Future Costs of Clearing Poison

While in class last week, I was reminded of a class that I had a few years ago. We had a guest lecturer that was an environmental engineer, and she was discussing the problems associated with a new regulation for drinking water by the EPA. (Information on the regulation can be found here.) Basically the regulation would reduce the amount of arsenic allowed in drinking water. The problem that they have found is that the reduction would occur in many small towns and cities and would thus be very ineffective due to the cost of cleaning the water(The estimated costs are upwards of $1,000,000). From what it seems, though, the application will be done on a city by city basis which does allow private enterprise and the ingenuity of engineers and scientists to find solutions that will be more cost effective.(For example: click here.) Due to the heath risks associated with arsenic in drinking water (various types of cancers, birth defects, etc.) and the possible money implications if small cities cannot afford to treat the water, I hope that this turn to the private sector will help us all to get a bit safer, yet not have to give an "arm and a leg" to get there.