page_title: Drinking water quality in the United States
section_title: Enforcement of standards
hierarchical_section_title: Drinking water quality in the United States / Enforcement of standards
caption_attribution_description: English: Poster, "How Does Your Water System Work?"
context_page_description: Drinking water quality in the United States is generally safe. In 2016, over 90 percent of the nation's community water systems were in compliance with all published U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards. Over 286 million Americans get their tap water from a community water system. Eight percent of the community water systems—large municipal water systems—provide water to 82 percent of the US population.
  Most of the public water systems that are out of compliance are small systems in rural areas and small towns. Drinking water quality in the U.S. is regulated by state and federal laws and codes, which set Maximum Contaminant Levels and Treatment Technique requirements for some pollutants and naturally occurring constituents, determine various operational requirements, require public notification for violation of standards, provide guidance to state primacy agencies, and require utilities to publish Consumer Confidence Reports.
  There are many chemicals and substances for which there are no regulatory standards applicable to drinking water utilities. EPA operates an ongoing research program to analyze various substances and consider whether additional standards are needed.
context_section_description: The SDWA requires EPA to issue federal regulations for public water systems. There are no federal regulations covering private drinking water wells, although some state and local governments have issued rules for these wells. EPA enters into primary enforcement authority (primacy) agreements with state governments, so in most states EPA does not directly enforce the SDWA. State rules can be different from EPA's, but they must be at least as stringent.
  EPA defines a public water system (PWS) as an entity that provides water for human consumption to at least 25 people (or at least 15 connections) for at least 60 days a year. There are three types of public water system: community systems (like cities or trailer parks); non-transient, non-community systems (like factories or schools with their own water source); and transient non-community systems (like rural restaurants or camps).
  Enforcement of drinking water standards in small water systems is less consistent than enforcement in large systems. As of 2016 more than 3/4ths of small community water systems that were classified as having serious health violations by EPA still had the same violations three years later. Some violations included an overabundance of lead, exceeding allowed rates for nitrate and fecal coliform. Around half of the most contaminated water systems were located in Kansas, Texas and Puerto Rico. EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance noted that the agency faced “a daunting list of challenges” in its continuing efforts, particularly with small systems that “lack the basic infrastructure, resources and capacity to provide clean drinking water.”
caption: EPA poster explaining public water systems and Consumer Confidence Reports
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