… In the previous four years, lawmakers had passed the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act. “Nothing is more essential to the life of every single American than clean air, pure food, and safe water,” Russell Train, then-administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, wrote to President Gerald Ford. “The time is overdue for a Safe Drinking Water Act.” Fifty years ago, on December 16, 1974, Ford clinched a public health victory when he signed a bill that joined the pantheon of federal environmental protection laws enacted that decade. Today, the country still reaps the benefits. Most Americans are provided high-quality water from their taps.

Other drinking water article:

• Desert Sun (Palm Springs, Calif.): Editorial: California must control chromium-6 costs
• Voice of San Diego: South County Report: What’s in the Water
• The Washington Post: Which states mandate fluoride in drinking water