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What is Source Water Protection?
Drinking water, which may be from ground water, surface water, or both,
is vulnerable to being contaminated. If the drinking water source is not
protected, contamination can cause a community significant expense as
well as put people's health in danger. Cleaning up contamination or finding
a new source of drinking water is complicated, costly, and sometimes impossible.
Preventing drinking water contamination at the source makes sense:
- good public health sense;
- good economic sense; and
- good environmental sense.
Good Public Health Sense.
When waterborne diseases occur due to contaminated drinking water, the
burden of solving the problem falls on the community and the State. Source
water contamination prevention is the first barrier to the outbreak of
waterborne illnesses. Keeping contaminants out of the source water helps
keep them out of the drinking water supply.
Drinking Water and
Health
Good Economic Sense.
In addition, the community and the State bear the economic burden when
drinking water sources are contaminated. Not only can wages be lost and
medical costs incurred, but alternative water supplies may be required
in the short run. Over the long-term, treatment systems may have to be
expanded, or a new water source found, to meet new regulatory requirements
or to address new contaminant threats. Source water contamination prevention,
however, can keep such costs in check. Preventing contamination is often
cheaper than remedying its effects. As the old adage goes, "An ounce
of prevention is worth a pound of cure."
Source water monetary incentives and benefits
Good Environmental Sense.
Water is a renewable resource, but there are limits to its quality and
quantity. Land development, polluted runoff from agricultural, commercial,
and industrial sites, and aging wastewater infrastructure are examples
of what can threaten the quality of drinking water sources. In many areas
of the country, ground water is being pumped faster than aquifers are
being recharged, and depleted aquifers are causing reduced ground water
contributions to surface water flow. Surface water withdrawals are diminishing
in-stream flows to the point that habitat, as well as water supply uses,
are threatened. Planning and taking actions to protect the drinking water
sources can also protect the water resource for a multitude of uses.
Action for Individuals
Although source water is a shared resource -- don't let this stop you
from participating in protecting your source water! If you only have a
limited amount of time to give, click on the picture for a list
of quick things you can do. Check out our fact sheet on How
to Protect Your Drinking Water.
Local Action
Learn about source water protection
EPA has many examples available of good
local source water protection programs. EPA is also supporting the
development and implementation of source
water protection programs through a cooperative agreement with NRWA. .
EPA source water
training and fact
sheets on best management practices
are available on line.
EPA has an Annotated Bibliography
of EPA Source Water Protection Materials and Documents.
Learn about your source of drinking water!
By May 2003, most drinking water programs will have conducted a source
water assessment for every community water system in your state. Information
about local source and drinking water is available. Detailed information
about how to get a copy of an assessment and a brief summary of the results
will be available in the Consumer
Confidence Report provided yearly by your water supplier. This assessment
will provide valuable information for your community to start protection
activities.
"An
Introduction to Drinking Water Source Assessment and Protection" 
workshop guide.
This packet of workshop presenter materials includes a detailed
workshop guide that provides all the information necessary on how
to put on a SWAP workshop, including overheads and handouts. "An
Introduction to Drinking Water Source Assessment and Protection" includes
a participant version which is an abbreviated version of the workshop
guide that may be copied by the presenter and given to each participant.
Get involved and do something.
Our fact sheet, Community
Involvement in Drinking Water Source Assessments explains the four
steps of source water assessments, how communities can participate in
the assessment process, and how communities can utilize assessment information
for source water protection. (Downloadable version PDF, 180kb)
EPA’s
Citizen’s Guide to Ground Water has many useful suggestions.
Case
studies of Local Source Water Protection programs has a variety of
examples for groound water systems.
Protection planning is being conducted at
the community level. Many communities are implementing wellhead protection
plan\watershed management plans.
Web Guide is an EPA web-guide of selected
available source water protection tools for community planners, public
water supply operators, members of local source water protection teams,
and anyone interested in protecting their sources of drinking water. It
primarily focuses on source water resources either produced by EPA, or
which EPA has supported through grants.
