The Great Lakes offer valuable ecosystem services, including providing drinking water to many of the
region’s inhabitants. The trust in tap water and bottled water consumption indicator is one of a suite of
drinking water indicators intended to help regional leaders and advocates understand their water
quality, reliability, affordability, and constituents’ trust in their drinking water, better positioning them to influence management and policy decisions.

The trust in tap water and bottled water consumption indicator measures consumer perception of tap
water safety and reliability. The indicator is designed to capture consumers’ trust in the whole system,
from the quality of source water to the competence of water providers to the perception of finished
water quality and aesthetics. This report explains the indicator in detail.

This research is part of the Great Lakes Indicators project funded by the Erb Family Foundation. The
project is rooted in the understanding that the environmental health of the Great Lakes directly affects
the region’s economic health, individual and societal health and wellbeing, as well as values and
perceptions of the Great Lakes.