Water Information Center - Drinking Water Basics

Drinking Water Basics

Who Is in Charge of America's Taps? The Regulatory Framework

Who is in charge of making sure that drinking water is safe and free of harmful chemicals? Who makes decisions about curtailing water usage if water is in short supply? Who determines the price of drinking water?

EPA Headquarters. The EPA is charged with
setting water quality standards for contaminants
in public water systems.The framework for regulating the nation's drinking water extends across local, state, regional, and federal levels and consists of federal agencies, congressional mandates, state regulations, local municipalities, and private organizations.

The Safe Drinking Water Act

Passed by Congress in 1974, the Safe Drinking Water Act was the first federal law mandating drinking-water standards for all public water systems, and it remains a cornerstone of the nation's drinking water standards. Under the act, the EPA is charged with setting water quality standards for particular contaminants (such as arsenic or mercury) in public water systems.

The act has been amended since 1974 to set goals for additional contaminant standards. Examples of regulations set under the Safe Drinking Water Act include a Total Coliform Water Sampling

A USGS scientist measures the
water level in a monitoring well.
Image courtesy of USGS.Rule that sets goals for the presence of total coliform bacteria in drinking water, and a Lead and Copper Rule that aims to reduce the levels of these metals at the tap. Currently, 87 chemicals, disinfectants and disinfection byproducts, radioactive chemicals, and microorganisms are monitored for compliance with EPA standards. To keep the list of agents sampled for compliance purposes up-to-date, the EPA publishes a list every five years of unregulated chemical and microbial contaminants that are known or anticipated to occur in public water systems. These agents are then evaluated to determine whether they should be regulated.

The EPA regulates approximately 160,000 drinking water systems, which supply water to 90 percent of Americans. The vast majority of EPA-regulated water systems are very small, serving between 25 and 500 people, but almost half of the U.S. population is served by just a few hundred large public water systems. The EPA does not regulate drinking water wells that serve fewer than 25 people, although some state and local governments do set rules to protect users of such wells.

The Role of States

The Safe Drinking Water Act authorizes states and tribes to assume the primary responsibility for oversight and enforcement of regulations for public water systems. At a minimum, public water systems must meet federal standards, but states can also impose additional regulations. There are many different state-level arrangements for regulating drinking water.

In general, environmental regulation and drinking water quality regulation are the responsibility of state departments of health or environment, along with the EPA. The financial regulation of private water service providers, especially the setting of user water rates, is often the responsibility of regulators such as public utility commissions. However, public water systems set their own rates. In general, state regulations also establish plumbing codes and determine how distribution systems are designed, constructed, operated, and maintained.

Day-to-Day Operations

Most of the responsibilities for daily operations of water utility systems are at the municipal or community level. The major goal of the utility is to supply water of an acceptable quantity and quality, under constant pressure, at all times. Water utility managers must consider issues of public health and safety, pricing, employee training and relations, customer service, and public relations.

A number of voluntary programs help water utilities improve distribution systems and produce water quality beyond the minimum requirements established by law. These programs include accreditation standards, water safety plans, and personnel training programs.

Information about the quality of your area's drinking water and water source can be found at www.epa.gov/safewater/dwinfo.

Economics and Financing

The cost of delivering water to the tap reflects the water's extraction, treatment, and distribution; however, water prices often do not reflect the full cost of these activities. As mentioned earlier in the section "Distribution Systems," a large number of the nation's water delivery infrastructures are approaching the end of their life expectancy. Pressing needs to replace and repair aging infrastructure are likely to put increasing strain on underfunded water utilities and may even result in increasing pressure to raise water rates.

Projected annual replacement needs for water distribution
infrastructure, 2000-2075. Many water delivery pipes in
the United States will soon reach the end of their life
expectancy. Image courtesy of the EPA.The EPA recently estimated that the 53,000 community water systems and 21,400 not-for-profit noncommunity water systems (including schools and churches) in the United States will need to invest $276.8 billion between 2003 and 2023 to upgrade or replace aging infrastructure and equipment.

Given the projected costs of infrastructure improvements and additions, and the financial challenges of running a water utility, water managers are considering options to improve water system operations. Among those options are programs to improve performance of publicly owned drinking water systems and plans for privatizing various water utility responsibilities and assets.

Privatization
Private companies formed the early water utilities in the United States. As cities expanded ever more rapidly, more of them developed publicly owned water systems. Although today publicly owned systems account for more than 90 percent of all U.S. water production, many public water utilities are again considering some form of privatization, which can encompass a wide variety of water utility operations, management, and ownership arrangements. For example, a publicly owned water utility may outsource laboratory work, meter reading, or supplying chemicals. Or, it may contract with a private company to design and build or operate and maintain water treatment plants. In the most complete form of privatization, a water utility is sold outright to a private company.

There is no inherent reason why either the public or the private sector should be preferred;

Privatization of Water Services in the United States

however, each type of ownership faces its own unique constraints and incentives. For example, privately owned and operated water utilities may be less tied to local politics and could have more flexibility. On the other hand, public systems may be more responsive to public input and more amenable to conservation and long-term resource management objectives. Continued public ownership and operation is the most likely future for the majority of water utilities, but many people believe that the existence of private alternatives and the possibility of privatization have helped improve the performance of public water utilities. For further discussion of this issue, see Privatization of Water Services in the United States (2002).

Water and the Environment

The world's freshwater supplies are
under increasing pressure to provide
for both human and ecosystem needs.The world's freshwater supplies are under increasing pressure to provide for both human and ecosystem needs. When a city builds a new dam, the resulting artificial lake impacts aquatic species above the dam and along the river. Discharging untreated wastewater into an ecosystem can affect species downstream. Draining a wetland area leaves the watershed more vulnerable to erosion and flooding.

New York has long enjoyed high quality water from the Catskill Mountains watershed, which provides approximately 90 percent of New York City's drinking water. Unfortunately, increased housing developments and septic

Watershed Management for Potable Water Supply

systems in the watershed, combined with the impacts of agriculture, have caused water quality to deteriorate. By the late 1990s, New York City managers had two choices: build a filtration plant at an estimated cost of up to $6 billion, or take steps to protect its major watershed. Ultimately, after receiving advice from the National Research Council report Watershed Management for Potable Water Supply: Assessing the New York City Strategy (2000), managers decided to protect the watershed at a total projected investment of about $1 to $1.5 billion. If successful, New York's watershed-based management approach could serve as a prototype for other urban water managers.