NEW YORK STATE SOURCE WATER ASSESSMENT PROGRAM PLAN FINAL Prepared by: New York State Department of Health Bureau of Public Water Supply Protection 547 River Street Flanigan Square, Room 400 Troy, New York 12180-2216 November 1999 Acknowledgments The New York State Department of Health is greatly indebted to the many individuals and organizations who contributed their time, expertise, and resources during the development of this plan. Their tireless efforts will greatly benefit future protection of New York State's public drinking water supplies for years to come. The Department of Health would like to thank all of the members of Source Water Protection Coordinating Committee, the Committee’s technical and advisory working group members, and local health department representatives for sharing their wide array of experience and technical skills. The Department of Health greatly appreciates the time and efforts of all of the water suppliers and private citizens who have also contributed to this plan and would also like to acknowledge the many organizations that have assisted with efforts related to development of New York’s Source Water Assessment Program by sharing their personnel, data, meeting locations, and many other resources. These organizations include: Association of Towns of the State of New York Citizens Campaign for the Environment Citizens Environmental Coalition Cornell Cooperative Extension Cornell University County Health Departments County Soil and Water Conservation Districts County Water Quality Coordinating Committees League of Woman Voters of New York State Miller Environmental Group New York Conference of Mayors New York Rural Community Assistance Program New York State Department of State New York Environmental Management Councils New York Farm Bureau New York Planning Federation New York Rural Community Assistance Program New York Rural Water Association New York Section of the American Water Works Association New York State Association of Regional Councils New York State Chemical Alliance New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets New York State Department of Environmental Conservation New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation New York State Legislative Commission on Water Resource Needs of New York State and Long Island New York State Rural Development Council New York State Soil and Water Conservation Committee New York State Water Resources Institute of Cornell University New York Water Environment Federation State University of New York at Fredonia United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resource Conservation Service United States Department of Agriculture, Rural Utilities Service United States Environmental Protection Agency United States Geological Survey Upper Susquehanna Coalition NEW YORK STATE SOURCE WATER ASSESSMENT PROGRAM PLAN TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Overview .................................................................... i 1.0 Introduction ............................................................1 1.1 Program Background ...............................................1 1.2 Program Demographics .............................................1 1.3 Program Goals and Outcomes ........................................2 1.4 Program Funding ..................................................3 2.0 Source Water Assessment Program Development Process ........................3 2.1 Existing Activities Related to Source Water Assessment and Protection .......4 2.2 Public Participation ................................................6 2.3 Data Collection During Plan Development ..............................8 3.0 New York State’s Approach to Source Water Assessments .......................9 3.1 Source Water Assessment Objectives ..................................9 3.2 State Strategic Approach to Source Water Assessments ...................10 3.2.1 Type and Extent of Threats ...................................11 3.2.2 Type and Size of System .....................................12 3.2.3 Local Support ..............................................12 3.2.4 Setting Priorities ............................................12 4.0 New York’s Approach for Conducting Assessments and Reporting Results .........14 4.1 Data and Information Collection .....................................14 4.1.1 Collecting Available Information on Public Water Systems ..........15 4.1.2 Collecting Available Information from Other Data Sources ..........16 4.2 Delineation of Assessment Areas ....................................17 4.2.1 General Approach for Delineation of Source Water Assessment Areas . 17 4.2.2 Ground Water Delineations ...................................18 4.2.3 Surface Water Delineations ...................................20 4.2.4 Assessment Areas Which Extend Beyond State Boundaries ..........22 4.2.5 Conjunctive Delineations .....................................22 4.3 Contaminant Inventory .............................................23 4.3.1 Contaminants of Concern ....................................23 4.3.2 Significant Potential Sources of Contamination ...................24 4.4 Susceptibility Analysis .............................................25 4.4.1 Estimating Contaminant Prevalence from Land Cover ..............25 4.4.2 Estimating Contaminant Prevalence from Discrete Sources ..........26 4.4.3 General Description of Susceptibility Zones ......................26 4.4.4 Estimating Sensitivity and Susceptibility of the Water Supply ........27 4.4.5 Susceptibility Review and Refinement ..........................29 4.5 Methodology for Completing Assessments .............................30 4.6 Assessment Format and Availability ..................................33 4.6.1 Assessment Format .........................................33 4.6.2 Procedures for Making Assessments Available to the Public .........37 5.0 Program Implementation .................................................38 5.1 Administration ...................................................38 5.1.1 Delegation ................................................38 5.1.2 Coordination ..............................................39 5.1.3 Progress Reporting ..........................................40 5.2 Schedule ........................................................40 5.3 Updating ........................................................41 Glossary ....................................................................43 Figures .....................................................................51 Figure 1 - Ground Water Delineation Methods ................................53 Figure 2 - Surface Water Delineation Approach - Nested and Sub-watershed Borders . 54 Figure 3 - Sensitivity Analysis for Ground Water Supplies .......................55 Figure 4 - Susceptibility Matrix ............................................56 Figure 5 - Methodology for Conducting Assessments ...........................57 Tables ......................................................................59 Table 1 - GIS Coverages for the Source Water Assessment Program ..............61 Table 2 - Data Needs to Perform Assessments ................................64 Table 3 - Criteria for Consideration when Completing Source Water Assessments ...68 Table 4 - Potential for Ground Water Contamination Based on Land Cover .........70 Table 5 - Potential for Surface Water Contamination Based on Land Cover .........71 Table 6 - Potential for Ground Water Contamination from Discrete Sources ........72 Table 7 - Potential for Surface Water Contamination from Discrete Sources ........73 Table 8 - Evaluation of Contaminant Prevalence Associated with Mapped Land Cover for a Particular Contaminant .......................................74 Table 9 - Evaluation of Containment Prevalence Associated with Discrete Potential Sources of Contamination ........................................75 Table 10 - General Description of Susceptibility Zones .........................76 References ..................................................................77 Appendices ..................................................................81 Appendix A Listing of Local and State Health Department Offices Appendix B Public Participation Plan Appendix C List of Source Water Protection Coordinating Committee Members Appendix D New York State Department of Health Technical References Appendix E Wellhead Protection Program Delineation Appendix F List of Contaminants of Concern Appendix G Hypothetical Source Water Assessments Appendix H Summary of Comments and Responses on the Public Comment Draft of the SWAP Plan New York State Source Water Assessment Program Plan Overview Congress amended the Safe Drinking Water Act in 1996 and added a new program that requires states to evaluate the sources of water that are used to supply public drinking water. This new program is called the Source Water Assessment Program. The New York State Department of Health (DOH) is implementing the program for New York State. With help from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, County Health Departments, other state and federal government agencies as well as private and public interest groups, the DOH developed a plan to carry out this new program. The Safe Drinking Water Act requires that each source of water (e.g. well, stream, lake, reservoir) used by a public water system be evaluated to identify possible contaminant threats to the source water quality. This evaluation is called a Source Water Assessment and the elements that will be completed for each source water assessment are