Drinking Water Infrastructure

Needs Survey

Second Report to Congress

United States

Environmental Protection

Agency

Office of Water

(4101)

EPA 816-R-01-004

February 2001

Printed on recycled paper
Pictured left to right from upper left: surface water supply, building a new treatment plant, laying

distribution mains, an elevated storage tank, and child drinking water.

Credits left to right from upper left: Saint Joseph’s College, Standish, Maine; Texas Water Development Board; FloridaDepartment of Environmental Protection; Florida Department of Environmental Protection; and U.S. EPA
Drinking Water

Infrastructure Needs Survey

Second Report to Congress

February 2001

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Office of Water

Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water

Drinking Water Protection Division (4101)

Washington, DC 20460

1999
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CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ..........................................................................................................................................11

Total National Need ..........................................................................................................................................12

The Regulatory Need ........................................................................................................................................15

Economic Challenges Faced by Small Water Systems ........................................................................................17

Needs of American Indian and Alaska Native Village Water Systems ...................................................................17

Households Not Served by Public Water Systems ..............................................................................................18

Methods ..........................................................................................................................................................18

Total Need Compared to the 1995 Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey ....................................................19

Conclusions .....................................................................................................................................................19

OVERVIEW OF SURVEY METHODS........................................................................................................................21

Scope of the Survey .........................................................................................................................................21

Documented Costs and Cost Models .................................................................................................................23

Developing the Methods ...................................................................................................................................23

Conducting the State Survey .............................................................................................................................24

Conducting the American Indian and Alaska Native Village Surveys.....................................................................25

FINDINGS ...............................................................................................................................................................29

Total 20-Year National Need .............................................................................................................................29

Total Need by Category ....................................................................................................................................33

The Regulatory Need ........................................................................................................................................37

Economic Challenges Faced by Small Water Systems ........................................................................................40

Community Water Systems Serving Fewer Than 10,000 People ..........................................................................41

Total Need Compared to the 1995 Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey ....................................................42

Conservative Estimate of Needs ........................................................................................................................42

Not-for-Profit Noncommunity Water Systems ......................................................................................................43

Separate State Estimates ..................................................................................................................................45

FINDINGS: AMERICAN INDIAN AND ALASKA NATIVE VILLAGE WATER SYSTEMS ..............................................47

American Indian Water System Needs ...............................................................................................................49

Alaska Native Village Water System Needs ........................................................................................................50

HOUSEHOLDS NOT SERVED BY PUBLIC WATER SYSTEMS .................................................................................53

APPENDIX A— METHODS: SAMPLING AND COST MODELING .............................................................................57

Methods for Estimating State Needs ..................................................................................................................57

Estimating the Needs of American Indian and Alaska Native Village Water Systems .............................................60

Estimating Costs for Proposed and Recently Promulgated Regulations ................................................................62

APPENDIX B—SUMMARY OF FINDINGS ................................................................................................................65

APPENDIX C—SUMMARY OF FINDINGS FOR SYSTEMS SERVING 10,000 AND FEWER PEOPLE .........................77

APPENDIX D—SEPARATE STATE ESTIMATES ......................................................................................................81

APPENDIX E—GLOSSARY .....................................................................................................................................83

EXHIBITS

Exhibit ES-1: Total 20-Year Need ..............................................................................................................................12

Exhibit ES-2: Total 20-Year Need by Category ...........................................................................................................13

Exhibit ES-3: 20-Year Total Need and Regulatory Need ..............................................................................................15

Exhibit ES-4: 20-Year Regulatory Need .....................................................................................................................15

Exhibit ES-5: Average 20-Year Per-Household Need ..................................................................................................16

Exhibit ES-6: Total 20-Year American Indian and Alaska Native Village Water System Need by Category ......................17

Exhibit 1: Location of American Indian and Alaska Native Village Water Systems In the Needs Survey Sample ...............27

Exhibit 2: Total Need by Current and Future Need ......................................................................................................30

Exhibit 3: Overview of Need by State .........................................................................................................................31

Exhibit 4: Total Need by Category of Need .................................................................................................................32

Exhibit 5: 20-Year Total Need and Regulatory Need ....................................................................................................37

Exhibit 6: 20-Year Regulatory Need ...........................................................................................................................38

Exhibit 7: Average 20-Year Per-Household Need ........................................................................................................41

Exhibit 8: Total 20-Year Not-for-Profit Noncommunity Water System Need by Category ................................................43

Exhibit 9: Total American Indian and Alaska Native Village Water System Need by Category of Need ............................47

Exhibit 10: Total 20-Year Need by Category for American Indian Water Systems ..........................................................49

Exhibit 11: Total 20-Year Need by Category for Alaska Native Village Water Systems ...................................................51

Exhibit A-1: Community Water Systems Sampling for the 1999 Needs Survey ..............................................................57

Exhibit A-2: Cost Curve for New Conventional Filtration Plant ......................................................................................59

Exhibit A-3: American Indian and Alaska Native Village System Sampling for the 1999 Needs Survey ............................61
Constructed in 1881, the Walnut Street Storage tank in Dedham, Massachusetts, has the

distinction of being the nation’s oldest steel reservoir in continuous service. According to the

Dedham Water Company Annual Report dated January 9, 1882:

From the top of this structure a remarkably fine view of the surrounding country can

be held....The reservoir complete in place, ready for water, and warranted tight....is

literally a standing monument of excellence.

