UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
WSG6A
Date Signed: November 26, 1976
Revised: November 1998
Revised by: Wendy Warren
MEMORANDUM
TO: Victor! Kimm
Deputy Assistant Administrator
for Water Supply (WH-550)
FROM: Thomas A. Largen (signed by T. A. L.)
Attorney-Advi sor
Water Quality Division (A-131)
THRU: Roger D. Lee, Chief
Drinking Water Regulations Implementation Branch
Office of Water Supply (WH-550)
SUBJECT: Applicability of the Safe Drinking Water Act to Water Haulers
Region V has requested an interpretation as to whether water haulers are public water
systems under the Safe Drinking Water Act.
A "public water system" is defined by Section 1401(4) as:
...a system for the provision to the public of water for human consumption, through
pipes or other constructed conveyances if such system has at least fifteen service
connections or regularly1 serves an average of at least twenty-five individuals daily
at least 60 days out of the year.
Although the term "piped water" is not defined by the Act or the NIPDWR, hauled water
is piped into the carrier vehicle, withdrawn by similar mechanism into the user's cistern, and in
most cases, piped again from cistern to faucet. Therefore, a hauler presumably provides piped
water.
regulations under the SDWA explain the term "regular" by stating that a public water
system must have at least fifteen service connections or regularly serve an average of twenty-five
individuals daily at least sixty days out of the year. 40 CFR 35.603(c), 41 F.R. 2913, Jan. 20,
1976.
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This interpretation is reinforced by the legislative history of the SDWA which clearly
intends a broad meaning for "public water system" to insure comprehensive protection of public
health. (See House Report No. 93-1185, at 1).
The broad purpose of the SDWA "is to assure that water supply systems serving the public
meet minimum national standards for protection of public health". (House Report No 93-1185, at
1). Whether water for public use is withdrawn from a transport vehicle, a river, or a well is
irrelevant under the comprehensive regulatory scheme.
Thus, a water hauler, whether independent or owned or operated by a public water system,
is itself a public water system under the NIPDWR if it meets minimum standards for number of
outlets or customers served.
Furthermore, if the water hauler serves at least fifteen service connections used by
year-round residents or regularly serves at least twenty-five year-round residents, then the hauler is
a "community water system" as defined by Section 141.2(a)(i). Otherwise, it is a non-community
system which would be subject to less stringent monitoring requirements than a community
system.
The coverage section of NIPDWR, Section 141.3, includes any public water system,
unless it satisfies all of the following conditions:
(a) Consists only of distribution and storage facilities (and does not have any collection
and treatment facilities):
(b) Obtains all of its water from, but is not owned or operated by, a public water
system to which such regulations apply;
(c) Does not sell well water to any person; and
(d) Is not a carrier which conveys passengers in interstate commerce.
If independently owned or operated, a water hauler's business presumably is to sell water.
Therefore, condition (c) is not met. To "sell" water is given broad meaning under the Act. For
example, a sale transaction cannot be disguised as a service charge to circumvent condition (c).
Note the House Committee's interpretation:
Thus, for example, a municipal system which imposes water and sewage taxes or
charges would not be exempt, because it sells water within the meaning of the
section. Any distributor of water for human consumption, whether public or
private, would be subject to the primary regulations unless he can show that he
receives his water supplies from a system which is subject to the regulations and he
does not charge consumers for the water that he provides. The purpose of this
provision is to exempt from Federal regulation those facilities such as hotels, which
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merely by virtue of having a storage tank and acting as a conduit from public water
system to consumer would otherwise be subject to Federal regulation as a public
water system.
By this provision the Committee intends that primary regulations would apply to housing
developments, motels, restaurants, trailer parkers, and other businesses serving the public, if the
business in question maintains its own well or water supply. The Committee intends to exempt
business which merely store and distribute water provided by others, unless that business sells
water as a separate item or bills separately for water it provides. (Emphasis added). House Report
No. 93-1185, at 17.
In the case of a water hauler which is owned or operated by a public water system to
which the NIPDWR apply, and from which the hauler obtains all its water, condition (b) of the
coverage in Section 141.3 is not satisfied. Neither, presumably, is the non-sale condition of
subparagraph (c) satisfied. The broad meaning of to "sell" water under SDWA does not intend to
permit circumvention of condition (c) by resort to accounting devices, e g., arranging to have users
make direct payments to the source supplier and be billed separately by the hauler for a "service
charge". (See above quoted passage from House Report No 93-1185, at 17.)
Note, however, the effect of Section 141.29 of the NIPDWR, which provides for
modifications in monitoring requirements for "consecutive public water systems" to the extent that
the interconnection of the systems justifies treating them as a single system for purposes of
monitoring. Thus, if a water hauler qualifying as a "public water system" obtains all of its water
from another "public water system," then the state may treat the two as a single system for
purposes of monitoring, where the state finds the interconnection of the two systems is justified for
this limited purpose, and the modified monitoring is conducted pursuant to a schedule specified by
the state and concurred in by the Administrator of EPA. See Section 141.29 of the NIPDWR.
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