Drinking Water Regulations - The Drinking Water - page 38

Wetlands —Areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or ground-
water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support a prevalence
of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions.
Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas.
SDWA Specific Provisions
To ensure the safety of public water supplies, the Safe Drinking Water Act
requires the USEPA to set safety standards for drinking water. Standards are
now in place for over 80 different contaminants. The USEPA sets a maximum
level for each contaminant; however, in cases where making this distinc-
tion is not economically or technologically feasible, the USEPA specifies an
appropriate treatment technology instead. Water suppliers must test their
drinking water supplies and maintain records to ensure quality and safety.
Most states carry the responsibility for ensuring that their public water sup-
plies are in compliance with the national safety standards. Provisions also
authorize the USEPA to conduct basic research on drinking water contami-
nation, to provide technical assistance to states and municipalities, and to
provide grants to states to help them manage their drinking water programs.
To protect groundwater supplies, the law provides a framework for man-
aging underground injection compliance. As part of that responsibility, the
USEPA may disallow new underground injection wells based on concerns
over possible contamination of a current or potential drinking water aquifer.
Each state is expected to administer and enforce the SDWA regulations
for all public water systems. Public water systems must provide water treat-
ment, ensure proper drinking water quality through monitoring, and pro-
vide public notification of contamination problems. The 1986 amendments to
the SDWA significantly expanded and strengthened its protection of drink-
ing water. Under the 1986 provisions, the SDWA required six basic activities:
• Establishment and enforcement of maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) —
As stated earlier, these are the maximum levels of certain contami-
nants that are allowed in drinking water from public systems. Under
the 1986 amendments, the USEPA has set numerical standards or
treatment techniques for an expanded number of contaminants.
• Monitoring —The USEPA requires monitoring of all regulated and
certain unregulated contaminants, depending on the number of
people served by the system, the source of the water supply, and the
contaminants likely to be found.
• Filtration —The USEPA has criteria for determining which systems
are obligated to filter water from surface water sources.
• Disinfection —The USEPA must develop rules requiring all public
water supplies to disinfect their water.