Steps along the Tap Water Train
The first step in the “tap water train” involves protection of the water’s source. This means that the water management team is able to protect the lakes, reservoirs or rivers from things like industrial pollution, farm pesticide run-off, sewer overflow issues or chemical spills.
An example of what constitutes poor protection of source water would be cities like Los Angeles, San Diego and Phoenix. These large cities get much of their source water from the Colorado River. This long river is not properly protected against run-off from agricultural sources like farms and herding areas, urban run-off from pollutants and industrial waste from nearby industries or industrial dumping. In fact, there is a site in Nevada that is an industrial site that regularly leaks out perchlorate (rocket fuel) from its plant and into surrounding ground water.
Source water can also be groundwater that can become contaminated by pollution from agricultural ventures, pollution, landfills and industrial waste. At least one evaluation of the tap water from Albuquerque showed that the groundwater was not well protected from industrial and other pollutants.