United States        816-F-99-010
            Environmental Protection  September 1999
            Agency
Water Information
This brochure is for every citizen who
wants to know more about the quality
of his or her local drinking water; and
for every drinking water program
manager making decisions at the local,
state, and federal level. It tells you
about major sources of drinking water
information, where you can find them,
and how you can use them.


This guide will help you find:


° Maps of watersheds, information
  about the current condition of
  watersheds and actions underway to
  protect drinking water sources
• Lists of public water systems and their
  compliance with federal drinking
  water safety standards
• Contaminant occurrence in sources of
  drinking water
9 Data to be used in developing new
  rules to minimize health threats
9 Pointers to where you can go for more
  details

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   Envlrofacts Extract From Safe
   Drinking Water fr
   System  (SDWIS)
  What's In It?

  • list of all public water
    systems and a  .
    description of them
  • any violations, by
    system, of drinking
    water regulations
    since 1993.,

  •  any enforcement actions taken as a result of
    those violations     •  .
  •  links to Consumer Confidence Reports on line,
   where they exist

 Drinking water regulations include:
 8 health based standards for the maximum
   allowable amounts of regulated contaminants
 • required treatment techniques
 • monitoring and reporting rules

 Where Is It?

 http://www.epa.gov/enviro/html/sdwis/
 sdwis_query.html

 How Can You Use It?

 For excerpts of the data by water system, go to
 the local drinking water site at http://
 www.epa.gov/safewater/dwinfo.htm and click
 on your state. From there, you can locate your
 water system by entering any combination of
 its name, your county,  or its size. To access the
 complete SDWIS/FED  database on EPA's
mainframe computer, people can request a
password; detailed, technical training is
required to access the actual data.
  National Contaminant

  Occurrence Database (f\fCOD)


  What's In It?

  The first set of drinking
  water contaminant
  occurrence data for use
  in making decisions,
 including:
  • data from many
   sources including U.S.-EPA, states, and the •
   U.S. Geological Survey
 • data on contaminant occurrence and
   concentration
 • regulated contaminants
 • contaminants currently not regulated

 Where Is It?

 http://www. epa.gov/ncod

 How Can You Use It?

 • federal rulemakers and stakeholders will  '
  use this data in deciding whether to regulate
  contaminants in the future, and in re-
  examining existing drinking water standards
 • states,  water suppliers, and communities
  can use this data to make decisions about
  protection and treatment in their local areas
• water systems, health care providers and
  the public can use this information to help
  sensitive subpopulations make informed
  health decisions

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 Information Collection
 Rule Database (BOB)
The Information
Collection Rule (ICR)
data were collected as
part of a national
research project to
support development of
national drinking water
standards which
protect public health. They should NOT be used
to make personal judgements about individual
health risk, nor should they be used to
determine local water system compliance with
drinking water, standards.

What's In It?

The IGR required EPA to collect research data
on:
• disease-causing microbes (pathogens) in
  drinking water sources (rivers, lakes,
  reservoirs, etc.), indicators of fecal
  contamination (TotalColiform, Fecal Conform,
  E. Coli)
• the amount of disinfectant (such as chlorine)
  and presence of disinfection byproducts in
  treated drinking water, and
• the effectiveness of certain treatment
  technologies.

Where Is It?

Data on regulated contaminants and microbial
indicators collected under the ICR are available
on: www.epa.gov/enviro/html/icr
The data includes concentrations of Total
Trihalomethanes, 5 Haloacetic Acids, Bromate,
Chlorite, Cryptosporidium, Giardia, Viruses,
Total Coliforms, Fecal Coliforms, and E. Coli.

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Local Drinking Water
Information
Surf Your Watershed And Index
Of Watershed indicators

What's Here?
Easily available,
collected information
about drinking water in
your state:
0 state drinking water
  home pages
• state source water home pages
• Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Fund
  Intended Use Plans
• local watershed mapping and water quality
  information
• water system home pages
• local drinking water quality reports
  (Consumer Confidence Reports)
• water system violations data, by system and
  nationally
• information on how to protect drinking water
  sources

Where Is It?
http://www.epa.gov/safewater/dwihfo.htm

How Can You Use It?
Click on a state within the U.S. map, and you
will go to a page which lists the major links to
information for that state. Several links .offer
furdier information at the city, county, or
watershed level.
What's Here?

Key information EPA
has about drinking
water sources,
presented at the
watershed level. A
watershed is the area
of land that catches rain •••;'.•••
and snow and drains or seeps into a marsh,
stream, river, lake or ground water. The U.S.  .
Geological Survey has mapped the U.S. into
2,149 basic watershed units.

Info includes:             .         .
• watershed maps
• local and national information about
  watershed impairment
• information about land use, population,
  Superfund sites, effluent discharges, and more
• links to other web sites of interest
• on-line forum to chat with others

Where Is It?

http://www.epa.gov/surf

How Can You Use It?

Click on maps to:
• locate, use, and share information on your
  watershed or community
6 find out about local protection and volunteer
  opportunities
•• request a map of your watershed

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