The committee discussed the issue of requiring more complete treatment data to be reported and made several suggestions to how the discussion paper could be improved to better present this issue for future discussions. The discussion paper will next go to all States and Regions for review and comment. Staff from the Safe Drinking Water Branch recently addressed tribal environmental staff on new regulatory changes to the Safe Drinking Water Act at the Tribal General Assistance Program meeting, held at Region 5 offices on April 1, 1998. One of the topics discussed included the new source water assessment and protection provisions of the Act. The tribes are not required to perform source water assessments as are the States in Section 1453 of the Act.
Tribal participation is voluntary.
However, those attending were told that completing assessments and, more importantly, implementing source water protection programs make good sense and maximize the safety of public drinking water supplies. Bill Spaulding and Chuck Pycha briefed tribal representatives on a 4-step process, which is similar to what is required for State programs. That process includes delineation, source identification, determination of system susceptibility to contamination, and making assessment information available to the public. Availability of funding assistance for these activities were also briefly discussed. The State Source Water Assessment and Protection Program Guidance was recommended as a resource guide for the completion of Tribal assessments.