EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — August was first designated as National Water Quality Month (NWQM) back in 2005 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, according to the NWQM’s website.
Efforts to ensure Americans have access to clean water for use and consumption can be traced back to the early 1970s when the Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act were passed.
As a result, this month serves to raise awareness about water quality and to reflect on the importance of having access to clean drinking water, something not all communities share.
“Water is life. We need it every day. And I think we are fortunate. It is imperative that the community is aware how important it is to maintain and value the water that we do have in our community,” Anna Gitter said.
Gitter is an assistant professor in environmental and occupational health sciences at UT Health Houston’s School of Public Health in El Paso and a member of the El Paso Water’s Public Service Board.
In light of National Water Quality Month, Gitter sat with KTSM to discuss the water El Pasoans use daily.
“I think it is important to understand where water comes from. How is water treated for drinking? What do we do with wastewater when we flush it? What different stages does it go through? I think it’s really important to understand,” Gitter said.
She explained that the water El Pasoans consume is uniquely rich in minerals that help with one’s health.
“The water that we have here, especially from the groundwater, does have that higher mineral content, but that does help meet our dietary needs to be healthy,” Gitter said.
Gitter said El Paso is rich in brackish (salty) groundwater that is naturally rich in minerals like calcium, magnesium and lithium that are not only safe to drink and harmless, but essential for one’s health.
“When they use our groundwater and treat it for drinking water, there’s still a higher level of minerals, potentially from other water sources,” Gitter said. “It’s safe to drink and it actually is good for you. Our bodies do need several different minerals to stay healthy and everything to function correctly.”
Removing those minerals from the water would only change its taste and would result in people losing out on those essential minerals, Gitter said.
Despite the challenges of being a desert, especially considering El Paso increasingly experiences droughts year over year, Gitter explained that EP Water has taken steps to develop a rich portfolio of sources from where to draw drinkable water from to meet the needs of the community.
They include fresh groundwater, brackish groundwater (salty) and surface water from the Rio Grande.
EP Water aims to expand that portfolio to four sources in the next few years with the construction of an advanced water purification facility, which will further treat wastewater from the Roberto Bustamante Wastewater Treatment Plant, to elevate it to drinkable standards.
Treated water from the Roberto Bustamante WWTP is currently used for irrigation throughout the city.
“Drinking water treatment has been around for over 100 years, and it is one of the greatest advancements in public health that we have,” Gitter said.
EP Water operates four water treatment plants, two wastewater treatment plants, two water reclamation plants, and a separate international water quality laboratory to monitor the quality of El Pasoans’s drinking water.
Gitter also said that purchasing a water filtration device for your home is not necessary to remove any contaminants from water, as EP Water’s facilities already do that.
She explained that filters really only help with taste, which would come down to personal preference, but for people who decide to purchase them they have to ensure they’re maintaining them properly.
“If you were to install a filtration system or device at your home, you have to make sure that you maintain it, and replace it as needed. Because if you don’t, bacteria can grow within the filter and you could virtually make yourself sick. I mean, the water itself is fine,” Gitter said.
To learn more about the significance of National Water Quality Month, you can visit the following website:
To learn more about EP Water and the water they distribute across the city, you can visit https://www.epwater.org/our_water.
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