Source Water Protection Research

Source water is untreated water from streams, rivers, lakes, or underground aquifers. It is our supply for public drinking water. While some treatment of source water is necessary, the costs of treatment and risks to public health can be reduced by ensuring that this water is protected from contamination.

Protecting sources of drinking water before contamination can occur offers a common-sense approach to maintaining the quality of drinking water and safeguarding public health. Source water protection is an ongoing process that includes:

• Conducting assessments to understand the vulnerabilities of the source to contaminants
• Monitoring to detect contamination as early as possible
• Protecting and treating sources using Best Management Practices
• Planning for a quick response when contamination occurs

The Safe Drinking Water Act includes important provisions that require or otherwise promote actions at the national, state, and local levels to protect source waters from contamination. The 1996 SDWA Amendments require states to develop and implement Source Water Assessment Programs to analyze existing and potential threats to the quality of the public drinking water throughout the state. Communities now have more information about the ways they can protect their source water from contamination because of EPA research that includes ways to:

• Define the land area contributing water to each public water system
• Identify the major potential sources of contamination that could affect the drinking water supply
• Determine how susceptible the public water supply is to this potential contamination
• Ensure source water security

EPA collaborates with state and tribal agencies, nongovernmental agencies, and citizen groups to facilitate source water protection activities.

Technical Contact:

James Goodrich, (513) 569-7605

See Also:

Geographic Information Systems