The water report

I got an unsolicited piece of mail the other day entitled "Annual Water Quality Report" published by Providence Water.  It is a couple pages and details the current state of water quality in Providence.  It goes into quite some detail with regards to the various kinds of pollutants and additives that may be found in tap water.  For each substance it includes the date of testing, findings, federal and state guidelines, and whether or not it was in compliance.  For lead, the water was slightly out of compliance and there is a section detailing what steps are being taken to improve.  

I often come across little things like this that I only recognize as being great and extraordinary because of my experience of living in China for so long.  It may be that this type of transparency is not voluntary on the part of Providence Water but is instead court or legislature ordered but it doesn't matter.  The end result is a system that is working and improving and transparent.