U.S. Water News Online
DES MOINES, Iowa -- Residents in this city can find out exactly what's in the water flowing from their tap at any time from a new Web site set up by the Des Moines Water Works.
What's the pH? Up-to-the-minute test results are posted.
How about the fluoride content? Nitrates? Sodium? The latest measurements are available, complete with links that explain the impact of these minerals on human health and current government standards.
``Since we are taking water from the river, that can change with time, and people are interested in more detailed information in addition to the fact that the water is safe to drink,'' said L.D. McMullen, general manager of the Des Moines Water Works.
For consumers, the website serves the same function as the content labels put on food products, he said.
``The way that the site works is that when you do an inquiry, it goes directly into our laboratory database and extracts the information at that precise moment in time for what we've analyzed for,'' McMullen said. ``Any time that you come on, it's the latest information that's available.''
The city's Fleur Drive treatment plant houses the world's largest nitrate removal facility, as well as a chemical softening process to remove heavy metals, dissolved rock and microorganisms, and a carbon filtration system to remove organics and pesticides.
The Water Works' Web site lists 19 different tests run on the city's drinking water, including sodium and sulfate levels, dissolved solids, organic carbons, and temperature and turbidity.
The Web site was set up under a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through its EMPACT program -- Environmental Monitoring for Public Access and Community Tracking.
The program was created at the direction of President Clinton in 1996. Its goal is to make timely, accurate, and understandable environmental information available so people and communities can make informed day-to-day decisions about their lives.
``America's families deserve timely, useful, and accurate environmental and public health information,'' Vice President Al Gore said in a statement announcing Des Moines' new Web site.
``This new Web site is just one example of how we can improve the public's right to know, so that the public can use environmental information to make decisions that protect their health and the health of their families,'' he said.
The Des Moines project is one of four water quality EMPACT projects nationwide, and ``it's the only one that we're aware of that is giving real time data on drinking water,'' McMullen said.
``It's new and different, something that no one else has tried to do.''
Other EMPACT projects provide information about air quality and ultraviolet exposure in the Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan area; water quality at beaches in Milwaukee and Racine, Wis.; and marine monitoring in Long Island Sound.
The Internet address is www.dmww.com/empact
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