Earlier this year, for World Water Day, we tackled one of the biggest questions we’ve been wondering about since getting into the water industry: Where does Earth’s water come from? Turns out, you have to go back about 13.5 billion years to find out.
Once you fast-forward to the 21st century, water is so common that we tend to take it for granted. For those of us who are fortunate enough to have clean, potable water running from our taps — aka tap water — we often don’t give it a second thought. But we should.
LOOKING CLOSE TO HOME
When we first began researching how Soho Waterworks could help provide Clean Water For All™, we presumed the greatest need was in developing countries, where clean water is virtually nonexistent without the construction of wells. But since the pandemic, we've begun to look closer to home. We've been learning more and more about where our tap water comes from, and how much variance there is even within our own country, where water shortages and contaminants plague major metropolitan cities and small towns alike.
NOT ALL "TAPS" ARE EQUAL
Because tap water is literally “tapped” from different water sources throughout the country, rules and regulations about how that water is treated and distributed run the gamut. As you might imagine, water infrastructure is expensive. If a local government can’t afford to build safe infrastructure to supply its residents’ taps with clean water, the whole community suffers. A resource as fundamental as tap water shouldn’t be political. But in many places, it is.
HOW WE'RE LEARNING
We have so much to learn about where our own tap water comes from, not to mention neighbors whose water is not as clean as ours. We’ve been learning from organizations like The Watershed Institute, whose mission is to keep water clean, safe, and healthy; and we’ve been reading up on the EPA’s website about how sustainable water infrastructure is meant to work. We’ll continue to share what we learn to help protect the Earth’s most vital resource, and keep working toward Clean Water For All™.