Water Quality Awareness Month

August, which is the best time of year for the beach, the lake, the backyard slip n’ slide, and every type of water-based activity imaginable, is the perfect month to recognize National Water Quality Month.

National Water Quality Month is dedicated to taking a pause, recognizing how vital our finite water resources are, and why maintaining the highest quality possible remains paramount for the well-being of our society. While drinking water quality is the most notable reason to be mindful of our water’s quality, it remains pivotal in so many other aspects of our life that can be easily overlooked. From showering and washing our dishes and clothes, to the importance of clean water in the environment, National Water Quality Month is meant to serve as a reminder that every little thing we can do to contribute to the overall quality of water in our world is critical.

A Brief History on National Water Quality Month

National Water Quality Month was started in 1972 on the heels of the Clean Water Act. This piece of legislation, which was passed by Congress, was the first legislative act that sought to prohibit acts like dumping toxic waste in freshwater sources. In doing so, it set into motion the Safe Water Drinking Act which Congress passed two years later in 1974. This law was passed to “further protect the quality of groundwater and public water systems.”

Over the next thirty years, as our society further recognized water as the finite and precious resource that it is, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officially established August as National Water Quality Month in 2005. This recognition, which is meant to promote civil discourse and discussion around the importance of clean water in our ecosystem, ultimately serves the core mission of protecting our water resources for generations to come, and delivering safe tap water day-in and day-out.

What Can Affect the Quality of Your Drinking Water?

To state the obvious, National Water Quality Month was established to bring attention to the harmful impediments that can contaminate any given water source. Even with the previously mentioned legislative acts of 1972 and 1974, contaminants can still find their way into our precious water sources in a variety of ways. Here are a few:

1. The Agricultural Industry: Water that travels through aqueducts are particularly susceptible to contaminants from the agricultural industry. Different pesticides, solvents, and metals can be introduced through lakes, streams, and snowmelt to our vital water sources.
2. Feces: Feces and waste, from both animals and humans, can introduce dangerous microbes into water sources. This can introduce the potential for E. Coli, Giardia, or a host of other diseases if consumed. 
3. Water Treatment Facilities: This one may surprise you, but in fact, various byproducts like trihalomethanes can remain in water sources after treatment. Furthermore, water treatment facilities aren’t immune to compromises like cracks or breaks, which can leave open to potential for contaminating elements.
4. Natural Sources: Although this does not apply to every type of drinking water source, a lot of groundwater sources can pick up natural metals as it travels through rock and soil.

Clean drinking water should not be taken for granted. If a human consumes unsafe drinking water, especially over a long period of time, it can lead to a multitude of health problems. From short-term issues like gastrointestinal problems to long-term chronic illnesses like cancer, or reproductive troubles, unsafe drinking water can be a slow, but steady destroyer of a human’s health.

How to Improve Your Water Quality

Ultimately, water quality should be thought of as a cyclical process. For as much as water treatment facilities, products like ZeroWater’s pitcher, and aquifers can improve our water quality, everyone has an opportunity to contribute to improving overall water quality.

With water being recognized as a finite resource over the last few decades, dramatic steps have been made to create water recycling and treatment programs. Here are a few examples of what you can do as an individual to contribute towards improving water quality this August.

1. Avoid dumping chemicals of any kind down the drain. This can include pet waste, paint, car fluids, medications, and oils. Most bottles and packaging indicate if a unique disposal of any given product is required. This will give you a good idea of whether or not it’s appropriate for going down a standard drain.  
2. Be cognizant of your irrigation strategies. Overwatering your lawn can lead to an influx of contaminants being carried into municipal drains from excess water. Furthermore, be mindful of where your gutter downspouts are pointed. Do your best to not have them pointed towards municipal overflow, as that water is likely carrying contaminants picked up from the debris in your gutters.

How ZeroWater Can Improve Your Water Quality

At ZeroWater, our core mission is to deliver the purest-tasting water to our customers. ZeroWater’s 5 Stage filter products leaves 000 Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) in your drinking water. This unparalleled pureness is a result of our research and development into our product lines, which we back by offering TDS meters to our customers, so they can continually check themselves.

Make a Commitment This August

At ZeroWater, we endorse the efforts and mission of National Water Quality Month. As a company dedicated to delivering pure-tasting water, we encourage each of our readers to take baby steps towards creating a better water cycle in our environment. Here is a recap of how you can help.

1. Watch what you pour down the drain.
2. Audit your water irrigation system.

Help be a solution this August so that you know that your family, your neighbor, and your fellow human on the other side of the country are all participating in a program that leads to healthier, purer water.