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It’s YOUR Drinking

Water:

United States Office of Water (4606)

Environmental Protection Washington, DC 20460

Agency EPA-810-K-99-002

How the right-to-know provisions of the

Safe Drinking Water Act can help you learn

about and protect your drinking water.

Get to Know it

and Protect it!

It’s YOUR Drinking

Water: Get to Know it

and Protect it!

How the right-to-know provisions of the

Safe Drinking Water Act can help you learn

about and protect your drinking water.
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FINDING OUT WHETHER YOUR DRINKING WATER

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MEETS NATIONAL SAFETY STANDARDS:

EPA sets health-based standards to protect the nation’s drinking water

from unsafe amounts of contaminants. The standards are part of SDWA’s

“multiple barrier” approach to protecting drinking water as it travels from

its source to your tap. In most cases, EPA delegates responsibility for

ensuring that the health standards are met to states. You can find out

whether your water system is meeting national standards through

several sources:

• Consumer Confidence Report: Starting in 1999,

these water quality reports will be prepared annually

by each community water system. Every customer of

a community water system will have access to a

report, most commonly through a direct mailing. The

report will provide information on the source of your

water supply, the level of any regulated contaminants detected in the

water, the health effects of contaminants detected above the safety limit,

and your water system’s compliance with other drinking water regulations. The report will also tell you where else you can go for

information about your local drinking water supply. If you haven’t

received a report by the end of October 1999, call your water system to

obtain a copy.

Look

for your

Water Quality Report

The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA)

requires that information be made available to the public

so that you can learn how to help protect your drinking

water and make personal health decisions about it.

SDWA is the principal Federal statute that protects the

250 million Americans who drink water from public

supplies. When SDWA was amended in 1996, numerous

provisions were added that give consumers greater access

to information about, and opportunities for involvement

in, drinking water issues. This guide will help you take

advantage of these opportunities and find answers to

many of your questions about your drinking water.
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• State Compliance Report: By January of each year,

every state must produce an annual report on whether

water systems within the state are meeting drinking

water standards. These reports are available through

your state drinking water program. Many are available

via the Internet. Call the Safe Drinking Water Hotline at

(800) 426-4791 to find out how to contact your state’s drinking water

program, or visit EPA’s web site at www.epa.gov/safewater/dwinfo.htm

and click on your state.

• Database: EPA collects information on every public

drinking water system in the nation and stores it in a

database called the Safe Drinking Water Information

System (SDWIS). EPA uses this information to gauge

how safe America’s drinking water is, and to track

water systems which are violating drinking water standards. You can

access information about your water system, such as how many people

it serves and whether it has been meeting drinking water safety standards, on the Internet at: www.epa.gov/safewater/dwinfo.htm

DETERMINING THE THREATS TO YOUR DRINKING

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WATER aaaaaaaaaaaaaa:

• Source Water Assessment: Between now and 2003,

states will be examining each of the nation’s drinking

water sources (the rivers, lakes, groundwater, etc. from

which water systems derive their water) to determine how

susceptible they are to contamination. States must make

the results of these assessments available to the public when they are

completed. Call your state drinking water office or local water system to

get a copy of the workplan and eventually the assessment. Through these

assessments, your state and water supplier will obtain information to

answer your more detailed questions about the potential threats to the

quality of your drinking water. These assessments may need to be updated in the future to maintain accuracy if land use or other changes occur

in the watershed. Consumer confidence reports will include a summary of

the Source Water Assessments once done, and may include more information on threats.

Check out

Web Sites and

National

Databases

Read

your State

Compliance Report

Read

your Source Water

Assessment
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• Databases: The public will also have access to two

databases being created to assist EPA in its decision

making about which contaminants to regulate in the

future and which standards for regulated contaminants

to re-examine. These databases contain information on

the occurrence of contaminants in drinking water, but

don’t identify contaminant sources. Both databases will be available on

EPA’s web site at www.epa.gov/safewater/.

 The Information Collection Rule Database will store information

that EPA has collected from large public water systems (those

serving at least 100,000 people) on occurrences of contamination

from disease-causing microbes and byproducts of disinfection. This

information will be available in August 1999.

 The National Contaminant Occurrence Database being developed

by EPA will store information on the occurrences of regulated and

unregulated contaminants in drinking water throughout the country.

The information will be available in August 1999.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THERE IS AN EMERGENCY

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WITH aaaaaaaaaaaaaaYOUR DRINKING WATER:

• Public Notification: If there is an immediate threat to

your health due to a violation of a drinking water

regulation or standard, SDWA requires that your

water system notify you promptly through the media

or posted signs. It is important that you follow any

instructions your water system may give you in the

notice.

ACTIONS THAT ARE BEING TAKEN TO PROTECT YOUR

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DRINKING WATER AND HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED:

EPA, states, and water systems each work to protect the nation’s drinking

water supply. Opportunities for public involvement exist at all of these

levels.

Check out

Web Sites and

National

Databases

Follow

Emergency

Instructions
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Comment

on new Drinking

Water

Regulations

and

Funding

Decisions

At the Federal Level:

EPA activities to protect drinking water include

setting drinking water standards and overseeing the

work of states that enforce federal or their own,

stricter, standards. EPA is committed to seeking

public input as it develops new drinking water

standards and other requirements of the drinking water program.

