Nearly 50 billion plastic bottles are manufactured annually for bottled water sales in the U.S., nearly 50% of which is simply filtered municipal water.

Couple that with nearly 2,000 times more energy that's required to produce the same amount of bottled water as tap water.

Finally add in bottled water costing nearly 300 times more than tap water and it all adds up to Drinking Local.

The purchase of a reusable water bottle and a readily available pitcher style filter can provide you with up to 120 gallons of filtered water at half the cost of the bottled alternative, all while doing your part to conserve resources.

2021 CONSUMER CONFIDENCE REPORT (CCR) AVAILABLE

Each year the Water Utility publishes its CCR, which contains important information about the water we supply to customers. You will find the results of recent testing we were required to perform in compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act. You can find our most recent CCR's published HERE.

Should you have any questions about the information in the reports, please contact our Water Superintendent - Jeff Ecklund at (262) 248-2311.

CROSS CONNECTION CONTROL PROGRAM

As a municipal water supplier, the Water Utility is required to maintain a cross connection control program to eliminate any cross connections, or points where potable and non-potable water may meet. Residential surveys are conducted in combination with water meter replacements and remaining customers are surveyed according to compliance schedules. The Utility employs a third party to complete surveys of our Commercial, Industrial, and Public Authority customers on a rotational schedule.

Please do your part to help protect your water supply, your neighbor's and the community's.

Informational Flyer for Residential Cross Connection Prevention

HARDNESS OF DRINKING WATER

A question we receive routinely comes from customers who are installing a new water softener or other water conditioning equipment.

The actual answer generally depends on what exactly the customer is looking for, as there are many different factors that could be included in calculating hardness. For most people, they want to know the the grains per gallon or mg/L CaCO3, which are the most common units of measure associated with water conditioning equipment settings.

The municipal drinking water leaving the Water Treatment Plant has a hardness of 21.9 grains per gallon OR 375 mg/L CaCO3. For customers looking for specific readings at their location, we would recommend contacting a local water conditioning professional to provide analysis at the point of use.

FLUORIDATION OF DRINKING WATER

With the advent of social media, video blogs and the easy accessibility of various studies via the internet, there has been a revitalized awareness on the fluoridation of public drinking water. The Water Utility currently adds fluoride to the municipal water supply as recommended by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Customers can look through the resources linked below for more information on the benefits of fluoride in drinking water.

ADA Resources: Fluoride in Drinking Water

Tap Into Healthy Teeth

LEAD IN DRINKING WATER

There is a growing awareness that some homes may have lead water services, fixtures or plumbing. It used to be a common practice to connect customers using lead pipe service lines, to use lead based solder for plumbing and even to have lead be a component in the materials used in plumbing fixtures.

Although we adjust our water chemistry as it leaves the treatment plant to minimize the potential of lead dissolving into the water, the naturally corrosive properties of water may still corrode or dissolve lead into the water that is supplied through lead containing materials.

In compliance with the DNR and EPA regulation, we are required to routinely monitor lead levels in our water and we currently meet all state and federal standards.

Customers can also take steps to become more educated and proactive in reducing potential exposure to lead. The Wisconsin DNR has published information on the risks of lead exposure through drinking water for customers.