Water quality experts at Metropolitan don't mince words. "Metropolitan water is safe to drink."

Metropolitan has no wells, no groundwater. Its only sources are the Colorado River and Northern California rivers through the State Water Project. Met's water is high-quality, constantly monitored and tested to make sure it stays that way. On a wholesale basis, Metropolitan provides almost 60% of the water consumed in its 5,200-square-mile service area, from Ventura to the Mexican border and inland to Riverside and San Bernardino.

However, throughout the United States, the public continues to be besieged with dire headlines reporting dangerous tap water. Because water safety is such an emotional issue, the stories attract a lot of attention and arouse public concern. Certainly less fortunate people in some areas of the country have faced serious dangers from their tap water. But that is not now, nor has it been, the case with Metropolitan's water.

Confusion has brought increasing demand from the public to make water absolutely safe. But there's no such thing as absolute safety; there's only relative risk. On that the experts agree. Perhaps, MWD's water could be made relatively safer. The technology exists that could virtually--not absolutely--eliminate trace substance and distill water to an almost-pure two parts hydrogen, one part oxygen. And that might be safer.

Why then, is that not done?

The answer is cost--cost weighed against benefit.

Limiting water to two parts hydrogen, one part oxygen would be no simple task. Water is a universal solvent; it will dissolve, to some extent, anything it touches. Water will even take small amounts of sodium from glass containers. The cost of removing everything from water could be a thousand times more costly than current water treatment.

The Southland's tap water is one of the best buys in the world. Mere pennies purchase a ton of it delivered right to your kitchen. The average household uses about 330 gallons each day. If the cost rose to even a nickel a gallon that would amount to $500 per month--more than most of us are willing to pay. And that doesn't take into consideration the increased expense for producing food and manufactured goods. It's been calculated that it takes 136 gallons of water to put two eggs on the table, 100,000 gallons to manufacture an automobile.

To demand that water be made as free of trace substances as today's technology would allow, would be an excessively expensive solution to a very low-risk situation. Metropolitan uses the latest technology to provide the safest water possible at a reasonable cost.

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