Safe Drinking Water Act (Sdwa)

Our drinking water is protected by the Environmental Protection Agency’s’ Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). Underneath the SDWA the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “sets standards for drinking water quality” and the “technical and financial programs” to ensure the safety (Environmental Protection Agency, 2017). One standard that the EPA regulates is the contaminants and their limits, that are authorized to be in our drinking water. To provide these standards underneath the contaminant regulation is to create cost analysis and health risk reductions (Environmental Protection Agency, 2016). A “contaminant” is “any physical, chemical, biological, or radiological substance or matter in water” (Environmental Protection Agency, 2017).

During one of the first stages, coagulation and flocculation, positive charge chemicals are added to water that is gathered at a treatment plant, negative chemicals become neutralized (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). Neutralization of these positive chemicals result in larger particles after they bind to the positive chemicals to form floc (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). Sediment is formed from the floc weighted down to the bottom of the processing tank. With the sediment on the bottom, water that is on the top flows through a filter that can remove contaminants. Any contaminants that are left over after filtration is then killed by a disinfectant that is added to the water. Following the treatment process the drinking water is tested periodically by the city/county and results can be requested by the public. In most areas, for a fee, an individual can purchase a water testing lab test and submit it to a lab for an

Once humans became industrialized there has been continuous contaminants released that can cause adverse effects to our health and our environment. Water contaminants are regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency and tested periodically. Water processing facilities shift, filter, and decontaminate physical, chemical, biological, and radiological contaminants from our drinking water. The atmospheric changes from the original greenhouse gases, changed once industries started. The excessive level of carbon dioxide, and three other gases in less levels, have increased the greenhouse effect creating global warming. Global warming has increased precipitation and droughts in areas, caused plants and animals to recede from their natural habitats, began melting glaciers causing a rise in surrounding waters, as well as killing wildlife such as coral from the changes in chemical makeup of their surroundings. As humans, we may not be able to undo the harm caused by our actions, but we can still attempt to cleanup are damage, repair what we can, and spread knowledge to others on the effects of us leaving our footprints on this