According to the US Conference of Mayors, local governments spent $105 billion in 2010 to provide water and wastewater services in this country. Although the figure includes infrastructure, there can be little doubt that a good chunk of that change went to meet federal and state drinking water standards and maintain water quality, a challenge that is becoming increasing complex. As Mark LeChevallier, Director of Innovation and Environmental Stewardship for American Water, an investor-owned utility that serves some 15 million customers nationwide, puts it, "For 100 years or more the principle has been to find the highest quality water, then preserve and protect it as a drinking water supply. But in some places, those days are gone."
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