Many communities include clean drinking water as an important part of their public utilities program. Public Water System (PWS) is a term that applies to any system that provides piped water for human consumption to at least 25 year-round residents. Public water systems can be owned by local governments, homeowner associations, water companies or others. Whether communities use surface water—like lakes, reservoirs or rivers—or groundwater from the aquifer as the source for their systems, they must protect the quality of the “raw” water they will treat and distribute to their customers. So, communities develop detailed source water protection programs.

Water pressure is necessary to get water from the treatment plant (or source), through pipes, to a house or a business. One way city officials make sure that you have enough water pressure at your house is to make the pipes gradually smaller the farther they get from the water tower. Water pressure goes down as it travels along miles of pipes. That’s why a house at the end of a big subdivision might have less water pressure than the house at the front. Distribution pipes within a neighborhood are usually either 6 or 8 inches in diameter.

Treatment Process
The treatment process used to purify water may vary based on the quality of the water that comes into the treatment plant. There are three types of drinking water sources: groundwater, surface water, and groundwater under the direct influence of surface water. Different levels of treatment are needed for each of these three types. Groundwater might need relatively little treatment, while surface water requires more treatment to make it safe to drink.

Boil Advisories
Sometimes municipal distribution systems or water treatment plants experience problems. If something goes wrong and there is concern over the safety of the drinking water, a public water supplier will issue a boil advisory. These notices serve as a warning for the public and remain in effect until officials are sure that the problem is resolved, and the water is again safe to drink and use.

You, as the consumer, have a right to know if the supplier is complying with all water standards. According to the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1996, water systems are required to provide customers with annual "consumer confidence reports."