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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Inspector General
At a Glance
08-P-0120
March 31, 2008
Why We Did This Review
We conducted a review of the
U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency's (EPA's) drinking
water program at the request of
its Office of Ground Water and
Drinking Water (OGWDW) to:
•	Summarize findings and
recommendations from recent
drinking water program-
related evaluation reports by
the EPA Office of Inspector
General (OIG) and others, and
determine whether EPA has
initiated actions in response;
•	Track significant program
developments; and
•	Identify challenges to help
focus future evaluation efforts.
Background
OGWDW, along with EPA's
10 regional drinking water
programs, oversees
implementation of the Safe
Drinking Water Act for the
Nation's 156,000 public water
systems. OGWDW is primarily
responsible for setting and
enforcing drinking water
regulations and assisting and
overseeing State programs.
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.aov/oia/reports/2008/
20080331-08-P-0120.pdf
Catalyst for Improving the Environment
Summary of Recent Developments in EPA's Drinking
Water Program and Areas for Additional Focus
What We Found
OGWDW addressed or is addressing all of the EPA OIG drinking water
program-related evaluation report recommendations made from September 2003
to May 2007. OGWDW also took action on prior report suggestions.
Many parts of EPA's drinking water program experienced significant
developments since 2003. These included:
•	Rule developments or revisions
•	Performance measure development
•	Drinking water security
•	Source water protection
•	Capacity development
•	Sustainable infrastructure
•	Underground injection control
•	Logic model development
•	State oversight
•	Analytical methods development
We also noted a number of Agency actions related to recommendations
in U.S. Government Accountability Office and other evaluation reports.
Still, the drinking water program faces challenges, notably limited resources,
emerging contaminants and new regulations, and system security issues.
We suggest future evaluations for several areas of the drinking water program.
These reviews should allow EPA to determine how well its programs are
working and help it direct resources toward its most pressing needs. Priority
should be given to: water security-response capability, chemical security at
drinking water facilities, variances/exemptions and waivers, effectiveness of
Agency funding, and the contaminant selection process. Other areas meriting
review include: inter-program linkages, Underground Injection Control-Class V
wells, transient and non-transient non-community water systems, and the recent
modernization of the Safe Drinking Water Information System. Although we
are making these suggestions for focus, we make no recommendations in this
report.
In its response, EPA agreed with our assessment.

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