The Federal Safe Drinking Water Act has regulated tap or "city" water since 1974.

However, this does not guarantee that tap water is safe because government standards do allow contaminants to be present in tap water.

While the amount of contaminants the Federal government allows to be in tap water are believed to be set at safe levels, the health effects information used to establish drinking water standards do have some uncertainty. And, there is always concern about finding new or emerging contaminants, like the gasoline additive MTBE, that are not yet regulated.

Information provided by the United States Environmental Protection Agency reports that recently there were 27 million Americans served by water systems that violated health standards.

Overall, the quality and safety of water provided by the nations public water systems is good. But obviously there are problems.

Is your Tap Water safe?