Drinking water quality in the new millennium: The risk of underestimating public perception

Abstract

In the 1960s, there was a proud industry that could claim that its product was used in virtually every home in the United States. Over a 40‐year period, that industry lost nearly 60% of its customers to competitors and it didn't lift a finger. It continues to lose customers. Can you imagine being in a business that could ignore that kind of a market‐share decline? That industry is the US drinking water community. And its competitors appear to be the bottled water and point‐of‐use/point‐of‐entry providers. — A Strategic Assessment of the Future of Water Utilities