State drinking water programs can no longer afford to operate without a strong, positive public relations presence. It should be the job of the state, not uninformed or poorly informed third parties to educate the public about waterborne diseases. In states where the drinking water agency has a public relations office, drinking water administrators should attempt to get a person assigned to devote a significant portion of time to developing newsletters, informational brochures, and news articles. In other states, several drinking water staff members should be assigned public relations tasks. The efforts should target utilities, consumers, public interest groups, the media, and most importantly state legislators. Tried and true PR tools include consumer education brochures, newsletters, meetings with the news media, publication of enforcement actions and good guys listings, and development of educational packages for schools.