That all depends on what’s wrong with it and why.
If your city has terrible tap water, how do you fight for better tap water?
Submitted 2 weeks ago by LarryBetraitor@lemmy.world to [deleted]
Comments
gastroglizzy@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
LarryBetraitor@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
But how do you actually fight back?
gastroglizzy@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
Against what? What’s the problem? Lead contamination, heavy metal deposits, and e. coli/coliforms are all very different problems, with very different causes, requiring different solutions.
spongebue@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Well step 1 would be to be informed as to the problem - both what and where. I hated the water in the hotel I stayed in in Denver. Then I moved here, and it was actually really good. Best I can guess is the hotel plumbing was to blame. If I fought back against the city I probably would’ve felt pretty silly, don’t you think?
Bonje@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Your county should have a water authority. Get it tested too, there are federal enforcements on water quality. If that don’t work, organize, get together with community, protest.
DagwoodIII@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
Check which local politician has made it part of their platform.
Go support them.
aeronmelon@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Go to city council meetings, request to speak on the issue, show reports and documentation, create a petition to increase awareness, get signatures of citizens who want the same thing.
That’s a good place to start. Making yourself heard. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a fight, unless the people in charge have a vested interest in keeping things the way they are.
AtomicHotSauce@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
In America? You don’t. Ask Flint, Michigan.
SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
Flint is a good example of how to change things. They source their water from Lake Huron now and have better quality than national average. They removed all lead service lines.
Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
Create some motivation.
Go to all supermarkets and talk to them about it and convince them NOT to sell any bottled water or any other bottled drinks anymore to the city mayor and all his family and all his staff, because THEY SHOULD DRINK THEIR TAP WATER.
someguy3@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
For personal use you can get a reverse osmosis (RO) system. Either tabletop or full house system will work.
Malica@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Get a reverse osmosis filter, don’t leave your safety in the hands of fat cats in the city government. They could easily say it’s fixed and not fix it. I don’t trust people these days.
Professorozone@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I second that. I absolutely love my RO filter. Very tasty.
Also, why would the government improve your water when they can install Flock cameras instead?
antlion@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
You could move to a new city. You could build a community cistern that captures rainwater for you and your neighbors. You could treat your tap water. You could find the nearest spring where you fill up carboys of drinking water.
LarryBetraitor@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
You know moving to a new city costs money, right?
Fallibilist@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
My country has the best tap water in the world so luckily I don’t need to even think about that. It’s far cleaner than even bottled water.
JohnnyCanuck@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
Do some research about how the city water treatment works. Find out what the issues are. There may already be published studies about the water treatment and tap water quality. Or maybe your city just doesn’t have a good water source to begin with and they’re doing the best they can. Maybe the issue is specific to one area or even just your neighbourhood. Whatever you do, if you’re going to get involved make sure you educate yourself first, to avoid embarrassing yourself.
Write the mayor and city council about the issues, or go to town halls and present the issues to council.
If there isn’t a reasonable response, go to local social media, traditional media, write op eds, try to garner support from other like-minded people.
Go back to city council with more support behind you. March in the streets. With more people behind you, you might be able to get money for independent studies. Do petitions, and bring those to city Hall.
Rinse, repeat. Get more and more support until you have a big enough voice that the city council has to listen. At each repetition, your support should be growing. If it isn’t, you’re not successfully finding like-minded people - either because you’re doing it wrong or not enough people genuinely agree with you (which may mean you’ll never get change).
Ultimately you can run for council or mayor and do it yourself.
Also, check social media and media archives to see if anyone else has brought up the issue or similar issues. There might already be a grassroots group already working on it. Better to join them than to start from scratch.
One last thing: watch out for people with the more outlandish theories and behaviour (traditionally called “conspiracy nuts”, but I think that’s used too broadly, since sometimes there really is a conspiracy at play). They may try to glom onto you or may be the ones already actively doing stuff. They can take you down less-than-ideal paths. Keep yourself grounded in reality and facts.