The Dedham-Westwood Water District will disassemble this tank upon completion of a new

storage facility.1

1 Journal of New England Water Works Association, Volume 113, No. 2, June 1999, 5a

Dedham-Westwood Water District
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Bill Reid–The Cherokee Nation

Phyllis A. Attocknie–The Comanche Nation

Melanie Watkins–The Delaware Tribe of Western Oklahoma

Stephen Aoyama–Indian Health Services

Tammy Belone–The Navajo Nation EPA

Earl Hatley–The Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma

Marion Sizemore–The Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma

Dennis Wagner–U.S. EPA Region 10, Alaska Native Village

Coordinator

Chuck Pycha–U.S. EPA Region 5

Geoff Keeler–U.S. EPA Region 10

Karl Powers–Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation

Celeste Davis–Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation

Orie Williams–Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation

Maria McCarthy–U.S. EPA Region 1

Ray Jerama, Theresa Niemiec–Connecticut

Wendy Coffin–Maine

Jack Hamm, Dan Disalvio–Massachusetts

Richard Skarinka–New Hampshire

Romeo Mendes–Rhode Island

Rodney Pingree–Vermont

Raymond Kvalheim–U.S. EPA Region 2

Roger Tsao–New Jersey

Steve Marshall–New York

Eva Hernandez–Puerto Rico

Christine Lottes–Virgin Islands

Don Niehus–U.S. EPA Region 3

George Rizzo–U.S. EPA Region 3, District of Columbia

Ed Hallock–Delaware

Chris Carski–Maryland

Renee Bartholomew–Pennsylvania

Thomas B. Gray–Virginia

Victor Wilford–West Virginia

Fred Hunter–U.S. EPA Region 4

Tim Johnson–Alabama

Gary Powell–Florida

Steve Payne–Georgia

Donna Marlin–Kentucky

Keith Allen, Sheila Williams–Mississippi

Melanie Bryson–North Carolina

Tom McDonough–South Carolina

Khaldoun Kailani–Tennessee

William Tansey–U.S. EPA Region 5

Cecil Van Etten–Illinois

Shelley Reynolds–Indiana

Richard Benzie–Michigan

Karla Peterson, Brian Noma–Minnesota

Pat Fassnacht–Ohio

James Witthuhn–Wisconsin

Tom Poeton–U.S. EPA Region 6

Trevor Bowman–Arkansas

Steve Hoffman, Jennifer Kihlken–Louisiana

Chuck Thomas–New Mexico

Tim Ward–Oklahoma

Bill Allen, Wayne Wiley, Cindy Yates–Texas

Kelly Beard-Tittone–U.S. EPA Region 7

Roy Ney–Iowa

Gerald McIntyre, Iraj Pourmirza–Kansas

Ronald G. Burgess–Missouri

Steve Rowell, Larry Steele–Nebraska

Minnie Moore Adams–U.S. EPA Region 8 and Wyoming

John Payne–Colorado

Marc Golz, Gary Wiens–Montana

Chuck Abel–North Dakota

Jim Anderson–South Dakota

Russ Topham–Utah

José Caratini–U.S. EPA Region 9

Susan Cox, Barry Pollock–U.S. EPA Region 9, Pacific Islands

Dick Jeffries–Arizona

Kimthoa Dinh, Uyen Trinh, Dat Tran–California

Angel Marquiz–Guam

Bill Wong–Hawaii

Terry Hall–Nevada

Richard Green, Gerald Opatz–U.S. EPA Region 10

David Kahn, Art Rominus–Alaska

Dick Rogers–Idaho

Mike Grimm–Oregon

Dave Monthie–Washington

EPA Office of Water

David Travers–Needs Survey Coordinator

Clive Davies–Drinking Water Protection Branch Associate

Chief

Prime Contractor–The Cadmus Group, Inc.

Many dedicated individuals contributed to the 1999 Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey. We would like to thank the

American Indian, Alaska Native Village, State, and EPA Needs Survey Coordinators for their active support and continuing

interest in the survey. Not listed are the operators and managers of the approximately 4,000 systems that spent their valuable

time searching through their records and completing the questionnaires we sent to them. We thank them for their assistance.
Corsicana, Texas, is increasing the capacity of its water treatment plant with a $10.8 million loan from the

Texas DWSRF program. The expansion will allow Corsicana to extend service to the City of Frost where the

State declared the water non-potable due to violations of health-based standards. Shown is one part of the

plant expansion—the construction of a large clearwell that will provide the disinfection time necessary to

inactivate harmful microbiological contaminants.

Texas Water Development Board