People use water every day to meet their domestic, industrial,
agricultural, medical, and recreational needs. Access to public
water sources that are safe and reliable is crucial for the
health and prosperity of a society. Making Tap Water Safe and
Healthy Tap water not only provides Americans with water for
daily activities (like drinking, bathing, and cooking), but also
is used to deliver fluoride (to reduce the potential for tooth
decay). With the implementation of disinfection methods for
drinking water, there has been a drastic decline in cases of
typhoid fever in the United States. Image Credit: U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. Click to view larger
chart. During the past century, many improvements in the health,
prosperity, and longevity of the U.S. population can be
attributed to improvements in water quality. Water treatment and
disinfection have made U.S. tap water one of the safest and
healthiest drinking water supplies in the world (2). In 1908,
Jersey City, New Jersey, was the first c