C. Earl Hunter, Commissioner Safe Drinking Water Act Annual Report Fiscal Year 2010 www.scdhec.gov/water The Safe Drinking Water Act Annual Report is submitted by the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control in compliance with S.C. Regulation 61-30. Additionally, Act 119 of 2005 mandates that agencies provide all reports to the General Assembly in an electronic format. SAFE DRINKING WATER ACT ANNUAL REPORT FOR FY 2010 Table of Contents Page INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………. 2 Purpose and Scope …………………………………………………… 2 Public Water Systems in South Carolina …………………………….. 2 SAFE DRINKING WATER ANNUAL FEE PROGRAM ………………… 3 BUDGET & PERSONNEL ………………………………………………… 4 PERMITTING PROGRAMS ………………………………………………… 5 MONITORING PROGRAMS ……………………………………………….. 6 Inorganic Chemicals ………………………………………………….. 9 Nitrate ………………………………………………………………… 10 Nitrite ………………………………………………………………… 10 Synthetic Organic Compounds ………………………………………. 10 Volatile Organic Compounds ………………………………………... 11 Total Trihalomethanes ……………………………………………….. 11 Radionuclides ………………………………………………………… 12 Microbiological ………………………………………………………. 12 Lead and Copper ……………………………………………………… 13 COMPLIANCE PROGRAMS ……………………………………………….. 14 Sanitary Survey ……………………………………………………….. 14 Compliance/Technical Assistance ……………………………………. 14 Water System Security ……………………………………………….. 15 Area Wide Optimization Program ……………………………………. 15 ENFORCEMENT ……………………………………………………………. 16 OUTREACH & EDUCATION ………………………………………………. 17 ATTACHMENT 1 Bureau of Environmental Services – Laboratory Cost of Services ATTACHMENT 2 FY 2010 Invoices ATTACHMENT 3 Drinking Water Fee Calculation Sheet & Tables ATTACHMENT 4 Final FY 2010 Billing and Payment Summary 1 Introduction Purpose and Scope The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) manages the Public Water System Supervision Program in South Carolina. The primary enforcement authority for the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) is called primacy. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has delegated primacy to DHEC’s Bureau of Water. Within DHEC, two bureaus share the implementation of the program; the Bureau of Water and the Bureau of Environmental Services. Funding for this program comes from State appropriations, Federal grants, and the Drinking Water Trust Fund (fees). The scope of this report will address those programs supported by the Drinking Water Trust Fund. This report is a requirement of Regulation 61-30 (G)(2), Environmental Protection Fees. Public Water Systems in South Carolina The State Primary Drinking Water Regulations, R.61-58, establish requirements for all public water systems to ensure safe drinking water throughout the State. These requirements can differ depending on the type of system. South Carolina categorizes its water systems as follows: Community Water Systems: a public water system that serves at least 15 service connections used by year-round residents or regularly serves at least 25 year- round residents. This includes, but is not limited to, subdivisions, municipalities, mobile home parks, apartments, etc. Non-Transient Non-Community Water System: a public water system that is not a community water system and that regularly serves at least 25 of the same persons over 6 months per year (i.e., schools, and day care centers). Transient Non-Community Water System: a non-community water system that does not regularly serve at least 25 of the same persons over six (6) months per year. State Water System: any water system that serves less than 15 service connections or regularly serves an average of less than 25 individuals daily. Drinking water is provided to the citizens and visitors of South Carolina from either one of approximately 345 systems that receive their water from surface water sources or 2464 systems that receive their water from groundwater sources. Approximately 84% of the population in South Carolina receive their water from a public water system. The remaining 16% of the population of South Carolina is served by private individual wells. 2 SAFE DRINKING WATER ANNUAL FEE PROGRAM Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 (from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010) was the seventeenth year of the SDWA Annual Fee Program and the sixteenth year of the three (3) component (i.e., administrative; distribution monitoring; source water monitoring) fee structure [R.61- 30.G (2), Environmental Protection Fees, DHEC: Safe Drinking Water Act]. On July 15, 2009, invoices for FY 2010 were mailed to all State and Federally defined public water systems in South Carolina. A breakdown of the projected income by system type is as follows [Attachment 2- FY 2010 Invoices by System Type]: SYSTEM TYPE # INVOICES $ INVOICED Community 605 $ 3,781,556.00 Non-Transient Non-Community 