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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency	2006-P-00026
$	\	Dffiro nf Incnortnr ^onoral	May 30, 2006
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Office of Inspector General
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At a Glance
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Catalyst for Improving the Environment
Why We Did This Review
We conducted this review to
examine the challenges faced
by small drinking water
systems in providing water
that is safe to drink and the
adequacy of U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) and State
initiatives for addressing those
challenges.
Background
EPA classifies public water
systems according to the
number of people they serve,
the source of the water, and
whether they serve the same
customers year-round or on an
occasional basis. There are
approximately 54,000
community water systems of
which 85 percent are small
(501 to 3,300 people) or very
small (25 to 500 people),
serving 10 percent of this
Nation's population.
For further information,
contact our Office of
Congressional and Public
Liaison at (202) 566-2391.
To view the full report,
click on the following link:
www.epa.qov/oiq/reports/2006/
20060530-2006-P-00026.pdf
Much Effort and Resources Needed to Help
Small Drinking Water Systems Overcome Challenges
What We Found
The critical issues facing small drinking systems have not changed in recent years.
Our preliminary research suggests that they have faced and still face a multitude of
challenges that fall into two basic categories: financial/management matters and
regulatory/compliance issues.
Government and nongovernment organizations have attempted many different
initiatives and approaches to assist small drinking water systems in overcoming
their challenges. We noted several State and third party initiatives that could be
used for best practices. While it is difficult to measure the effectiveness of
individual EPA and State activities to assist small drinking water systems, our
preliminary research provided indicators of success as well as limitations of these
approaches.
Limited data exist on the health impacts related to small drinking water systems.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention maintains the data system on
drinking water cases, but states that the information is vastly underreported. That
is not to say that the potential for health impacts is not something to be taken
seriously. Some data show health outbreaks related to small drinking water
systems.
What We Recommend
We recommend that EPA work with States to identify successful approaches for
working with small systems to obtain financing. We also recommend the Agency
work closer with States to identify and compile small system best practices and
establish a method for disseminating the information, to maximize limited
resources to assist small systems. Our recommendations in this report, while
necessary, will not in themselves solve small system problems in their entirety.

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