We shouldn't have to think about drinking water.

We can no longer take our drinking water for granted. Public participation is vital to protecting our water resources, improving water delivery, analyzing costs versus risks, and enacting appropriate legislation. 

Once you use water, it's gone.

After water is used, it is recycled innumerable times.  In some places water is recycled for use within a week, other water may not be used again for years.

Water is fragile and will be ruined by so much use.

Water is resilient and responds well to treatment. However, just using water is different than abusing it by contaminating lakes, streams, and wells with toxic chemicals.  To keep our drinking water safe, we must not only treat the water, we must also protect the quality of the water at its source. 

We have less water today than we did 100 years ago.

We have the same amount of water on earth today as we did three billion years ago.  The difference is that today many more demands are placed on the same amount of water.  These increased demands have, in a sense, created a different kind of water: water that is regulated, treated, and sold.  Because our demands on water continue to grow while supplies remain stable, we have to count on everyone to help conserve and protect it and to get involved with decisions that affect our water resources. 

"New" water is better than treated water.

Very little water on earth is "new."  Most of our water has been touched by some type of human or animal activity.  Even in pristine wilderness areas, studies have found bacteria contaminating water.  Therefore, it's always best to drink water that you know has been treated. 

There are more pollutants in drinking water today than there were 25 years ago.

Not necessarily.  Back then, we didn't have the technology to know everything that was in our drinking water.  Today, sophisticated testing instruments enable us to know more about our water.  Armed with this knowledge, the drinking water community is taking steps to keep our water safe by treating it appropriately and curbing the flow of pollution.

Bottled water is safer than Tap Water.

Not necessarily.  The safety of bottled water and tap water initially depends on the source of the water.  Monitoring and source protection, treatment and testing ultimately determine the quality of the finished product.  In the United States, the 1996 reauthorization of the Safe Drinking Water Act required that bottled water be monitored and tested in the same rigorous manner that tap water has been subject to for years.  Click here to review an article on Tap vs Bottled Water.

Using a home water treatment device will make tap water safer or healthier to drink.

Some people use home water filters to improve the taste, smell and/or appearance of their tap water, but it does not necessarily make the water safer or healthier to drink.  Additionally, all home treatment devices, regardless of the technologies they use, require regular maintenance.  If the maintenance is not performed properly on a regular basis, water quality problems may result.

For more detailed information on the water quality in the Grayson Utilities Commission service area, please review our available Water Quality Reports.