Environmental agencies have long protected our safety by protecting the environment. However, they also protect us through standards for our resources, like water. By producing and refining guidelines for drinking water quality, environmental agencies determine what is safe for us to drink based on the latest, cutting edge research. There are some very recent examples of this procedure in action, and with more pollutants being dumped into our water supply than ever before, these increasingly stringent guidelines for drinking water quality could not be more prudent.

Based on Research

Scientists provide all of the wealth of knowledge about what dictates “safe” drinking water quality through their extensive, scientifically sound research. They help to establish drinking water quality parameters by researching the effects of various pollutants on the environment and the human body. If both the environment and the human body aren't very complex, then nothing else could be considered complex at all. Therefore, such research to establish guidelines for drinking water quality can take several years. Recently, concerns about medicinal traces in the water supply have led to calls for additional research, and we can expect to see the guidelines for drinking water quality change within a few years to reflect new results.

So what exactly is considered safe within the current guidelines for drinking water quality? Well, the EPA or Environmental Protection Agency considers arsenic levels to be safe when arsenic is no more than 10 ppb (parts per billion). That means that arsenic levels are so tiny that they can do absolutely no harm to the human body. Previous levels of 50 ppb were found to be too lenient with possible adverse health effects, so the standards were made stronger to further protect everyone. Of course, this research and the implemented solutions cost you a small amount of tax money, but I doubt anyone would complain about spending even ten dollars a year to help save millions of people from developing cancer due to high levels of lead.

Without a doubt, guidelines for drinking water quality will become even tougher in the years to come as the technology to clean our water supply becomes even better and cheaper. Through prevention of pollution and the first place and increasingly efficient water treatment techniques, guidelines for drinking water quality can offer insurance against a huge number of pollutants. Water is necessary for us to survive, so it's important to keep it as clean as possible.