 10th for the worst water in the country.

But Gerri Boyce, spokesperson for the JEA, said it runs more than 25,000 tests every year on its drinking water. "Jacksonville water is very safe," she said.

The report is wrong and misleading, she said. "It's an unregulated group and the data is not scientific, and it's not comprehensive. You have to compare apples to apples and that's not what is happening in this case," said Boyce.