Safe drinking water is one of the powerful environmental determinants of health. Assurance of safe drinking water is the foundation of control and prevention of waterborne diseases. Helena city in Montana is very committed to serving water that is safe and that meets the highest quality standards. The community gets water from two treatment plants; one plants treats groundwater collected from deep wells and the other treats surface water from the Bell Canyon Reservoirs (James 109).
The most important public health concern with the water quality across Helena is contamination. As this water travels over the surface or underground, it picks natural minerals that in some cases are radioactive. The water also dissolves substances from animal and human activity and thus contamination. This could cause waterborne diseases such as cholera. Water contamination in Helena differs with that of my community. This is because where I come from we do not have groundwater and water is usually pumped through pipes making it safer for our consumption (James 193).
In order to address the water contamination issue in Helena, CDPH (State Department of Public Health) together with USEPA have prescribed regulations that help in limiting the contaminants in water that is provided by the public water system. These two departments have also established limits for contaminants in bottled water with the aim of protecting the people health. All water companies are expected to full comply with this regulation. In case the amount of contaminants exceeds the recommended limit, the company risks losing it business license (Johnson 87).
One more thing, which the public health department could do to help the people of Helena is educating them. People should be educated on safe home water treatment methods. This will go a long way in ensuring good health among the people (Diersing 176).
Work cited
Diersing, Nancy. "Water Quality. " Helena City. Montana. 2007
James, G. Water Supply Engineering. McGraw-Hill p.388. 2009
Johnson, D.L., and A.E. Winter-Nelson. "Meanings of environmental terms." Journal of Environmental Quality. 26: 581-589. 2007
