United States

Environmental Protection Office of Water EPA 816-R-98-009

Agency 4606 July 1998

 _____________________________________________________________________________

Information for the Public on

Particpating with States in Preparing

Capacity Development Strategies
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“It’s Your Drinking Water....”

Capacity Development Under the 1996 Amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act

“What is the Safe Drinking Water Act?”

Originally passed in 1974, the Safe Drinking Water Act is a federal law enacted to protect the

public’s health from contaminants in drinking water. Under the law, the U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency sets national standards for drinking water, which the States must meet or

exceed. If a State fails to meet its responsibilities, the federal government can step in and enforce

the standards.

Congress amended the law in the spring of 1986 and, most recently, in August of 1996. The 1996

Amendments made a number of significant changes to the law, including:

C Authorizing State Revolving Loan Funds to provide low- or no-interest loans to

water systems upgrading their facilities.

C Requiring EPA to consider the cost and benefits of each new drinking water

regulation the Agency issues.

C Providing increased opportunities for public involvement in drinking water issues.

C Increasing the resources available to small drinking water systems, which often

have the most difficult time complying with federal and State regulations.

“What do we mean by ‘capacity?’”

Capacity refers to a water system’s ability to consistently provide safe drinking water for its

customers. To do that, a water system must have the technical abilities, managerial skills, and

financial resources to meet State and federal drinking water regulations.

Don’t let the term mislead you. Capacity doesn’t mean just having enough safe drinking water

available for everyone in a community.

Technical, managerial, and financial capacity are individual yet highly interrelated dimensions of

capacity. Each dimension of capacity is defined as follows:

Technical capacity refers to the physical infrastructure of the water system, including but not

limited to the source water adequacy, infrastructure adequacy (including well(s) and/or source

water intakes, treatment, storage, and distribution), and the ability of system personnel to

implement the requisite technical knowledge.

Managerial capacity refers to the management structure of the water system, including but not

limited to ownership accountability, staffing and organization, and effective linkages.
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Financial capacity refers to the financial resources of the water system, including but not limited

to the revenue sufficiency, credit worthiness, and fiscal controls.

“What is capacity development?”

Capacity development is an effort by the States to help drinking water systems improve their

finances, management, infrastructure, and operations so they can provide safe drinking water

consistently, reliably, and cost-effectively.

As a first step, each State will prepare its own capacity development strategy. Although the

details will vary depending on the particular needs of the State’s water systems, each strategy will

specify how the State will identify and rank water systems that need assistance.

“What sort of help will the States provide?”

That will depend on what the water systems need. Each State is unique, and its water systems

face a variety of problems and challenges. The significance of these challenges, even their root

causes, may depend on where a particular system is located. For example, many systems in the

east are old and need to replace outdated pipes and other distribution facilities. Systems in the

southwest may be newer, but like water systems in every region of the country, many need to

extend their distribution systems to reach rural customers who now must haul their drinking water

for miles. In each case, State assistance may be required to correct these situations.

Among the types of aid that States may offer their water systems are:

C Helping the owners of new or existing systems prepare sound business plans that

identify how much money they need to operate the system, where that money will

come from, and how they will fund major purchases or upgrades of capital

equipment.

C Training system operators in how to detect leaks, which waste water and may

endanger public health by allowing water in the pipes to become contaminated.

C Helping system managers track revenues and expenses so they can set water rates

that accurately reflect the true costs of providing safe drinking water.

“Why are the States doing this?”

The 1996 Amendments to the federal Safe Drinking Water Act set aside tax dollars for a Drinking

Water State Revolving Fund. States can lend these dollars, at below market rate, to water

systems that must upgrade or replace equipment or facilities. The Amendments also require each

State to prepare and implement capacity development strategies—or risk losing some of its

revolving fund allotment. 
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is advising the States on how they may want to help

their water systems. EPA also is developing, with input from the States and other interested

parties, the criteria it will use to decide whether a State plan meets the requirements of the Safe

Drinking Water Act Amendments. The actual contents of its plan, however, is for each State to

decide.

“How will my local water system benefit from all this?”

In the past, water systems have had few options for obtaining resources and assistance. The State

capacity development effort represents a real opportunity for systems to get the help they need. 

Besides managerial advice, operator training and certification, and technical support, water

systems may be eligible for help in funding capital improvements and efforts to protect their water

sources from contamination.

“How will I benefit from all of this?”

Enhancing and ensuring the technical, financial, and managerial capacity of water systems offers

great potential for correcting and preventing noncompliance with safe drinking water standards

and for ensuring reliably safe drinking water. The consumer’s benefit from this initiative is simple:

the provision of safe and reliable drinking water in a cost effective manner. 

“What are the opportunities for public involvement?”

Under the 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments, when preparing its capacity development

strategy, a State must ask members of the public for their advice on various strategy components,

among them:

C How the State will identify and rank water systems that need capacity

improvements.

C How the State will help water systems comply with national drinking water

standards, encourage systems to work together, and support the training and

certification of system operators.

C How the State will measure progress in improving the capacity of drinking water

systems.

Not only must the State ask for the public’s input on these and other matters. The State also must

consider and include as appropriate the public’s most helpful ideas in its capacity development

strategy.

“How can the public get involved?”
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It’s up to each State to decide how it will identify interested members of the public and how it will

solicit their comments and advice. Some States may opt for a formal process, others may take a

more informal approach. Likely avenues for public involvement include:

C Public hearings

C Written comments

C Public notification

C Advisory groups

C Focus groups

C Direct contacts with key organizations

“How can I help?”

