Get Informed

The first question on your Path to Clean Water is to determine the source of your water – does my water come from a Public Water Supply or a Private Water System? To be properly informed about your drinking water, it is important to know the origin of your water. Depending on the source, the approach to determining the quality and treating the water may be different.

There are a myriad of drinking water contaminants that can negatively affect your water. This section initially groups these contaminants by what Standards they fall under, or not, such as Primary, Secondary or having No Standards. Each section is further broken down into sub categories such as Microbiological, Organic, Inorganic, Radiological, Disinfection Byproducts and Gases. In addition, there are sub categories that address conditions that impact your water.

Each contaminant page will inform you by answering the following questions: What is the contaminant? How does the contaminant become a problem? How does the contaminant impact your health? What are the Standards for the contaminant?

And finally, each contaminant page will guide you to recommendations for different Levels of Testing and give you recommendations for short-term and long-term Treatments.

Drinking Water Standards are divided into two types of standards. Primary Drinking Water Standards (EPA) are set based on specific health concerns or impacts, whereas, Secondary Drinking Water Standards are based on Aesthetic, Cosmetic, or Technical issues and concerns or are related to the use of the water. In addition, we've included the category of No Standards that includes contaminants that aren't regulated, but which can have a negative impact on your drinking water quality, suggest a water quality problem, are related to an aesthetic problem or nuisance, or which violate a warranty on a water-related appliance.

In order to better understand the complexities of water quality, a review of some of the basics of physics, chemistry, and biology may be necessary. This section attempts to provide those basics. It is arbitrarily divided into subsections on Physics, Inorganic Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, and Biology which, among them, should help provide much of the necessary background to interpret the many facets of water quality. The presentation style is informal and tries not to assume an extensive science background. Anecdotes and side tangents sometimes appear as we try to make the material more interesting and relevant, sometimes beyond the topic of water quality which is, itself, but an aspect of the broader field of environmental science.

This is a series of articles loosely based on water which is appropriate for this website whose focus is water.  However, unlike the rest of this website which addresses specific practical issues of drinking water quality and treatment,  these articles are much more general and, hopefully, more entertaining.  The series begins with a discussion of the universal abundance of water and then progresses into water in the Solar System with considerable discussion of the role of water in planetary origins, geology, history, and atmospheres.  From this perspective it should become easier to understand how water operates on the Earth and its importance to us in ways little appreciated.  Later articles more specifically address the operation of water on/in Earth, gradually moving from the global and geologic history of water to more current, regional/local, and people-oriented stories of water.  

In this section you'll find a collection of articles that will expand your knowledge of water, how water can become compromised, and ways to remediate water issues.

The Water Glossary provides a useful resource to expand your knowledge of terms related to water education.

In this section, the case studies apply to commercial entities that we guided along the Path to Clean Water by evaluating, testing, diagnosing, and ultimately developing a long-term solution to their water issues. We've worked on a number of commercial projects and conducted many studies and assessments, but only a few can be shared with the community because of confidentiality.

In our Drinking Water and Surface Water Resource Library Section you'll find a wide range of articles on water quality issues, environmental monitoring, lake and stream ecosystems, watershed monitoring, citizen science, and environmental management.