x^fcD ST/if.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency	17-P-0326
I AA \ Hffirp of Insnprtnr ^pnpral	July 18,2017
•	u.o. ti ivii ui iiiitri iidi riuicuu
\ Office of Inspector General
I vRf 1
At a Glance
Why We Did This Review
We conducted this review to
evaluate how the U.S
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) ensures that
Safe Drinking Water Act
(SDWA) primacy states those
states and territories granted
primary responsibility for
enforcement and
implementation of SDWA—
monitor and report drinking
water sampling results from
public water systems (PWSs).
We also sought to determine
how the EPA can improve its
oversight of state drinking
water sampling programs.
SDWA and its regulations
require PWSs to routinely
monitor and report drinking
water quality. If a system does
not monitor the quality of its
water, consumers and primacy
agencies cannot know whether
the water meets health-based
standards.
This report addresses the
following EPA goals or
cross-agency strategies:
•	Protecting America's
waters.
•	Launching a new era of
state, tribal, local, and
international partnerships.
EPA Is Taking Steps to Improve
State Drinking Water Program Reviews and
Public Water Systems Compliance Data
What We Found
The EPA primarily uses two oversight tools to
determine whether PWSs are monitoring and
reporting drinking water quality in accordance
with SDWA:
• Program reviews of state drinking water
programs, which may specifically include the
assessment of monitoring and reporting
issues.
The EPA is taking action
to improve oversight tools
used to determine
whether public water
systems are monitoring
and reporting drinking
water quality in
accordance with the
Safe Drinking Water Act.
• Compliance data updated by primacy states in the federal version of the
Safe Drinking Water Information System.
We identified limitations to both tools. The program reviews did not exhibit the
level of comprehensiveness and region-to-region consistency shown in previous
data verifications. Also, there is the risk that states did not provide reliable
information to the EPA data system on monitoring and reporting violations.
The EPA is currently taking action to address these limitations. Therefore, we
make no recommendations. The agency confirmed the factual accuracy of our
report and stated that the EPA remains committed to providing tools to enhance
the nation's drinking water program. This report is closed upon issuance.
Send all inquiries to our public
affairs office at (202) 566-2391
or visit www.epa.gov/oia.
Listing of OIG reports.

-------