An inextricable link: water utilities and public health

The United Nations recently launched a “Decade of Action” to promote reliable access to clean drinking water throughout the world. An abundant, reliable supply of high-quality drinking water is essential to a healthy, thriving community, but often, it is something we take for granted. In fact, we in the U.S. are among only 10 percent of the world’s population who enjoy plentiful and safe water.

As we celebrate this National Drinking Water Week, the Regional Water Authority is reminded of the inextricable link between water utilities and public health.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention credits a number of water safety measures among its 10 greatest public health achievements of the 20th century.

For example, in 1901, more than 400 people in the region served by the New Haven Water Company — the RWA’s predecessor — came down with typhoid fever. As a result of the epidemic, the NHWC became one of many water utilities to embrace chlorination and other water treatment practices like filtration, which critically improved health outcomes and food safety.

To continue to meet the needs of the region and protect public health, each year the RWA undertakes numerous efforts and projects affecting water quality and reliability to ensure that our water remains the highestquality and most dependable life-sustaining resource.

We continually monitor the water treatment process and verify the high quality of our water by performing more than 110,000 tests on over 10,000 water samples taken from our water distribution system, within our water treatment plants and in the lakes and aquifers where the water is stored prior to treatment. Based on these tests, we know that the water we deliver to our consumers meets or is better than all state and federal quality standards.

We also make enhancements to our treatment facilities and to the more than 1,700 miles of main that form our water distribution system. We address aging infrastructure by preparing a projection of improvements, additions and renovations to the water system for projects that are required to protect the existing water supply, meet the water quality standards of the Safe Drinking Water Act and provide for present and future water supply requirements. We invest approximately $26 million annually in these infrastructure improvements.

But, in this time of aging infrastructure, improvements to water delivery systems must be a priority. Public officials at the federal, state and local levels must stand in support of infrastructure improvements and make targeted investments to ensure our water treatment and delivery systems can continue to operate at the highest levels possible. Please join me in calling on our elected leaders to make low-cost funding available that will allow us to continue to reliably serve our consumers and protect public health at the most efficient cost.

At the RWA, our record of trust and innovation and the hard work of our 270 skilled employees are a proud reflection of our commitment to ensure that our water continues to be plentiful and safe for generations to come.