As we head into October, we celebrate a changing of the leaves and a host of festivities across the state featuring one of Colorado’s proudest offerings —great beer! Whether you are popping the top to cheer on your favorite team, putting on some lederhosen for Oktoberfest or heading down to one of Colorado’s famous beer festivals this weekend, these gatherings signify fall has arrived — and provide malt and barley enthusiasts the chance to sample the very best brews from our state and around the country. This time of year also highlights something our brewers know well: world-class water is the secret to world-class beer.  

Here in Colorado, our water is a big reason why our ales, lagers, pilsners, porters and stouts fare so well in garnering festival medals. Our most precious resource begins as snowmelt filtered through headwater forests, fills our reservoirs, lakes and rivers and eventually flows to the drinking water systems that bring it safely to our taps. That final process, the treatment and delivery of drinking water to homes and businesses, has been at the core of the Environmental Protection Agency’s mission since 1974. 

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We’ve come a long way since Congress passed the Safe Drinking Water Act 50 years ago, a monumental effort to secure the nation’s drinking water supply across now more than 150,000 public water systems. The act creates a consistent framework for treating, monitoring and distributing water while protecting critical drinking water sources like rivers, lakes, reservoirs, springs and aquifers. It also authorizes the EPA to set national health-based standards for naturally occurring and man-made contaminants and provides funding and a low-interest loan program local governments can tap for needed water infrastructure upgrades.

Today, we often take this system, and its benefits, for granted. After all, it’s mostly invisible until it gets to our tap. But it’s worth recognizing how much the quiet efforts of the water operators, engineers, chemists, managers and regulators involved in this massive endeavor support our communities, families and businesses. Few enterprises are more reliant on water in Colorado than the $3.2 billion brewing industry. Beer is 90% water, and the soft, low-mineral water that runs from the Rockies is particularly well suited for a variety of beers, which explains why more than 400 breweries call our state home. 

It’s hard to overstate how much water quality significantly influences the taste, nose and overall characteristics of beer. Brewers devote a lot of time and energy to balancing water chemistry, ensuring a complementary mineral content and pH for each beer to enhance flavors. It turns out all that chemistry comes together perfectly here in Colorado. The drinking water systems serving our breweries deliver an ideal, neutral palette for a variety of styles of exceptional beer.

Colorado’s brewers aren’t just leading in quality product, they’ve also emerged as leaders in sustainability. Conservation and reuse have become big parts of the business, reflecting the fact water in the arid western United States is often scarce. Brewers typically reclaim and reuse water from the cooling steps in the brewing process, and there are many other areas where water is optimized, including cleaning, sanitizing and packaging. Some brewers are investing in hands-on initiatives that preserve headwaters forests and are reducing organic waste by optimizing the use of raw materials, including malt. 

Colorado’s brewing industry depends on high-quality water and is giving back to the environment through leadership in water conservation and pollution prevention. I can think of no better way to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Safe Drinking Water Act, and its contributions to our businesses and residents, than by raising a glass in honor of all those that work diligently to provide clean, safe drinking water. Please drink responsibly — and with special appreciation for our most precious natural resource!

KC Becker is a regional administrator at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency