On rare occasion, however, your water may have an unusual taste, odor or appearance. Fortunately, aesthetic issues don’t always mean the water has become unsafe. A quick call to your water provider may reveal the cause of the issue.

It’s nearly impossible to anticipate exactly when an emergency might occur and how they might impact us, but we can plan to try to minimize any inconvenience.

Whatever the cause of the residents’ symptoms, it’s worth taking a moment to consider why water utilities monitor for arsenic in drinking water. Arsenic is tasteless and odorless, and occurs naturally in the Earth’s soils, rocks and minerals. It’s also used in industry as a wood preservative, in paints, metals, drugs and for a variety of other purposes. It is lethal in very high doses. You can learn more in the AWWA book Plain Talk about Drinking Water.

Smart Irrigation Month provides us with an opportunity to think about conservation in our food production.

“Plastic Free July is a global movement that helps millions of people be part of the solution to plastic pollution – so we can have cleaner streets, oceans and beautiful communities,” according to the event’s website.

Last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released lifetime health advisories for four different per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, which you may know better as PFAS. This step has triggered a complicated situation.

A recent demonstration at the University of Texas at Austin shows a low-cost device that can pull water out of the air.

Do we need to dump old water out of water bottles?

As the weather heats up in several parts of the United States, responsible outdoor water use is very important.

While bottled water serves a valuable purpose as a beverage, there are some drawbacks of which to be aware.