A lot can change in 50 years, but the need for clean drinking water hasn’t. This month, we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Safe Drinking Water Act – a formative piece of federal legislation that transformed operations for drinking water utilities across the country in the name of public health.  Public drinking water systems in the U.S. started serving customers as far back as the late 1700s when Americans realized the importance of clean drinking water as a matter of public health. As society grew, so did the knowledge of potential health impacts stemming from naturally occurring and man-made elements, chemicals or biologics found in drinking water.  Craig Patla In response to the awareness of these risks, Congress sought to establish nationwide drinking water standards for basic public health. On Dec. 16, 1974, President Gerald Ford signed the Safe Drinking Water Act into law, which created a standards playbook for all public water utilities set by the Environmental Protection Agency. Nearly 150,000 public water systems operate in the United States, providing water to about 90 percent of Americans, according to the EPA. All of them are subject to the regulations in the Safe Drinking Water Act.  The act impacted water service immediately, setting off unprecedented investments in water treatment facilities across the country to meet the new regulations. Here at Connecticut Water, the William Neal Mackenzie Water Treatment Facility in Clinton and the William Stewart Water Treatment Facility in Naugatuck were built as a direct response to the Safe Drinking Water Act to provide enhanced treatment for the water sources that had been serving customers since the early 1900s. These treatment plants, in addition to Stafford WTP and Williams WTP, were built in response to the Surface Water Treatment Rule which was an amendment to the SDWA.  Under the Safe Drinking Water Act, regulations continue to change and mature as science advances, providing the best outcomes for customers and communities, and requiring water utilities to continually adapt to meet those standards. Just this past year, the EPA made updates to address the family of manmade chemicals known as PFAS, once non-existent, and now a part of the daily lives of most citizens throughout the globe. Like all other aspects of the Safe Drinking Water Act, Connecticut Water and water providers across the country will develop, construct and implement treatment processes to meet these regulations and continue our record of compliance to the Safe Drinking Water Act.  In addition to treatment guidelines, the act also aims to protect the sources of public water supplies. For us, that means stewarding more than 6,500 acres of open space in our watersheds to protect our water sources from potential contamination.   To make sure we’re meeting regulations, we test our water, a lot–more than 170,000 tests each year across over 120 water quality parameters. We test at the water source, throughout the treatment process and throughout the 1,800 miles of pipe in our distribution system so customers can be confident their drinking water meets all the federal health requirements outlined as part of the Safe Drinking Water Act.  An anniversary marks a reason for celebration, not just of the Safe Drinking Water Act, but also of the people dedicated to ensuring high-quality water reaches your tap when you need it. We’re proud of the work we do each day in the name of making sure our customers can count on water that meets Safe Drinking Water Act standards. It’s the work of more than 240 trained water professionals at Connecticut Water who put the Safe Drinking Water Act to practice each and every day.  Craig Patla is President of the Connecticut Water Service.