When speaking with industry veterans during interviews for articles or casual conservations about the industry, a common topic often prevails. As testing advances, particularly in analytical techniques, officials and lawmakers are able to detect contaminants at lower levels and adjust maximum limit regulations and recommendations accordingly.
Water quality and preserving standards to meet customers’ needs can be complicated issues, as you are well aware. Consumers are certainly more cognizant of water contaminant issues today. In fact, public concerns over water quality and sources can be traced back before the Internet and 1974, which is the year the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) put forth the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). The availability of water for various reasons, including personal use and for trade and travel, influenced settlers for centuries.
Today, drinking and using quality, safe water should be of upmost concern to your current and potential customers. In the past, measurements of parts per million (ppm) or parts per billion (ppb) were sufficient to use as benchmarks of water quality. Now that equipment has advanced, detecting parts per trillion (ppt) of certain contaminants is common.
Water treatment dealers not only need to convey these findings to customers, but also communicate how these advances are impacting the market’s offerings in coming months and years.
Water contamination can happen during many points in a water supply’s journey from source to treatment facility to faucet. In 2014, provisions regarding plumbing materials under the Safe Drinking Water Act are scheduled to take effect. In the next issue of Water Technology, an expert takes us through the new changes and how it will impact your business and its customers.
While the Internet and social media are useful tools for fast information, studying industry-specific resources, such as trade publications and websites, and crafting this information to present to customers in common language is still vital to success. An educated customer who is on top of federal laws, such as SDWA, is the perfect partner for long-term success.
While these changes and the ability to detect contaminants at lower levels may challenge your business at times, these are also opportunities for you to stand apart from the local and online competition through advanced knowledge and forward-thinking solutions.
