Answering the age-old water question: Is it safe?

"Is the water safe to drink?"

The ancient question evokes anxieties that are deeply embedded in the human psyche, but have been long forgotten by modern Americans. Yet recent crises in Flint, Mich., and other places have rekindled an earlier era`s ambivalent relationship with drinking water.

When the Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth Rock, for example, they shunned the pristine New England water sources and quickly began construction of a brewhouse. That may seem entirely natural to Milwaukeeans, but the decision did not result from a particular affinity for craft beers. Instead, it was rooted in a centuries-old, deeply held distrust and dislike of drinking water. Most Europeans of that era were ignorant of waterborne diseases and bacteria. But they had enough experience with the resulting illnesses to believe that drinking water meant taking your life into your hands.

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Ken Notes: Wow I may need to rethink my advocacy altogether. Unsafe water leads to more local breweries! I now understand why politicians don`t give a damn, they want constituents drinking more and paying attention less...