The 2010 Drinking Water Quality Report shows that Seattle continues to have some of the best tasting, purest-source water in the nation. Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) regularly tests its water for various compounds, including metals, chemical contaminants and disease-causing organisms. SPU’s testing proved once again that Seattle’s water is of the highest quality. The report and testing are federal requirements for every water utility in the nation.
Seattle’s water comes from two rain- and snow-fed watersheds in the Cascade Mountains, which are carefully managed to supply clean drinking water to 1.4 million people in the greater Seattle area as well as downstream water flows for salmon, lakes and locks. Because our watersheds are publicly owned, our water is not susceptible to runoff from development, garbage, or other sources of contaminates that might impact water quality.