You can get involved as an individual, or as a member of an organization active in public issues. 

A good way to start is by contacting the agency in your State that regulates drinking water

systems to find out what’s already being done. Ask to be placed on the agency’s “interested party

list” to be notified of public hearings and other activities.

You can also contact organizations such as:

C The American Water Works Association

C State Rural Water Associations

C Rural Community Assistance Programs (RCAP)

C Local government organizations

C Your State representative or State senator

When you contact these groups, ask to be put on their mailing lists. You may want to see if they

have home pages on the Internet’s World Wide Web. Such web sites often are updated frequently

and can be a good source of timely information. And electronic mail, or e-mail, can be an

effective means of rapid communication with these groups and their leaders.

Whether you decide to participate as an individual, or as a member of an organization, it’s

important that you become informed about drinking water issues and that you make your voice

heard.
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“Where can I get more information?”

There are many sources of information about drinking water issues. The agency in charge of

regulating water systems in your State is a good place to start. Here are some other

organizations that might be helpful:

American Water Works Association Groundwater Foundation

Public Affairs Department P.O. Box 22558

6666 West Quincy Avenue Lincoln, NE 68542

Denver, CO 80235 Phone: (800) 858-4844

Phone: (303) 347-6284 Fax: (402) 434-2742

Web: http://www.awwa.org Web: http://groundwater.org

Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies Know Your Watershed

1717 K Street, NW 1220 Potter Drive

Suite 1102 Room 170

Washington, DC 20036 West Lafayette, IN 47906-1383

Phone: (202) 331-2820 Phone: (317) 494-9555

Fax: (202) 785-1845 Fax: (317) 494-5969

Association of State Drinking Water League of Women Voters Education Fund

Administrators 1730 M Street, NW

1120 Connecticut Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20036

Suite 1060 Phone: (202) 429-1965

Washington, DC 20036 Fax: (202) 429-0854

Phone: (202) 293-7655

Fax: (202) 293-7656 National Association of Water Companies

Environmental Working Group Suite 1212

1718 Connecticut Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20006

Suite 600 Phone: (202) 833-8383

Washington, DC 20009 Fax: (202) 331-7442

Phone: (202) 667-6982

Fax: (202) 232-2592 National Drinking Water Clearinghouse

Web: http://www.ewg.org West Virginia University

Friends of the Earth Morgantown, WV 26506-6064

1025 Vermont Avenue, NW Phone: (800) 624-8301

Suite 300 E-mail: webmaster@estd.wvu.edu

Washington, DC 20005 Web: http://www.ndwc.wvu.edu

Phone: (202) 783-7400

Fax: (202) 783-0444

1725 K Street, NW

P.O. Box 6064

Natural Resources Defense Council Suite 400

1200 New York Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20005
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Phone: (202) 289-6868 EPA Regional Offices

Web: http://www.igc.apc.org/nrdc

National Rural Water Association (CT, ME, MA, NH, RI, VT)

2915 South 13th Street Phone: (617) 565-3478

Duncan, OK 73533

Phone: (405) 252-0629 EPA Region 2

Web: http://www.cais.com/nrwainfo (NJ, NY, PR, VI)

Rural Community Assistance Program

602 South King Street EPA Region 3

Leesburg, VA 22075 (DE, DC, MD, PA, VA, WV)

Phone: (703) 771-8636 Phone: (215) 566-5701

Fax: (703) 771-8753

Web: http://www.rcap.org EPA Region 4

U.S. Department of Agriculture Phone: (404) 562-9424

Rural Utility Service

1400 Independence Avenue, SW EPA Region 5

Washington, DC 20250 (IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI)

Phone: (202) 690-2670 Phone: (312) 353-4919

Web: http://www.usda.gov/rus

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (AR, LA, NM, OK, TX))

401 M Street, SW Phone: (214) 665-7101

Washington, DC 20460

Water Resource Center EPA Region 7

Phone: (202) 260-7786 (IA, KS, MO, NE)

Safe Drinking Water Hotline: (800) Phone: (913) 551-7030

426-4791

Web: http://www.epa.gov/OGWDW EPA Region 8

U.S. Geological Survey Phone: (303) 312-6260

Hydrologic Information Unit

419 National Center EPA Region 9

Reston, VA 22092 (AZ, CA, HI, NV, AS, GU)

Phone: (703) 648-6818 Phone: (415) 744-2125

EPA Region 1

Phone: (212) 637-3725

(AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, SC, TN)

EPA Region 6

(CO, MT, ND, SD, UT, WY)

EPA Region 10

(AK, ID, OR, WA)

Phone: (206) 553-1230

Sidebar #1

What is a Public Water System?
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The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) defines a public water system as “a system for the

provision to the public of water for human consumption through pipes or other constructed

conveyances, if such system has at least 15 service connections or regularly serves at least 25

individuals. Such term includes (i) any collection, treatment, storage, and distribution facilities

under control of the operator of such system and used primarily in connection with such system,

and (ii) any collection or pretreatment storage facilities not under such control which are used

primarily in connection with such system.”

According to SDWA, “the term ‘community water system’ means a public water system that (A)

serves at least 15 service connections used by year-round residents of the area served by the

system; or (B) regularly serves at least 25 year-round residents.”

“The term ‘noncommunity water system’ means a public water system that is not a community

water system,” according to the SDWA.

Sidebar #2

Sidebar about a volunteer or activist who made a difference. Cadmus continues to solicit ideas.