ABSTRACT
In planning for water supply, the influence of specialists,
particularly engineers, is well established. Recently, however,
the public's faith in professional capability to assure safe
drinking water has begun to be tried. Public confidence was
tested in 1970 when the U.S. Public Health Service noted that
only 59 percent of the surveyed systems produced water that met
drinking water standards, and it was shaken when the Environ
mental Defense Fund (1974) released its study claiming the
occurrence of carcinogens in New Orleans drinking water.
