Drinking Water

Drinking Water

Safe Water – Drinking Water Clearing House 

This EPA web portal contains a wealth of frequently requested information about drinking water such as facts, floods, bottled water, health advisories, laws, contaminants, conservation and a whole lot more. Go to http://www.epa.gov/safewater/consumerinformation/index.html

Homeowner’s Guide to Water Quality

Gather information about household water use. Learn how to keep your drinking water safe now and in the future. Topics on the MSU web page include groundwater basics, drinking water quality and health, contaminants information, health effects of pesticides in drinking water and more. Go to the link for Household Water Use.

What Else is in Your Drinking Water?

Until recently it was believed that the best way to dispose of unwanted pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCP) was to flush them. Now, water resource managers have found traces of some of these chemicals in surface waters below treatment plants, and even in groundwater.A groundwater study in the Flathead Valley (Alvey, 2006) identified several PPCP chemicals including female hormones, antibiotics, and anti-seizure medications in well water from five homes. Pesticides were also found in these drinking water supplies. The results of this study are consistent with results found in a study of ground water in the Helena Valley. You can read these reports at the following DEQ web page: http://www.deq.mt.gov/StateSuperfund/gwrem.mcpx#Documents Scroll down to the bottom of the page and download the PDF report on Lost Creek Fan Nitrate Investigation 2006 Helena Valley study can be downloaded here:  http://www.deq.mt.gov/wqinfo/pws/docs/Helena%20valley%20pharms_new.pdf For more information, and guidelines for appropriate disposal of PPCP materials, check out the No Drugs Down the Drain website by following this link:  http://www.nodrugsdownthedrain.org/

How To Protect Your Drinking Water

Surface water and ground water are connected!  It is important to protect all our water sources to stay healthy. Learn what you can do to protect your drinking water at this EPA web page: http://water.epa.gov/drink/index.cfm Montana’s Department of Environmental Quality also works to help keep our groundwater clean for consumption.  Check out their advice on this page:  http://deq.mt.gov/wqinfo/swp/default.mcpx

Public Drinking Water Systems

We tend to think of public drinking water systems as the supply generated by municipalities.  In reality, many homeowners associations and small developments have their own systems. Find out good basic information about requirements for all public drinking water systems at this site:  http://water.epa.gov/infrastructure/drinkingwater/pws/index.cfm More information about small public water systems and capacity development is available at this page: http://water.epa.gov/type/drink/pws/smallsystems/index.cfm CUPSS is a free, easy-to-use, asset management tool for small drinking water and wastewater utilities. CUPSS provides a simple, comprehensive approach based on EPA’s highly successful Simple Tools for Effective Performance (STEP) Guide series.  Access this management tool at http://water.epa.gov/infrastructure/drinkingwater/pws/cupss/index.cfm