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KC Water Celebrates Drinking Water Week

Posted on May 6, 2016

(Kansas City, Mo.) – We need water to make a cup of coffee, fight fires, build bridges, and swim on a summer day. We need water to grow strawberries, manufacture blue jeans, and make life-saving medicines. As Drinking Water Week concludes, KC Water and the American Water Works Association join water professionals across North America in urging consumers to evaluate how they value their water service and how to protect its infrastructure in the future.

According to the Value of Water Coalition:

  • The average American uses 176 gallons of water per day—that’s 64,240 gallons a year!
  • 40% of water in America is used to produce the food we eat and the beverages we drink.
  • If drinking water and soda pop cost equally, your water bill would skyrocket more than 10,000%.

“Kansas City’s tap water is the affordable, safe, eco-friendly, and local choice,” said KC Water Director Terry Leeds. “For our customers, a penny buys the equivalent of one dozen half-liter bottles of water. Just think how much a person can save by filling up from the tap instead of buying expensive bottled water!”

KC Water maintains 2,800 miles of water main to deliver high-quality, great tasting tap water from the Missouri River to homes and businesses throughout Kansas City. While nature provides water, it takes pipes, pumps, equipment, and people working 24/7/365 to deliver clean water to homes and businesses, and then remove and treat wastewater so it can safely be reused or returned to the environment.

The infrastructure used to carry water from treatment plants to homes and businesses is crucial. Water systems are critical to maintaining public health, economic vitality, fire protection, and quality of life. However, current trends in population, economic growth, energy, climate and pollution are affecting water usage, and the critical infrastructure the systems rely on needs to function properly.

“As part of understanding our water, we must appreciate and value our water service and our infrastructure. Investing in our infrastructure now can provide for our future generations to ensure they have the needed water service we value today,” said AWWA Chief Executive Officer David LaFrance.

More information about water infrastructure investment is available on AWWA’s website.

About Drinking Water Week

For more than 35 years, the American Water Works Association and its members have celebrated Drinking Water Week, a unique opportunity for both water professionals and the communities they serve to join together in recognizing the vital role water plays in our daily lives.

For more information, please contact Brooke Givens, Media Relations Coordinator, at brooke.givens@kcmo.org or 816.513.0284.

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KC Water maintains and operates water treatment and distribution systems, stormwater management systems, and wastewater collection and treatment systems for residential and business customers in Kansas City and for wholesale customers in the Kansas City area. KC Water is primarily funded by fees charged to customers based on their use or impacts on the three utility systems.

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