how many wastewater treatment plants in us
- Thus, ensuring the supply of drinking water and wastewater treatment and service is essential to modern life and the Nationâs economy. Overview. There are approximately 153,000 public drinking water systems and more than 16,000 publicly owned wastewater treatment systems in the United States. More than 80 percent of the U.S. population receives their potable water from these drinking water systems, and about 75 percent of the U.S. population has its sanitary sewerage treated by these wastewater systems.