Data Quality Record for Long-Term Performance Goals Long-Term Performance Goal Text: By September 30, 2026, reduce the number of community water systems still in noncompliance with health-based standards since March 31, 2021 from 752 to 500. Corresponding Annual Performance Goal: Number of community water systems still in noncompliance with health-based standards since March 31, 2021. Goal Number/Objective: Goal 5/Objective 5.1 NPM Lead: Office of Water (OW) la. Purpose of Long-Term Performance Goal: This long-term performance goal (LTPG) tracks the total number of community water systems (CWSs) still in non-compliance with the health-based National Primary Drinking Water Regulations (Maximum Contaminant Level or treatment technique) relative to the September 30, 2017 baseline of 3,508 CWSs in non-compliance. Community water system compliance with health-based metrics is important to reflect the protection of the Nation's public health associated with the delivery of safe drinking water (meeting the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations) for just under 50,000 CWSs. lb. Performance Measure Term Definitions: Community water system: A public water system that supplies water to the same population year- round. Health-based standard: The Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) or treatment technique permissible of an enforceable contaminant in water delivered to users of a public water system. lc. Unit of Measure: The total number of CWSs still in non-compliance with the health-based National Primary Drinking Water Regulations. 2a. Data Source: • The Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS) Federal (Fed) Data Warehouse which contains compliance information about public water systems and their violations of the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations (NPDWRs) as reported to EPA by the primacy (primary enforcement authority) agencies. • Data are provided by agencies with primacy for the Public Water System Supervision (PWSS) program. The primacy agencies are either: states, EPA for non-delegated states or territories, and the Navajo Nation Indian tribe (the only tribe with primacy). • Primacy agencies collect data from the community water systems, determine compliance, and report a subset of the data to EPA (a subset of the inventory data and summary violations). Quarterly data are then submitted by primacy agencies to the data warehouse. • The SDWIS/Fed equivalent of a quality assurance project plan is the Drinking Water Data Quality Improvement Plan. This plan includes implementation of the Data Quality Matrix which, on a ------- quarterly basis, assigns numerical data quality scores to each primacy agency. Additionally, the SDWIS FedRep 3.5 Requirements document ensures that specific types of data quality are adhered to. For example, the SDWIS/FedRep Validation Tool ensures each document conforms to the business rules established for federally reportable drinking water data. Individual business objects that conform to the established business rules are accepted. Those business objects that do not conform are rejected. For each documented validation that the business object fails to conform, a status message is created containing sufficient information for the user to locate and correct the data in the primacy agency's database. 2b. Data needed for interpretation of (calculated) Performance Result: • Universe: The universe is the total number of community water systems, currently just under 50,000 (fluctuates annually). This LTPG addresses a subset of that universe: the 3,508 systems that were out of compliance with health-based standards as of September 30, 2017. • Baseline: There were 752 systems still out of compliance on March 31, 2021, out of the original group of 3,508 systems out of compliance as of September 30, 2017. The LTPG follows these 752 systems with the aim of ensuring that at least 252 of these systems are back in compliance with all health-based standards by September 30, 2026 (leaving 500 or fewer out of compliance). • Frequency of Reporting: Quarterly 3. Calculation Methodology: EPA's Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water (OGWDW) calculates this LTPG using data reported in the SDWIS Fed Data Warehouse-FED and provides the results to EPA regions. This LTPG includes federally-regulated contaminants of the following violation types: Maximum Contaminant Level, Maximum Residual Disinfection Limit, and Treatment Technique violations. It includes any violations from currently open and closed community water systems (CWSs) that overlap any part of the most recent four quarters. 4. Quality Assurance/Quality Controls: The primacy agencies report data to EPA from their databases after making a determination of violation. EPA is working to improve the quality of the data reported for this long-term performance goal. 5. Data Limitations/Qualifications: EPA is aware of inaccuracies and underreporting of some data in the Safe Drinking Water Information System. In some cases, data submissions can be incomplete due to technical issues in the data transfer or because the violation determination was not loaded into a primacy agency's data system. 6. Technical Contact: Anita Thompkins (OW), 202 564-5673 7. Certification Statement/Signature: I certify the information in this DQR is complete and accurate. DAA Signature Original signed bv Benita Best-Wong Date 5/19/2022 ------- |