Cheryl LeFevre doesn’t drink the water in Hobart, Oklahoma without a filter. Without a filter, sometimes the water smells like chlorine or rust. Sometimes, it even comes out brown. She has to clean out her filter every two weeks, with what looks like sediment inside.

As she pours water into a glass from her kitchen on a late afternoon in December, the water comes out clear. She says it still tastes like dirty water and has an aftertaste.

“Some days it's like this, you know, clear and just fine,” LeFevre says. “And some days it's got all of that gunk in it.”

Despite the color and smell, a recent Environmental Protection Agency Consumer Confidence Report says Hobart’s water is compliant with agency standards, but many residents, like LeFevre, remain concerned about the quality of the water.

Hobart isn’t the only town facing this problem. Erik Olson, the strategic director of health at the Natural Resources Defense Council, says a lot of small, rural towns across the country struggle to keep water safe.

“They often have a disproportionate number of violations and compliance problems because they don't have the economies of scale,” Olson says. “And therefore, they often cannot afford the treatment that would be needed to remove contaminants of concern.”

The problem is so widespread that The U.S. Department of Agriculture has handed out $891 million in loans and grants to rural towns in 43 states to help update water systems. Olson says the money is a drop in the bucket compared to what’s needed to solve the widespread problem in rural areas. He estimates that it would take about $1 trillion to fix the country’s outdated water systems.

Read the full article about fixing outdated water systems by Seth Bodine at Harvest Public Media.