Next to clean air, safe drinking water is the second most important element needed for survival, with emphasis on the key word "safe." The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) is a federal law enacted by Congress in 1974, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. This act protects the health of Americans by mandating regulatory standards for the quality of drinking water. Amendments were made to the SDWA in 1986 and 1996 to further protect drinking water and its sources, such as lakes, rivers, springs and ground well water.
Responsible Parties
The SWDA authorized the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set the national health standard to provide safe drinking water void of any natural or man-made contaminants from the source to the tap. Sharing these responsibilities are the EPA, states and local agencies. The SDWA allows each state to set and enforce its own drinking water standards if these standards at least meet the EPA's national standards. Most states and territories directly oversee the water system within their borders.
Federal Agencies
The three federal agencies involved in groundwater policies are the Environmental Protection Agency, United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).Their responsibilities include polices and programs for prevention, detection and correction of contamination of groundwater. The USGS is primarily responsible for detection programs, the USDA's focus is on agricultural programs to prevent groundwater contamination and the EPA oversees all three programs.
State Agencies
The state agencies include state environmental agencies that protect ground and surface water quality standards and regulations and other duties. The state Department of Agriculture is responsible for the regulation of pesticide registration and use as well as monitoring pesticide and rural development programs. Other state agencies involved include the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service, state Department of Health, state Soil and Water Conservation Commission and the state' water rights agency.
Local Agencies
Local agencies include local planning and zoning boards, city planning commissions and county planning boards as well as the local erosion and sediment control districts. Others include the local irrigation or acequia districts, local municipal utilities districts and regional planning commissions and councils of government. Some of their responsibilities include overseeing land zoning, boundaries and pollution and erosion control due to construction projects and water sewer projects and coordinating activities of government within the council area.
Considerations
The SDWA applies to over 160,000 public water systems in the United States that provide water to all Americans. The EPA regulates 90 contaminants in drinking water. The SDWA has a process that the EPA must follow to identify, list and publish unregulated contaminants periodically. This list is used to prioritize, research and collect data and determine if any contaminant listed may require national drinking water regulations. According to the EPA, today the United States water supply is the safest in the world.
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