h2oh?

This week our assignment was all about water. 

Where does my homes tap water come from? Well obviously my water comes from the faucet ;) Kidding! I actually had no idea exactly where Riversides water comes from. So I did what everybody does when they don't know the answer to something; I "Googled" it! I found out that all of Riversides water comes from groundwater resources pumped from local area wells in the Bunker Hill, San Bernardino, and Riverside Basins. The water starts out as local rain and snow that falls on our mountains and foothills, and flows down into our underground aquifers. I couldn't figure out exactly what well my water comes from, but I did find an interesting map that layes out the entire Riverside area and pinpoints where specific basins and wells are located. 

OK. So now the question is... is Riverside water safe to drink? The answer surprised me. Yes! Our Annual Water Report even claims that our water is among the safest and cleanest in the nation. (Seriously? Seriously.) Apparently, California's drinking water standards are among the highest in the U.S. Riverside conducts over 17, 000 lab tests each year and the results of those tests meet and surpass all clean water standards. (To find information on your city's water, search your city name + annual water report) 

Who's in charge of tap water standards? Ultimately, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) but also included are other federal agencies, congressional mandates, state regulations, local municipalities, and private organizations. All of these set out to follow standards set by the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974, the first law to mandate drinking water standards. At a minimum, public water systems must meet federal standards, but states can also impose additional regulations. The California Department of Public Health is in charge of California's drinking water, for example. Federal regulations set by the EPA set legal limits on levels of certain contaminants in our waters. A full list of drinking water regulations can be found here. 
For Questions about your water you can contact The EPA's Safe Water Hotline at 1-800-426-4791.

Who's in charge of bottled water regulations? The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversees regulations pertaining to bottled water. Does it make sense that our bottled water does not have the same guidelines for "safe drinking" as our tap water? No. In fact, the FDA does not require companies to publish where their water comes from and if it actually has any contaminants. I remember when the biggest story on the news was that Aquafina bottled water was merely tap water and people acted like it was the end of the world. But shouldn't they be happy since tap water has stricter regulations than bottled? But wait, I thought all those pictures of white mountains and clean waterfalls on my water bottles meant that my water was crystal clean?! Because the regulations on these bottles are less strict than tap, there's really no way of knowing where the water came from. So why buy bottled? Because its convenient. Except a reusable bottle is just as convenient and does not horribly impact our environment like the plastic bottles do, which require more energy to make, ship, and "recycle" than most people think. The process of making and recycling those bottles also create toxins and occupy space in our landfills. A great video explaining the breakdown process of plastic bottles used for our bottles water, called The Story of Bottled Water, can be found here.