Water Board Basics: Safe Drinking Water Act Keys for Success Compliance Board Safe Drinking Water Act Compliance Meetings In a Nutshell drinking water standards was a Board major focus of the 1974 SDWA. The Safe Drinking Water Act Responsibilities (SDWA), established in 1974, pro- The primary standards address Budgets tects the quality of drinking wa- adverse health effects. They con- ter in the United States. The sist of maximum contaminant Capital SDWA focuses on all water desig- levels goals (MCLGs), which are Improvements nated for human con- non-enforceable, sumption, whether from and maximum con- Legal surface or groundwater taminant levels Responsibilities sources serving more (MCLs), which are Meter than 25 people. enforceable limits set as close to Replacement The Act authorizes the MCLGs as possible. Program Environmental Protec- The enforceable tion Agency (EPA) to Operational MCLs consider at- establish safe standards of Record tainment cost and feasibility. purity and requires all public Keeping water system owners or operators Secondary standards address aes- to comply with primary (health- thetics, such as the odor or ap- Selecting related) standards. State gov- pearance of drinking water but an Engineer ernments, which assume this are non-enforceable. power from EPA through pri- Successful Under the SDWA, only public macy, also encourage secondary Fundraising water systems are subject standard attainment. to drinking water standards. The Safe Drinking Water Act A “public water system” is a Nevada Bureau system that provides piped water Congress passed the SDWA in re- of Health for human consumption and sponse to concerns about drink- has at least 15 service connec- Protection Services ing water supply contaminants tions or regularly serves at least throughout the United States and 1179 Fairview Drive 25 individuals. the inefficient manner that states Carson City, Nevada 89701 supervised and monitored these Regulations require public water 775/687-4750 drinking water supplies. systems to meet MCLs and/or to use treatment techniques to pro- fax 775/687-3218 Setting national contaminant- tect against adverse health ef- based primary and secondary www.state.nv.us/health/bhps fects. Regulations include pre-

Support for this project was provided by the Nevada Drinking Water State Revolving Fund — A federal program administered by the Nevada Bureau of Health Protection Services to provide technical assistance and loan funds to Nevada private and public water systems to ensure federal Safe Drinking Water Act regulation compliance. Water Board Basics: Keys to Success Safe Drinking Water Act Compliance scribed testing, record keeping, reporting and Consumer Confidence Report Checklist timely public notification of failure to meet applicable drinking water standards. ! The drinking water source and its suscept- ibility to contamination The SDWA Amendments ! How to obtain a copy of the Source Water When the SDWA was amended in 1986, Con- Assessment gress required that EPA develop 25 new MCLs every three years. The 1986 amendments also ! The level of any water established the Surface Water Treatment Rule contaminant found and the Total Coliform Rule. and the EPA standard The SDWA was again amended in 1996. for that contaminant The 1996 amendments authorized the ! Likely source and health Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Fund (DWSRF) program. effects of contaminants This federal grant program provides money ! An accounting of the actions taken to restore to states, which then make loans to water sys- safe drinking water following contamination tems to upgrade facilities and ensure compli- ! An educational statement about avoiding ance with drinking water standards. Cryptosporidium The 1996 amendments authorized $1 billion per year from fiscal years 1995-2003 to capi- ! Information on nitrate, arsenic and lead if talize the DWSRFs. Individual states must pro- detected above 50 percent of EPA standards vide a 20 percent match to the federal share ! Compliance information on other state and allocated to them. federal drinking water requirements; The 1996 amendments also required that com- ! munity water systems provide their users with The utility telephone number and the a Consumer Confidence Report (CCR), which EPA Safe Drinking Water Hotline tele- is similar to a nutritional label, by July 1 of phone number. every year.

This Water Board Basic was authored by Micheline Fairbank, Rural Community Assistance Corporation. Rural Community 777 E. William St., Suite 109 Rural Community Assistance Corporation Carson City, Nevada 89701 is dedicated to assisting rural communities Assistance Corporation Phone: 775/882-8887 achieve their goals and visions by www.rcac.org Fax: 775/882-8960 providing training, technical assistance and access to resources