How Safe Are Our Water Supplies?

How Safe Are Our Water Supplies?
Algae-infested water from Lake Erie on Monday washed up onshore at Maumee Bay State Park in Oregon, Ohio, near Toledo. Credit Joshua Lott for The New York Times

The recent news about Toledo’s water supply being affected by a toxic algae bloom, disturbing  over one half million customers, has us asking once again – how safe are our water supplies?

It wasn’t too many months ago that the coal spill in the West Virginia river had residents scrambling for an answer.  Aging infrastructure, with its inherent problems of failures causing water boiling advisories, are becoming more common. The use of fertilizers and insecticides are migrating into our water supplies. Industrial urbanization is leaching toxins into our waterways and wetlands, eventually ending up in aquifers, lakes, and reservoirs.

The National Resource Defense Council has asked for the Federal government to step in and find a solution to this problem.  However, the Fertilizer Institute is part of  a coalition of industry and agricultural interests that are opposing Federal efforts to restore some coverage of the Clean Water Act.

Centralized water is being threatened by many facets. A decentralized water system may be the answer to a safe drinking water supply for us all.

Ken Blair
A rainwater collection systems designer and consultant, Ken has designed and installed residential and commercial systems, primarily in the northwest United States for more than 10 years and, in 2014, began consulting and managing builds in other states. Ken is an accredited ARCSA Professional Designer / Installer and Life Member, the Northwest Regional ARCSA representative and advisor to its education committee and is available to speak about Rainwater Collection Systems design and builds.

Ken is a United States Navy veteran, having served on active duty during the Vietnam War era.

A career entrepreneur, Ken created a new business focus with a commercial dive company in Hawaii in the mid 1980′s to respond to and clean up oil spills, oil spill equipment training, service and maintenance for the oil co-op service industry. Ken is passionate about having a positive impact on the environment and is also a founding director of BANK-ON-RAIN (2011-2014), whose mission is to create grassroots solutions for rainwater collection for consumption and agriculture in developing areas of the planet.

One thought on “How Safe Are Our Water Supplies?”

Comments are closed.