Water treatment plants follow a government-mandated protocol that requires all water treatment facilities to process water from all sources in exactly the same manner.

Producing potable water can be cheap or costly, depending on the quality of the source.

The potable water from the source is made drinkable by removing the dissolved salt.

When water from several sources is available, the choice is generally made to choose the water source with the highest levels of pollutants so that the best water can be used for other purposes, such as recreation.