United States Office of Water EPA 816-F-00-005

Environmental Protection (4606) April 2000

Agency

Drinking Water Quality in Indian

Country: Protecting Your Sources

One of the most basic needs of any community is safe and clean drinking water.

Over 500,000 people rely on the quality of

drinking water provided by approximately

743 community water systems owned by

Tribes. Many Tribes have seen treatment

costs increase over the past decade, and

contaminant threats continue to increase as

old infrastructures, such as septic tanks,

underground gas tanks, and wastewater

facilities, deterioriate. In 1998, seven

percent of public water systems serving

tribal populations violated health-based

contaminant-related federal drinking water

standards.

WHAT ARE THE THREATS TO DRINKING WATER?

Sometimes the source of drinking water

contamination is something commonly

used and is not noticed because it may take

years to reach the water supply. For

example, the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of

the Fort Hall Reservation in Idaho discovered high levels of a potentially carcinogenic pesticide, ethylene dibromide, in

?? DID YOU KNOW ??

Nationwide, more than 80 percent of

drinking water systems report having

at least one potential source of

contamination within two miles of their

water intake or well.

Only 3,300 out of 55,000 water suppliers

use protection measures to lower the risk

of source water contamination.

their ground water source during routine

monitoring. This contamination was the

result of standard farm use of pesticides.

The contamination was so extensive that

the Tribe must bring in safe drinking water

from outside the large contaminated area,

which required construction of a multimillion dollar water pipeline system.

WHAT ARE SOME SOLUTIONS?

Instead of remediation, added chemical

treatment, and investment in new technologies after a contamination event, protecting

the source from contamination can be

much more cost effective. If harmful

pathogens and chemicals are kept out of

the river, lakes, or aquifers that tribes use

as drinking water then the risk to human

health is lowered significantly. This first

barrier - source water protection - is not

the only barrier to safeguard human health

against waterborne contaminant threats.

Yet it is an important first step that can

save money and decrease risks to human

health.

On average, 30,000 new leaks from

underground gasoline storage

tanks are reported each year.
A tribal water supply operator should assess

the sources of drinking water and identify

the potential problems to help determine

what actions are needed to prevent contamination of the drinking water sources.

Step 1: Map the Source Water Protection Area

For each ground water well or surface water

intake that supplies drinking water, the

source water protection area is the land area

that could contribute pollutants to the drinking water supply.

For water systems that use a well, the source

water protection area is the land that lies

over the part of the aquifer that supplies

water to the well. The EPA Handbook of

Ground Water and Wellhead Protection

(EPA/625/R-94/001) outlines several appropriate and affordable methods to identify this

area for different situations.

For a community that relies on a river, lake

or reservoir, the source water protection area

is the watershed upstream of the drinking

water intake. A watershed is the land area

where rain or snow falls and flows over or

through the ground to eventually enter the

stream or lake. State Methods for Delineating Source Water Protection Areas for

ASSESSMENT STEPS

MAP the Source Water

Protection Area

INVENTORY Potential

Contaminant Sources

ANALYZE and Determine the

Susceptibility of the Water

Supply to Contamination

INFORM the Public

CONTAMINANT RISKS

How close are these potential

contaminant sources to your water

supply?

 Gas stations Abandoned wells

 Septic tanks Field crops

 Sewer lines Chemical Storage

 Animal feeding operations

Attentive management practices can often

be an alternative to banning activity in

source water protection areas.

Step 3: Determine the Susceptibility of the

Water Supply to Contamination. The next step

of an assessment is to determine the likelihood that the inventoried contaminants will

impact the water supply. This susceptibility

determination will help local decisionmakers, the water supply operator, and

concerned citizens consider priority activities

to undertake for protecting the source water.

EPA Regional Offices have several examples

Surface Water Supplied Sources of Drinking

Water (EPA 816-R-97-008) provides information on surface water delineation techniques.

Step 2: Inventory Potential Contaminant

Sources. Within the source water protection

area, an inventory of all potential threats

should be conducted. A contaminant source

inventory should look for all potential

sources of the regulated substances listed in

the Safe Drinking Water Act and other

substances of concern to the community.

Common potential sources of contamination

for Tribes are septic tanks, underground fuel

storage tanks, residential or commercial

septic systems, farms that apply pesticides

and fertilizers, and abandoned wells. EPA

Regional Offices have materials to assist

with inventories.

ASSESSING THE SOURCE
of susceptibility determination approaches

to assist Tribes.

Step 4: Inform the Public

The results of the assessments can help

communities better understand the potential threats to their water supplies and

identify priority needs for protecting their

source water from contamination. The most

important aspect of an assessment is that it

provides the basic information needed by a

community to plan activities that will lower

the risk of contamination.

AFTER THE ASSESSMENT

Consider Source Water Protection. Source

water protection is preventing the pollution

of the waters that serve as sources of

drinking water. There are a wide array of

activities that tribes have undertaken to

prevent contamination of their drinking

water supplies. Some examples include:

Oneida Indian Tribe Abandoned Well Ordinance. The Oneida Tribe decided that an

ordinance prohibiting abandoned wells

within critical areas was important to

prevent contamination of the ground water

resource. With this ordinance in place, the

tribe’s drinking water source is less vulnerable to contamination by substances that

might drain into the abandoned well holes.

