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STORIES OF PROGRESS IN ACHIEVING HEALTHY WATERS

EPA Region 3 Water Protection Division

EPA, Amtrak Agreement Helps Ensure
Drinking Water Safety on Trains

Washington, D.C. • August 13, 2015

A revised agreement between EPA and Amtrak continues to
help ensure that drinking water on Amtrak's interstate
passenger rail cars is protected from bacterial contamination.

The vast majority of water systems DO NOT MOVE. Water
towers are bolted down; pipes are buried in the ground and
connect to homes and other buildings. Planes and trains do
move, though. Passenger rail cars are a special type of water
system, called an Interstate Carrier Conveyance (ICC), covered
under the Safe Drinking Water Act. Amtrak is based in
Washington, D.C., and works directly with EPA's Mid-Atlantic
Region for drinking water compliance.

Each passenger rail car that supplies water through a drinking
fountain, restroom, or cafe service is a separate water system.
Prior to 2012, Amtrak conducted random sampling of drinking
water on rail cars, but that left many unmonitored. In 2012, EPA
and Amtrak signed an Administrative Order on Consent (AOC),
through which Amtrak would periodically monitor the drinking
water supplied on every passenger rail car and ensure that
proper maintenance procedures are followed to minimize the
risk of contamination to the tanks and pipes that supply water on
the cars.

The original 2012 agreement and its amended version signed in
August 2015 require Amtrak to follow a specific maintenance
plan to disinfect and flush the parts of the rail cars that supply
water, from the holding tanks to the faucets in a dining car or
restroom. Periodic monitoring of every rail car indicates whether
or not there is any contamination.

Virginia

Washington, D.C.

ATA GLANCE

EPA, Amtrak agreement protects rail
travelers.

Millions of customers travel on Amtrak
each year.

Amtrak owns or operates about 1,500

rail cars, each of which is considered a

separate water system, and monitors

every one of them.

Not one car had E. coli present in the

water since the project started in January

2013.

Amtrak must also maintain communication with the water
systems from which they receive water. If a problem is identified
with that water supply, Amtrak will avoid filling their tanks at that location. If Amtrak finds contamination
on a car that is in route with passengers on board, Amtrak must notify those customers and direct them
to water in a different car. Monitoring results in 2013 and 2014 revealed fewer than three percent of
samples were positive for coliform bacteria (an indicator test), and not one sample of over 1,500
collected was positive for E. coli (a health risk contaminant). In 2015, EPA and Amtrak modified the
agreement, extending the monitoring for six more years. The order applies to approximately 1,500
Amtrak owned or operated rail cars nationwide.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
EPA Region 3 Water Protection Division
Philadelphia, PA

For additional information contact:

Lisa Donahue, Donahue.Lisa@epa.gov

EPA WPD Ground Water and Enforcement Branch

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