The Environmental Protection Agency /EPA has a very interesting web site for learning about the water quality of specific communities. The site is replete with all of the information one would expect to have concerning the locating, retrieving, filtering, treating, conserving, and preserving of a community's fresh water resource. The site allows a viewer to access data on the water resource of their particular community. The viewer within a few clicks of the mouse can view data required, submitted, reviewed, and tested by the Federal Government regarding parameters and laws governing the water resources provided to communities.

I placed my zip code into the menu link for "Drinking water" and was immediately directed to a page denoting the water resources, treatment plants, and water treatment measures applied to waters that I utilize.

The site reflected that there are three water districts servicing St. John the Baptist Parish where I work and reside.

St. John the Baptist Water Districts 1, 2, and 3 service a populations of twelve thousand, four thousand, and twenty-nine thousand residents respectively. However, of the three district water plants, only District 3 servicing the largest number of residents yielded a report of no drinking water health violations. St. John the Baptist district 3 was the only district of the three which utilized aquifers (ground water resources filtered through porous rock and sediment) while stations one and two utilized surface water resources. Suffice to say that ground water is healthier than surface water due to the limited exposure ground water to microplastic pollution that typically litters surface bodies of water. Unfortunately for Districts 1 and 2 utilizing the Mississippi River as a surface water resource, there can't help but be compromises in water quality given the constant exposure of the river to microplastic, chemical, sewerage, and other types of liquid waste. I attached a link for this valuable resource.