Utah DEQ Reaches Out to Public about Safety of Drinking Water

The water crisis in Flint, Michigan, has prompted several states to focus on their own capacities to prevent water contamination. The Utah Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) recently released a blog post titled “Why Flint’s Water Crisis Couldn’t Happen in Utah.” In the post, Drinking Water Director Ken Bousfield seeks to provide reassurance to the citizens of Utah by explaining steps the state has taken over the years to prevent the incidence of lead-contaminated water and noting that Utah has close to a 100% compliance rate with the action level for lead set by EPA. Bousfield also points to the efficiency of the routine water monitoring systems as well as the requirement to distribute the results if there are any potential threats. These results are published annually in the Consumer Confidence Report. In addition, he mentions that the majority of Utah water resources provide hard water to their customers, which is not corrosive. [Fehrenbach]