UCF Cited For Being In Violation Of Drinking Water Standard

Don't drink the water. That's what some students at the University of Central Florida are saying. The Department of Environmental Protection said the school is in violation of a drinking water standard.

Email News Sign-Up Multiple Choices - Auto sign-up (RIGHT ALIGN) GET WFTV NEWS HEADLINES BY EMAIL 9 a.m. Headlines Noon Headlines 4 p.m. Headlines News of the Strange Breaking News Alerts It's a problem that has cast a shadow on the water at UCF.

A letter noting an "increased risk of getting cancer" was sent out to most of the 47,000 people who are exposed daily to UCF's water.

"To take a bath, shower, it's fine, as long as you don't swallow it, because it has cancer-causing materials," said student Tom Iorio.

And that's just the fear UCF was worried about when it was forced by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to send out a public notice saying that a by-product of the water disinfectant may "increase the risk of getting cancer."

"I personally do drink it, because I don't think it poses any serious risk at all," said Dr. Richard Paradise, UCF physical plant.

The UCF water tower, at any given time, has more than 150,000 gallons of water inside. Experts said you would need to drink more than that to even run the risk of getting sick. Even still, some say they won't take any chances.

"Doesn't matter. If it's not good for you, why drink the slightest bit?" said UCF student Gabriella Hazan.

The actual issue is haloacetic acids, which are a by-product of the disinfection of the water. The DEP said it is not an emergency, but the notice was a safeguard so things are fixed before anyone's health is affected.

The university said that it's working with designers right now on fixing the problem. They feel a new filtering system should be in place by the first of the year.

The DEP said that someone would have to drink two liters of contaminated water for 70 years, and then their chances of getting cancer would be 1-in-100,000. And, if the contaminants posed an immediate risk, there would be a boil water alert.

Thirty-one communities or businesses in Central Florida have been cited for having a higher than average level of contamination in the last quarter.