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Michael Cummons is vice president of Maine Water Co. and the president of the Maine Water Utilities Association.
A lot can change in 50 years, but the need for clean drinking water hasn’t. This month, we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Safe Drinking Water Act — a formative piece of federal legislation that transformed operations for drinking water utilities across the country in the name of public health.
Public drinking water systems in the U.S. started serving customers as far back as the late 1700s when Americans realized the importance of clean drinking water as a matter of public health. As society grew, so did the knowledge of potential health impacts stemming from naturally occurring and manmade elements, chemicals or biologics found in drinking water.
In response to the awareness of these risks, Congress sought to establish nationwide drinking water standards for basic public health. On Dec. 16, 1974, President Gerald Ford signed the Safe Drinking Water Act into law, which created a standards playbook for all public water utilities set by the Environmental Protection Agency. Nearly 150,000 public water systems operate in the United States, providing water to about 90 percent of Americans, according to the EPA. All of them are subject to the regulations in the Safe Drinking Water Act.
The act affected water service immediately, setting off unprecedented investments in water treatment facilities across the country to meet the new regulations.
Here in Maine, enforcement of the Safe Drinking Water Act and the drinking water standards set by the EPA lies with the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Drinking Water Program. The Drinking Water Program oversees water quality testing, treatment and distribution of our public water systems and provides accountability to the standards so that our communities know that they can trust their drinking water.
Under the Safe Drinking Water Act, regulations are updated and matured as science advances, providing the best outcomes for customers and communities, and requiring water utilities to continually adapt to meet those standards.
Just this past year, the EPA made updates to address the family of manmade chemicals known as PFAS, once nonexistent, and now a part of the daily lives of most people throughout the globe. Like all other aspects of the Safe Drinking Water Act, water providers across the state and the country will develop, construct and implement treatment processes to meet these regulations and continue our record of compliance to the Safe Drinking Water Act.
An anniversary marks a reason for celebration, not just of the Safe Drinking Water Act, but also of the people dedicated to ensuring high-quality water reaches your tap when you need it.
Across the companies of the Maine Water Utilities Association and in the communities served by myself and my team at Maine Water, we’re proud of the work we do each day in the name of making sure our customers can count on water that meets Safe Drinking Water Act standards. It takes the work of thousands of water professionals across the state each and every day to ensure you’re provided with high-quality water you can trust, right at your tap.