Public Meetings and Comment. EPA holds many public meetings on

issues ranging from a proposed drinking water standard for arsenic to the

development of the National Contaminant Occurrence Database. You can

also comment on proposed regulations and drafts of other upcoming EPA

activities. A list of public meetings and regulations that are open

for comment can be found on EPA’s drinking water web site at

www.epa.gov/safewater/pubinput.html or you can call the Safe Drinking

Water Hotline at (800) 426-4791.

At the State Level:

SDWA gives states flexibility in implementing drinking water protection

efforts so that they can meet the specific needs of their citizens while

maintaining a national level of public health. States are required to seek

public input on the activities listed below. To find out whom to contact

in your state about any of these activities, call the Safe Drinking Water

Hotline at (800) 426-4791 or visit EPA’s web site at

www.epa.gov/safewater/dwinfo.htm and click on your

state.

The Drinking Water State Revolving Fund

(DWSRF). This federal grant program provides

money for states, who, in turn, provide loans to

drinking water systems to upgrade their facilities and ensure compliance

with drinking water standards. Each year, your state develops an intended

use plan for how it intends to use its grant, including a list of water

systems that will be receiving funds to upgrade their treatment facilities.

This list is available to the public, and your state is required to seek public

input in the development of the intended use plan.

Provide

Input

to Your State
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Source Water Assessments. States have developed

and are implementing programs to assess and protect

all sources of public drinking water. States have also

established citizen advisory committees to help

develop their programs, and may continue to seek

input as they conduct assessments between now and

2003. You can help implement your source water

assessment program by assisting your state (or your

local government or water system if the state delegates the responsibility)

as it conducts your drinking water source assessment. This may include

helping your state inventory the potential pollution threats to your

drinking water source. Also, a portion of your state’s federal grant money

from the DWSRF can be set aside specifically for aquiring land to buffer

your drinking water source or to fund local protection activities. You can

contact your state agency to find out if and how your state plans to use

these set-aside funds.

Capacity Development Program. By October 2000, states must

develop strategies to ensure that all water systems have the technical,

financial, and managerial capability to ensure that safe drinking water is

provided to their customers. States are required to

involve the public in the development of these strategies, and to make the final strategy available to the

public.

Operator Certification Program. Some states are

currently revising their existing programs to certify

operators of public water systems to meet new requirements. These states are required to submit their program changes to EPA

by February 2001. States whose current programs already meet the new

requirements must resubmit their programs to EPA by August 2000. EPA

guidelines require states to include ongoing stakeholder involvement in the

revision of operator certification programs. EPA’s guidelines strongly

recommend that states use stakeholder boards or advisory committees to

help implement these programs. Call your state to find out how you can

provide input as your state revises and implements its program.

Provide

Input

to Your State

with Conducting 

Your Source Water

Assessment

Assist
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At the Local and Water System Level:

Consumer Confidence Reports. Your water system is the first source for

specific information about your drinking water. By late October 1999, your

water supplier must make its first consumer confidence report (also called a

drinking water quality report) available to the public. Beginning in 2000,

water suppliers must provide their annual report to the public by July. The

information contained in these reports on the condition of the drinking water

and opportunities for public involvement can spark a dialogue between the

water supplier and its customers. You can also ask your water supplier for

more information beyond the report. Having this information will allow you

to better understand and participate in decisions by your water system

regarding treatment improvements and protection efforts.

Source Water Protection. Protection of drinking water is everyone’s

responsibility. You can help protect your community’s drinking

water source in several ways. For example, your state

may delegate the responsibility to conduct the assessment of your drinking water source to your local

government or water supplier. If this is the case, you

can help your local government or water supplier as it

creates an inventory of potential pollution threats to the

source of your drinking water. You can also work with

them to periodically update the assessment to include

any land use changes that may occur over time.

You can work with your water supplier, local government, an existing

community watershed group, or start your own community group and

use the information gathered through the assessment to create or improve a

broader source water protection program. Some communities that get their

water from ground water wells already have drinking water protection

programs, called wellhead protection programs, where pollution prevention

measures are being implemented. If you live in such a community, you can

contact your water supplier or local government for information on how to

participate in the wellhead protection program. Again, there is funding

available through the DWSRF for community protection activities.

Participate

in Community Activities

to Protect your

Drinking Water
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EPA has created several publications that help communities develop and

implement drinking water protection programs. They can be ordered

through EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Hotline [1-800-426-4791] and are

also available on the Internet at: www.epa.gov/safewater/Pubs/new/

pipdws.html

WHERE YOU CAN GO FOR MORE DRINKING WATER

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INFORMATION:

• Hotline: EPA operates the Safe Drinking Water

Hotline [1-800-426-4791], which can answer questions

about the regulations and programs developed under the

Safe Drinking Water Act, and provide federal and state

contacts for specific information. It can also provide

information on drinking water publications.

• Internet: EPA’s drinking water web site

[www.epa.gov/safewater] provides information on

EPA’s implementation of SDWA, the contaminants

regulated under SDWA, educational activities and

publications on drinking water, links to other drinking

water web sites and much more.

Check out

Web Sites and

National

Databases

Call

the Hotline