Tap water vs. bottled water Tap water is regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Safe Drinking Water Act, while bottled water is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The EPA requires tap water to be tested more frequently than bottled water using state-certified laboratories. Public water systems are required to provide annual reports, and the EPA enforces regulations through frequent testing and inspections. The FDA does not have the same rigorous certified testing requirements for bottled water. What does all this mean? The next time you need to quench your thirst, do so confidently and safely with IRWD tap water. Grab a glass of water straight from your tap and drink up! Commitment to scientific innovation IRWD is proud to have a state-of-the-art and state-certified Water Quality Laboratory — one of the best-equipped water labs in Southern California — right in Irvine, on-site at IRWD’s Operations Center. A key objective of IRWD’s laboratory is to analyze and report precise, reliable data for regulatory monitoring and reporting, process control and research projects — meaning that every day, bright, analytical minds are hard at work in our lab to make sure your drinking water meets or exceeds state and federal standards.
Water Quality staff continually monitors the water supply to ensure drinking water is safe and reliable. • IRWD’s lab is accredited in 13 different fields of testing that include more than 300 analytes. This allows the Water Quality team to turn around test results faster and more efficiently. • On-site lab instrumentation can identify and measure substances in the low parts-per-trillion (ppt) range. This is akin to identifying one drop of water in 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools. • IRWD is leading the way in water quality testing.
Page 6 |
IRWD Water Quality Report 2026
Powered by FlippingBook