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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