COVID-19: Safe Water Systems Crucial During Outbreak
Local water systems are working to make sure that as so much of the rest of people’s lives are interrupted by the coronavirus quarantines, the source of safe water for the region’s homes remain stable.
The city of Dayton — which supplies drinking water for much of Montgomery County — has launched a campaign in an effort to ease residents’ concerns about the quantity and quality of the region’s drinking water.
The COVID-19 outbreak has also led local water systems to take steps from deep-cleaning offices, staggering shifts of workers, and banning public visitors from the grounds — all to prevent an outbreak of the disease from affecting their staffs.
The steps are part of pandemic emergency plans that local water systems put into effect immediately after the COVID-19 pandemic was declared as a state of emergency both locally and nationally. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency requires all public water systems to have emergency plans.
“With everything else going on, the last thing you need to worry about is your drinking water,” said Joe Bates, the Water Treatment Supervisor for the city of Xenia water system. “Tap water is safe. Drink tap water and save the bottled water for a true emergency or when you are mobile.”
