Providing Safe Drinking Water 

in America: 2005 National 

Public Water Systems Compliance 

Report - Fact Sheet 

What is the scope of the report? The report is the tenth in a series (beginning with 

calendar year 1996) of annual reports from EPA. The National Public Water System 

Compliance Report for 2005 describes how the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and its 

state and tribal partners are meeting the goal of ensuring that Americans receive safe drinking 

water from public water systems (PWS). The report also discusses the data we use to measure 

our success and the progress we are making in our efforts to increase its reliability and 

completeness. 

Additionally, the report summarizes PWS compliance in Indian country, including violations on 

Indian reservations, EPA’s enforcement and compliance assistance activities with respect to 

Tribal PWS, and the financial assistance EPA has provided to facilitate the provision of safe 

drinking water to Tribes. Appendix B of the report summarizes, in table format, the annual 

reports that each State must prepare discussing drinking water violations at PWS in their 

jurisdictions. 

Who are the potential users of the report? The target audiences for the report are 

State and EPA drinking water regulators and environmental professionals. Others who may find 

value in this report include anyone else who may be interested in a summary of PWS 

compliance. 

PWS COMPLIANCE 

The report concludes that most Americans received drinking water from public water systems 

that recorded no significant violations in 2005. The states, territories, and tribes did not report a 

violation of a health-based standard for 93% of America’s public water systems, and 72% of the 

population is served by public water systems which did not have any reported significant 

violations in 2005. 

This report uses information from the Federal Safe Drinking Water Information System 

(SDWIS/FED), the national database in which EPA records information the states are required to 

report on PWS compliance. For the national public water system compliance reports, EPA 

examines SDWIS/FED records of violations of primary drinking water regulations that specify: 

1) the maximum permissible level of a contaminant in water that is delivered to any user of a 

public water system (Maximum Contaminant Level or MCL); 2) techniques for treating water to 

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make it safe; 3) monitoring and reporting requirements (how and when water must be tested and 

the results reported); and 4) significant user notification violations.1 While SDWIS/FED collects 

information on monitoring and reporting violations, only “significant” monitoring and reporting 

violations are counted in this report. A “significant” monitoring and reporting violation occurs, 

with rare exceptions, when no samples are taken or no results are reported during a compliance 

period. 

National PWS Universe Summary 

In 2005, 157,857 public water systems together served over 303 million users. The actual 

number of individuals served was smaller, because millions of Americans drank water from, and 

were counted as users by, more than one public water system during the course of the year. 

Percentage of Systems by Type 

33% 

12% 

55% 

Community 

Transient Non-Community 

Non-Transient Non-Community 

Most public water systems were small, but large systems served a majority of the people who 

drank water from a public water system. 

Size vs. Users Served 

94% 100%


80%


60%


40%


20%


0% 

3% 

77% 

13% 

Small Systems Large Systems 

Percentage of Systems Percentage of Users Served 

This report tabulates only “significant” monitoring and reporting and notification (e.g., CCR) violations. Table A–1 of the National Public 

Water System Compliance Report presents descriptions of significant monitoring violations for the different drinking water regulations. 

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National Compliance Summary 

• The vast majority of the 111,021 violations (there may be more than one violation at each 

noncomplying system) the states reported to SDWIS/FED in 2005 were for a public 

water system’s significant failure to monitor and report, rather than health-based MCL or 

treatment technique violations detected and reported by a system. 

• 93% of America’s public water systems reported no violations of a health-based drinking 

water standard in 2005. The Maximum Contaminant Level for the Total Coliform Rule 

(TCR) is the health-based standard most frequently violated. 

• 72% of the population served by public water systems received drinking water from a 

system that reported no violations of a health-based standard, was not cited for a 

significant violation of a monitoring and reporting requirement, and issued a consumer 

confidence report, if required. 

Pe rce ntag e o f Populatio n Se rv e d by PWS 

Without Re po rte d Sig nificant Vio latio n 

72% 

28% 

Users Served by PWS without Reported 

Significant Violation 

Users Served by PWS with Reported 

Significant Violation 

• EPA designated 13,070 PWS as significant noncompliers. Over 90% of these systems 

served 3,300 or fewer users. During the 2005 calendar year, States and EPA addressed 

5,583 significant noncompliers (SNCs). 

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Findings for Indian Country 

• In 2005, 828 public water systems in Indian country served 821,646 users. 

• 93% of the public water systems in Indian country were small (serving 3,300 or fewer 

users). 

• 571 of the 828 PWS had health-based or significant reporting violations. 

Systems with Reported Significant Violations 

31% 

69% 

Violations of Some Kind 

No Reported Violations 

• 88% of public water systems in Indian country reported no violations of a health-based 

drinking water standard in 2005. 

• 60% of violations reported in 2005 were for a public water system’s significant failure to 

monitor and report, rather than for a health-based MCL or a treatment technique violation 

detected and reported. 

Data Quality Summary 

The data used in this report came from EPA’s national SDWIS/FED database. SDWIS/FED is 

composed of data that primacy states are required to submit to SDWIS/FED each quarter. EPA 

periodically conducts data verifications (independent, on-site audits) of primacy state and tribal 

drinking water programs to ensure that the primacy state is determining compliance in 

accordance with Federal regulations. EPA’s review showed that the quality of the information 

the states reported to SDWIS/FED is improving, but the data are incomplete. This finding 

principally reflects differences between state and EPA regulatory interpretation rather than a 

preponderance of data management issues. 

EPA’s analysis of the data verifications found: 

• 87% of all inventory data in SDWIS/FED were consistently reported. 

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• Most of the discrepancies between apparent and reported violations are because 

violations were not reported into the data system. 

• 29% of monitoring and reporting violations had been reported to SDWIS/FED. 

• 62% of the MCL/treatment technique violations had been reported to SDWIS/FED. 

Conclusions/Recommendations 

Most Americans received water from systems for which the states reported no violations of 

health-based standards, and for which the states reported no significant violations of monitoring 

and reporting requirements. 

States and EPA should continue working together to address significant violations of drinking 

water requirements. In addition, EPA should continue to work with its state partners to identify 

and resolve any problems that may have produced data discrepancies and to ensure that complete 

and accurate documentation is available. Working closely with the Association of State 

Drinking Water Administrators (ASDWA), EPA will continue to implement its updated 2006 

Data Reliability Analysis and Action Plan (DRAAP). One of the goals is to achieve 90% 

complete and accurate data for health-based violations, as well as improving the quality of 

monitoring and reporting violations and inventory data. EPA should continue efforts to 

modernize the SDWIS database to reduce data quality problems from data entry to transmission 

in the future. 

Where is the report available? 

Electronic: An electronic version of the report is available on EPA’s website containing

compliance data and other information about Local Government Services and Operations: 

http://cfpub.epa.gov/compliance/resources/reports/accomplishment/sdwa/

Paper Copy: A limited number of hard copies of the report are available from the National 

Service Center for Environmental Publications (NSCEP) located in Cincinnati, Ohio. The report 

(Document Number: EPA 305-R-08-001) can be ordered online at 

http://www.epa.gov/ncepihom/index.htm or by calling (800) 490-9198. 

Fact Sheet October 2008