131 79,948.00 Transient Non-Community 705 143,150.00 State 1,089 147,280.00 TOTAL SYSTEMS BILLED & PROJECTED REVENUE: 2,530 $ 4,151,934.00 Telephone calls, after the invoices were mailed, continued to be very minimal. Department staff again attribute this to the mailing of a completed SDWA Fee Calculation Form to all Community and Non-Transient Non-Community public water systems during Apri1 2009, showing them what they could expect to be billed for FY 2010. No new public water systems added to the inventory were billed at mid-year. This decision was based upon the minimal number of federally regulated public water systems added after the July billing. However, seasonally operated public water systems are being invoiced when they open for operation. Environmental Quality Control (EQC) Programs Management continues handling the bulk of the collection duties. These duties include formal 30/60/90 day collection letters and establishment of payment plans for those water systems unable to pay the entire fee at one time. 3 Budget & Personnel The Drinking Water Trust Fund was created in July 1993, and is dedicated solely for use in implementing the Public Water System Supervision Program. The Drinking Water Trust Fund provides resources to implement the SDWA and is shared by the Bureau of Water, the Bureau of Environmental Services - Regions, and the Bureau of Environmental Services - Laboratories. In addition to providing the resources to conduct the activities under the SDWA necessary for the Department to retain primacy, these funds also allow the Department to assume the responsibility for most of the compliance monitoring required of the water systems. For Fiscal Year (FY) 2010, the fee structure for the Community and Non-Transient systems remained the same as in FY 2003. The schedule for these systems consists of three parts, one for administrative or regulatory services, one for distribution monitoring, and one for source monitoring. The source monitoring component was not assessed against systems that receive all of their water from another public water system and the distribution component was not applied to systems that pump, treat, and provide bulk water to another system. The transient, small-multi tap, small-single tap, and water vending machine systems were charged a fixed amount, which has remained unchanged since FY 1999. [R.61-30.G(2), Environmental Protection Fees, DHEC: Safe Drinking Water Act] The Drinking Water Trust Fund directly supports positions in the Bureau of Water to conduct engineering evaluations of water systems, conduct sanitary surveys, perform compliance reviews, perform data management functions, and to coordinate the monitoring activities; positions in the Bureau of Environmental Services - Regions to conduct on-site inspections and evaluations, as well as to collect the samples required under the various monitoring programs; and positions in the Bureau of Environmental Services - Laboratories to develop and maintain analytical methods necessary to analyze all regulated contaminants and to conduct the analyses required under the various monitoring programs. The use of contract laboratories for most of the unregulated contaminant monitoring, much of the radionuclide monitoring, and most of the disinfection by-product monitoring continues to be a major expenditure for the program. Disinfection by-product monitoring in systems serving less than 10,000 population, begun in January 2003, continued through 2010. Source water monitoring and distribution monitoring for lead and copper continued through 2010. No significant reduction in the present amount of compliance monitoring is anticipated in the next few years. There is also new monitoring for the Stage 2 Disinfection By-Product Rule on the horizon. 4 Permitting Programs The Construction Permitting Section is responsible for the review of all plans and specifications and the issuance of a Permit to Construct for components of water distribution systems (e.g., water lines, elevated storage tanks, booster pump stations). The Section permitted 597 projects last year. Permits to Construct come in three forms: -Permits via Department review -Permits via delegated review -General permit (the 597 projects stated above do not include these) Under the General Permit program, utilities can construct certain types of water distribution lines without individual Department permits. Annually, the utility submits a report to the Department detailing the activity that took place under the general permit. Under the Delegated Review Program, the technical review is performed by the local water utility; however, the Department still issues a Permit to Construct on these projects. The Department’s review is therefore limited to certain administrative components. This cuts down on the overall review and