Tribal Programs
EPA is firmly committed to helping Tribes assess the rivers, lakes, springs
and aquifers serving as Tribal public water supplies, and implement preventative
measures against contamination of these water resources. Our Tribal
Source Water page has a fact sheet and other resources.
Safe Drinking Water Act Programs
State Source Water Assessment Programs.
Most States are implementing EPA approved Source Water Assessment Programs
and may have state protection programs underway. A
map of approved SWAP programs and links
to State SWAP Programs are also available.
Wellhead Protection
Program (WHPP)
The Wellhead Protection (WHP) Program is a pollution prevention and management
program used to protect underground based sources of drinking water. The
national WHP Program was established in 1986 by the Safe Drinking Water
Act. State
contacts for Wellhead Protection Programs for more information are
available.
Drinking Water State
Revolving Fund.
Source water assessments and protection measures are eligible uses of
the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) set-asides. States may
use the funds for a mixture of source water related local assistance activities.
For example, funds are available for Land
Acquisition and Conservation Easements.
Comprehensive
State Ground Water Protection Program (CSGWPP).
The CSGWPP was designed as a comprehensive management tool for states
to use to integrate all programs which affect ground water quality, thus
allowing better decisions to be made.
Sole
Source Aquifer (SSA).
The SSA designated aquifers are recognized as being the sole source of
a community's drinking water, and are subject to criteria for further
development of federally funded projects in order to protect the drinking
water.
Source
Water Protection Case Studies for systems utlizing Sole Source Aquifers
are available.
Underground
Injection Control (UIC).
The UIC program regulates the injection or disposal of waste into the
subsurface.
Clean
Water Act Programs
Clean Water Action Plan.
An effort by nine federal agencies to develop and implement a comprehensive
plan to revitalize the protection of water resources by targeting
watershed
protection efforts in high priority areas and providing communities
with new resources to control polluted runoff and enhance natural
resource stewardship.
Progress Report on Source Water Agreement
(March 2000)
Protecting Drinking
Water with the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF). The state
revolving fun program authorized by the Clean Water Act can also be a
powerful tool to help states finance a variety of protection activities.
The CWSRF program can provide assistance to communities, water systems,
and other organizations (including land conservation associations), for
projects that protect source water and enhance water quality.
Total Maximum
Daily Loads.
For each impaired water body, a total maximum daily load (TMDL) must be
developed. The TMDL is a plan to reduce that amount of that pollutant
in the water body.
Watershed Protection.
A Watershed Protection Approach is a strategy for effectively protecting
and restoring aquatic ecosystems and protecting human health. This strategy
has as its premise that many water quality and ecosystem problems are
best solved at the watershed level rather than at the individual water
body or discharger level.
Other Federal Agency Activities
Federal Index of Information
Many Federal agencies have general information on water quality
and surface and ground water hydrology as well as specific information
on watersheds or aquifers, and federally-owned public water supplies.
Federal agencies also have technical expertise and copies of existing
information on drinking water source protection areas collected
under other statutes or initiatives that involved water quality
assessment and protection efforts. As part of the 1998 Clean Water
Action Plan Federal Agency Source Water Agreement, Federal Agencies
agreed to make relevant Federal information and analysis tools more
accessible to state, tribal and local interests for completing source
water assessments. This Federal Index of
Information Relevant to Source Water Assessment and Protection
is a compilation of readily accessible resources.
Clean
Water Action Plan and Federal Agreement
An effort by nine federal agencies to develop and implement a comprehensive
plan to revitalize the protection of water resources by targeting
watershed protection efforts in high priority areas and providing
communities with new resources to control polluted runoff and enhance
natural resource stewardship.
Progress Report on Source Water Agreement
(March 2000)
Federal Watershed Funding
The EPA Office of Water has developed a Catalog
of Federal Funding Sources for Watershed Protection (Second
Edition) to inform watershed partners of federal monies that might
be available to fund a variety of watershed protection projects.
It contains a one-page fact sheet for each of 69 funding sources
that indicates to the reader the type of projects funded and eligibility
requirements. Contacts and Internet sites are provided so the reader
can obtain further information. Federal funding is very competitive
on a national level so organizations should also research funding
options available from their state programs.
Regional Federal Contacts
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