Tap Water – Where Does It Come From and Is It Safe to Drink?
Mar. 19, 2008 by Lisa Currie
Striving to be environmentally conscious in your decisions connects directly with living a well-balanced, healthy life. What works for your good health often helps support a healthier planet and vice versa. In that vein, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention offers the following information about safe drinking water.
Safe drinking water is essential to good health and quality of life. Therefore, protecting water sources from contamination is a major concern.
Water is one of our most valuable resources. Water covers about 70% of the Earth’s surface and is one of the most important resources needed for maintaining life (1). In 2000, the United States alone used 408 billion gallons of water per day (2)! Ground water, which is obtained by drilling wells, is water located below the ground surface in pores and spaces in the rock, and is used by approximately 40%–45% of the US population as its drinking water supply (3–5).
People use ground water every day for a variety of reasons, including drinking, recreation, agriculture, and industry. Most of the time this water is completely safe and not a cause for worry. However, during 2003 and 2004, 30 waterborne-disease outbreaks related to drinking water were reported to CDC. These outbreaks resulted in 2,760 cases of illness and 4 deaths. Seven of these outbreaks (23%) and 1,830 cases of illness could be attributed to improperly treated or untreated ground water used for drinking purposes; two of these outbreaks involved private wells (6).