The US EPA has launched a new app and website that let’s users check on the health of waterways anywhere in the US. It provides information on thousands of lakes, rivers and streams across the US. The release of the website corresponds to the 40th Anniversity of the Clean Water Act. The app uses GPS and user entered zip code to provide information on local waterways. This technology gives citizens a way to participate in the stewardship of the nations waterways.
Source water quality directly impacts the challenges of converting source water to high quality drinking water or the necessity to treat water prior to discharge into waterways. It also impacts the usefulness of the waterway for commerce and recreation. Citizens will be able to make moe informed decisions about the recommendations for water treatment options and the associated costs if they better understand the existing quality of local waterways.
This knowledge becomes increasing important when it comes to more advanced water treatment technologies such as ozone, UV, and membrane filtration