Most Americans get their drinking
water from large scale municipal water systems that rely on surface
water sources such as rivers, lakes and reservoirs. However, millions
of Americans depend on private water sources such as wells
and aquifers. In either case, the United States enjoys one of the
cleanest drinking water supplies in the world. The EPA regulates the
quality of the nation's drinking water by issuing and enforcing safe drinking
water standards.
EPA requires each state
to adopt minimum standards for the development, implementation and
enforcement of operator certification programs for all community water
systems (CWSs) and non-transient non-community water systems (NTNCWSs)
in order to insure that water systems have properly trained and
certified operators.
CROSS-CONNECTION
AND BACKFLOW PREVENTION - Plumbing
cross-connections, which are defined as actual or potential
connections between a potable and non-potable water supply, constitute
a serious public health hazard. There are numerous, well-documented
cases where cross-connections have been responsible for contamination
of drinking water, and have resulted in the spread of disease. The
problem is a dynamic one, because piping systems are continually being
installed, altered, or extended.
FLUORIDATION
- is the deliberate addition the naturally occurring element,
fluorine, to drinking water for the purpose reducing tooth decay
resulting in better health. This section details the training
process, materials of fluoride treatment by fluoride certified water
operators.
National Drinking water standards can be found on the
EPA's Ground
Water and Drinking Water homepage.