Regulatory approaches, such as prohibiting

or restricting land uses that may release

contaminants in critical source water areas

are sometimes the best solution.

Hoopa Tribe Public Outreach Campaign.

The Hoopa Tribe sponsored advertisements

and radio programs about drinking water

issues and the need to prevent source water

contamination. They also distributed fliers

to inform the community about their water

INFORMING THE PUBLIC

EFFECTIVE WAYS TO PROVIDE

ASSESSMENT INFORMATION TO

THE PUBLIC:

 * Post on community bulletin boards

 * Write a newspaper article

 * Use local radio programs

 * Announce it at tribal meetings

 * Include information in the water bill

 * Work with schools to educate children

 Source water protection relies on

 individual responsibility. If people

 don’t know, they don’t have the

 opportunity to act!

supply and encouraged citizens and businesses

to recycle used oil, limit their use of pesticides,

and participate in watershed cleanup activities.

Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe Assessment and

Monitoring Program. This community is

dealing with a serious health concern that they

have not been able to attribute to any given

cause. The community water supplier is

conducting an assessment and ground water

monitoring in an effort to make sure that the

drinking water is not at risk of contamination,

and to increase public trust in the drinking

water supply.

Nez Perce Tribe Wellhead Protection Program.

The Nez Perce Tribe is developing a wellhead

protection program in response to concerns

over increasing levels of nitrates in the deep

aquifer on the Reservation. They hope to

develop a collaborative management approach

with community members to address activities

that may be sources of contamination.
Resources For Tribes

What Resources are Available for Tribes?

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

(EPA) is firmly committed to protecting

drinking water sources in Indian country,

and will provide technical and financial

assistance to tribes interested in conducting

source water assessment and protection

activities.

EPA Source Water Assessment Financial

Assistance. Since 1998, EPA has set aside

funds specifically for source water assessment and protection activities in Indian

country. Some EPA regional offices have

used this funding to support technical

circuit riders to assist tribes, while other

regional offices provide grants directly to

interested tribes. As of 2000, funding

continues to be available.

EPA Clean Water Act Section 106 Grants.

CWA 106 Funds can be used for both

water pollution control and ground water

protection activities in Indian country,

including source water protection.

Rural Water Association Technical Assistance. As part of a cooperative agreement

with the EPA, the National Rural Water

Association continues to offer technical

assistance to tribes to implement wellhead

or watershed protection strategies.

For More Information

To learn more about source water assessment and protection opportunities, contact

the EPA regional offices. Also, more

information is available on the U.S. EPA

Office of Ground Water and Drinking

Water webpage:

http://www.epa.gov/safewater

Or contact the EPA Safe Drinking Water

Hotline: 1-800-426-4791.

Regional Contacts

EPA Region I (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT)

Mark Sceery, Office of Ecosystem Protection

1 Congress Street, Suite 1100 (CCT)

Boston, MA 02114-2023

phone: (617) 918-1559; sceery.mark@epa.gov

EPA Region II (NJ, NY, PR, USVI)

Stephen Gould, Freshwater Protection Section

290 Broadway, 24th floor

New York, NY 10007-1866

phone: (212)637-3822; gould.stephen@epa.gov

EPA Region IV (AL,FL,GA,KY,MS,NC,SC,TN)

Chris Thomas , Water Division

100 Alabama St., SW.

Atlanta, GA 30303-3104

phone: (404)562-9459; thomas.chris@epa.gov

EPA Region V (IL, MN, MI, OH, WI)

Jan Bartlett, GWDW Branch (WG-16J)

77 W. Jackson Boulevard

Chicago, IL 60604

phone: (312)886-5438; bartlett.janice@epa.gov

EPA Region VI (TX, AR, LA, OK, NM)

Ken Williams, Drinking Water Section (6WQ-SD)

1445 Ross Avenue

Dallas, TX 75202-2733

Phone: (214)665-7129; williams.ken@epa.gov

EPA Region VII (IA, KS, MO, NE)

Stephanie Lindberg, Drinking Water Program

901 North 5th Street

Kansas City, KS 66101

phone:(913)551-7423; lindberg.stephanie@epa.gov

EPA Region VIII (CO, MT, ND, SD, UT, WY)

Marcella Hutchinson, Source Water/Ground Water

999 18th St. Ste. 500 (8 EPR-EP)

Denver, CO 80202-2405

(303)312-6753; hutchinson.marcella@epa.gov

EPA Region IX (AS, AZ, CA, GU, HI, NV)

Joaquin Cruz, Ground Water Office

75 Hawthorne, WTR-9

San Francisco, CA 94105

phone: (415)744-1839; cruz.joaquin@epa.gov

EPA Region X (AK, ID, OR, WA)

Jeff Kenknight, Ground Water Protection Unit

1200 Sixth Ave.

Seattle WA 98105

phone: (206)553-0226; kenknight.jeff@epa.gov