What is Source Water Assessment?
Source Water Assessment is a process of gathering information
about a community's drinking water source. The assessment
should provide residents with information on exactly where their
water supply comes from and what conditions and/or practices may
develop strategies to protect the community's water supply.
All Group A water systems (excluding Transient non-community
systems) in Washington State are required to develop wellhead
protection programs and submit susceptibility assessments to the
state.
Source water assessments must:
- Identify the drinking water source area
- Identify potential contamination sources
- Assess how susceptible the drinking water source is to
contamination
- Ensure assessments are made available to the public.
Source Water Protection: What Does It
Mean To You?
Source Water Protection is a new term for a timeless idea
that persons living in a community must take part in protecting
their drinking water supply. In colonial Jamestown, this
means:
"no man or woman [shall] dare to wash any unclean linen,
wash clothes,...nor rinse or make clean any kettle, pot or
pan, or any suchlike vessel within twenty feet of the old
well or new pump."
Today it means that diverse teams of community
representatives work together to identify and manage potential
contamination and reduce or eliminate drinking water threats.
Where groundwater is the drinking water source, communities
educate citizens about their aquifer and adopt wellhead
protection programs. Where surface water is the drinking
water source, communities educate citizens about their watershed
and adopt certain land use practices to protect their drinking
water system.
Why Protect Source Water Now?
In 1996 amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act were
adopted by Congress. The amendments reflected the nation's
commitment to maintaining drinking water quality and preventing
drinking water contamination before it occurs.
The amendments require states to develop statewide Source
Water Assessment programs and then submit the program to the
United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) for
approval. The amendments also requires that Source Water
Assessments be completed for all public water systems by 2003.
Because education and involvement is such an important part
of protecting sources of drinking water, the public must be
involved in the development of the states' Source Water
Assessment programs. To get the public involved, each
state must establish a citizen's advisory committee and hold a
public hearing on the state's program before it is submitted to
USEPA for approval. If the public is not involved, the
program will not be approved by the USEPA.
The public's involvement in Source Water Protection cannot be
a one-time event to meet the federal public participation
requirements. It must be the beginning of a steadfast commitment
to maintaining the quality of clean, safe source of drinking
water.
You can get involved in your state's Source Water Assessment
program. For more information, contact your local water utility,
local or state
health department, state
environmental protection agency or
regional USEPA
office. |
