1. Is my drinking water safe?  
    Yes. White House Utility District meets the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s standards for safe
    drinking water.

2. How are germs that can make me sick kept out of my drinking water?
    Chlorine a chemical disinfectant is added to the drinking water at the treatment plant. Chlorine is the
    most common disinfectant used in the United States and Canada.

3. Is water with chlorine in it safe to drink? 
    Yes. Tests have shown that the amount of chlorine found in treated water is safe to drink, although some
    people object to the taste.

4. Why does my drinking water taste or smell bad? Will this smelly water make me sick?
    The two most common reasons for bad tasting or smelling water are:
        • From the chlorine that is added to the water to kill germs or:
        • As algae and tiny fungi grow in surface water sources, they give off nontoxic, smelly chemicals that
          can cause unpleasant tastes in drinking water. Different algae cause different tastes and odors –
          grassy, swampy, and pigpen, as examples and the little fungi can cause an earthy-musty taste. None
          of the contaminants that could affect your health can be tasted in drinking water. There are no
          proven incidents of the chemicals that cause a bad taste in drinking water making people sick.

5. My water sometimes looks cloudy or milky when first taken from a faucet and then it clears up. Why is
    that?
    The cloudy or milky water is caused by air becoming dissolved in water similar to the gas bubbles in beer
    and carbonated soft drinks. When taken from the faucet after a while, the air bubbles rise to the top and
    are gone. This cloudy or milky appearance usually occurs when water has been shut-off for line repairs
    or when newly installed lines are first put in to service. Although aesthetically unpleasing, it presents no
    harmful health effects.

6. Should I buy bottled water?
    Remember that U.S. bottled water is less regulated than municipal drinking water. You don’t need to buy
    bottled water for health reasons. If you want a drink with a different taste, try adding lemon juice to your
    tap water. If you buy bottled water for taste reasons, remember it costs up to 1,000 times more than
    municipal drinking water.

7. What are cross-connections and why are they a problem? 
    A cross-connection is a connection between a drinking water pipe and a possible polluted source. Here’s
    a common example. You’re going to spray weed killer on your lawn. You hook up your hose to the
    sprayer that contains the weed killer. If the water pressure drops at the same time your hose is turned
    on, the chemical in the sprayer may be sucked back into the drinking water pipes through the hose. This
    would seriously pollute the drinking water system. Using a backflow prevention device can prevent this
    problem. White House Utility District operates a cross-connection control program, which duties are to
    eliminate or protect the water supply from any apparent or possible cross-connections. Protecting the
    water supply from cross-connections is vital if the drinking water quality is to be protected! You can visit
    the USC Foundation for Cross Connection Control and Hydraulic Research website for more information
    on Cross Connections.