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Wyoming Drinking Water Program

View the Wyoming Annual Compliance Report for Calendar Year 2006 (PDF) (20 pages, 90 KB, About PDF)

Administration of the Drinking Water Program in Wyoming

Wyoming is the only State that has not applied to the US Environmental Protection Program for authority to administer the public water supply program.  Therefore, Region 8 directly implements the Safe Drinking Water Act in the State of Wyoming.  This covers public water systems with 15 or more service connections or that serve 25 or more persons for more than 60 days per year.

As of October 1, 2007 there are 768 active public water supply systems in Wyoming.  Sixteen percent of these systems receive at least some of their water from surface water sources.  The remaining eighty-four percent receive their water from ground water (wells).  Eighty-four percent of active Wyoming systems serve populations of less than 500.  Only one percent (8 systems) serve populations of 10,000 or more.  Each public water system is classified into one of three categories:

In Wyoming, thirty-seven percent are community systems, fifty-one percent are transient non-community systems, and twelve percent are non-transient non-community systems.

Various State agencies in Wyoming and EPA Region 8 coordinate activities to ensure that consumers are served safe drinking water.

Region 8 is responsible for:

The State of Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality is responsible for:

EPA hires contractors and relies on assistance from groups such as the Wyoming Water Quality/Pollution Control Association (WWQ&PCA) and the Wyoming Association of Rural Water Systems (WARWS) when implementing the Safe Drinking Water Act.  These groups help provide training and technical assistance to operators of public water systems in the State of Wyoming.

Public Water Supply System Operations

Because of the demands on operators to remain in compliance with the ever-changing regulations, the State of Wyoming offers an operator certification program to ensure that operators of public water systems are qualified and their training is up to date.

Operator recruitment and retention have become critical issues in the State of Wyoming.  In many cases it is very difficult for municipalities to compete with salaries and benefits offered in the energy business sector.

The National Primary Drinking Water Regulations require operators to monitor for a variety of contaminants on a routine basis under approved sampling and analysis methods.  The number of samples and the frequency at which samples must be collected depend on a variety of factors, including:

Violations

Violations occur when public water systems fail to monitor for the required contaminants or when the level of a contaminant detected in a sample exceeds the maximum contaminant level (MCL), for a particular contaminant.  Additional monitoring may also be required if a contaminant is detected above a threshold level that is below the MCL.

Public water systems that have significant violations receive an Administrative Order.  This Order identifies the violations and specifies measures that must be taken to correct any deficiencies, or to return to compliance with the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations.  Monetary penalties are not included with an Administrative Order; however, violation of the Administrative Order may lead to monetary penalties.  If an eminent and substantial endangerment to public health exists, EPA may issue an Emergency Administrative Order that may require a boil order, a "do not use" order, or other measures to protect public health until the cause of the problem has been identified and corrected.  More serious violations may be addressed by civil judicial actions.

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