The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) was originally passed by Congress in 1974 to protect public health by regulating the nation’s public drinking water supply. The law was amended in 1986 and 1996 and requires many actions to protect drinking water and its sources—rivers, lakes, reservoirs, springs, and ground water wells.
The SDWA authorizes the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set national health-based standards for drinking water to protect against both naturally-occurring and man-made contaminants that may be found in drinking water. The EPA, states, and water systems then work together to make sure that these standards are met.
The SWDA was established to protect the quality of drinking water in the U.S. This law focuses on all waters actually or potentially designed for drinking use, whether from above ground or underground sources. The SWDA is located in the federal statutes (U.S. Code), beginning at 42 U.S.C. §300f.
The SWDA was originally passed by Congress in 1974 to protect public health by regulating the nation’s public drinking water supply. The law was amended in 1986 and 1996 and requires many actions to protect drinking water and its sources—rivers, lakes, reservoirs, springs, and ground water wells.
• The SWDA authorizes the EPA to establish minimum standards to protect tap water and requires all owners or operators of public water systems to comply with these primary (health-related) standards.
The law was amended in 1986 and 1996 and requires many actions to protect drinking water and its sources—rivers, lakes, reservoirs, springs, and ground water wells.
• The SDWA does not regulate private wells which serve fewer than 25 individuals.
• The 1996 amendments to SDWA require that the EPA consider a detailed risk and cost assessment, and best available peer-reviewed science, when developing these standards.
• State governments, which can be approved to implement these rules for the EPA, also encourage attainment of secondary standards (nuisance-related).
• Under the Act, the EPA also establishes minimum standards for state programs to protect underground sources of drinking water from endangerment by underground injection of fluids.
• The EPA, states, and water systems then work together to make sure that these standards are met.
The Public Water System Supervision (PWSS) program is designed to protect public health by ensuring the safety of drinking water. The public drinking water systems regulated by the EPA, and authorized states, territories and tribes provide drinking water to 90 percent of Americans. These public drinking water systems—which may be publicly or privately owned—serve at least 15 service connections or 25 persons. Private, individual household wells are not regulated by the EPA.
The EPA’s and states’ primary means of monitoring public water system compliance with the SDWA and its implementing regulations is the review and evaluation of analytical results of water samples collected by public water systems. These reports provide the water systems and regulators with the data they need to ensure that drinking water monitoring is ongoing and that the drinking water standards are being met.
When results indicate that a contaminant is present at a level that exceeds standards, states and the EPA work with public water systems to take steps to prevent or remove the contaminants and notify consumers so that they can make informed choices.
In Texas, the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) is a federal law that sets national health-based standards for drinking water to protect against contaminants. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) establishes these standards, and in Texas, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) is the state agency responsible for enforcing the SDWA. The TCEQ works in partnership with the EPA to ensure public water systems comply with the health-related standards. The SDWA applies to public water systems that serve at least 15 service connections or 25 persons. It does not regulate private wells serving fewer than 25 individuals. The 1996 amendments to the SDWA require the EPA to use detailed risk and cost assessments and peer-reviewed science when developing standards. Texas, like other states, may also implement secondary standards to address water-related nuisances. The EPA and TCEQ monitor compliance through the evaluation of water sample analyses from public water systems, and when standards are exceeded, they work with the systems to address the issue and inform the public.
