Good morning, D.C. To the shock and awe of, well, no one, it turns out that water coming from the Potomac into testing facilities just might be slightly polluted! The Post reports this morning that the U.S. Geological Survey tested water from the Washington Aqueduct, a system that filters water from the Potomac and supplies it to taps in the District and northern Virginia. The Survey’s findings? 17 chemical compounds which made it past the testing point — but only in very small levels that do not exceed the permissible amounts allowed by the Environmental Protection Agency. The most damaging chemical found is likely atrazine — the compound, used to kill weeds, is currently under investigation as the potential cause of the Potomac’s intersex bass.

So should you panic and stop drinking tap water? Of course not. But one does wonder: when asked about whether or not human exposure to the tiny levels of chemicals for long periods of time would be harmful, a spokesperson from the Geological Survey provided the incredibly reassuring answer of “unfortunately, you know, we just don’t know right now.” Yeah, I think I’ll still be using the filter.

What to read as you enjoy your delicious tap water this morning:

>> Drug and alcohol related traffic fatalities were down 2.5 percent last year, but are still up over 25 percent from levels in the late 1990s.

>> MPD has added 24 new speed-monitoring cameras around the District.

>> U.S. News and World Report named Fairfax County’s Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology as the best public high school in the nation for the second straight year. Several other Virginia and Maryland schools also made the Top 100 list, but D.C. schools were not included in the survey due to “insufficient data.”

Photo by tapierce.