Under the Safe Drinking Water Act, The Environmental Protection Agency set standards for drinking water quality and oversees the states, localities, and water suppliers who implement those standards. The Safe Drinking Water Act was created in 1974. A public water supply by definition means a system for the provision of water for human consumption from any community well, water hauler for cisterns, water bottling plants, water dispenser, or other water supply that has a least 15 service connections or that regularly serves at least 25 persons daily for a period of a least 60 days in calendar year. A Community Water System means a public water supply which serves at least 15 service connections used by year round residents or that regularly serves at least 25 year-round residence. A Transient Non-community Water System means a public water supply system that is not a community water system and that does not regularly serve a least 25 of the same persons for at least 6 months a year.
Examples are separate systems serving workers or schools.
Routine monitoring requirements are base on the population served. The types of samples and the frequency of sampling vary depending on the qualifications of water system defined above.