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Safe Drinking Water ProgramInformation for Water System and Water Industry Professionals
Source water assessment and protection Safe Drinking Water Program: Services and Organization
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Source Water and Wellhead ProtectionIn Colorado, the Source Water Assessment and Protection Program encompasses both the wellhead protection and surface water source water assessment efforts. The division implemented a wellhead protection program beginning in the late 1980’s, as part of its ground water protection strategy. This protection strategy was extended to surface water sources with the 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments. The Act require states to develop and implement a Source Water Assessment and Protection (SWAP) program designed to evaluate the vulnerability of public drinking water systems to possible sources of contamination, and encourages states to work with these systems in developing protection and management plans. For more information visit the program website: Source Water Protection Wellhead ProtectionWellhead protection is a series of preventative actions designed to protect public ground water wells from contamination. Wellhead protection requirements were established by the 1986 amendments to the Act. Under the amendments, each state was required to develop a program that would protect its public groundwater sources of drinking water. As used in the law, a ‘wellhead protection area’ refers to “the surface and subsurface area surrounding a water well or well field, supplying a public water system, through which contaminants are reasonably likely to move toward and reach such water well or well field.” Colorado responded with a voluntary, non-regulatory approach to wellhead protection, the goal of which is to protect existing and potential wellhead areas from contaminants which may have adverse effects on the health of people. Recognizing that the success of a voluntary approach would require broad public knowledge and support for the concept, the division launched an extensive public education effort on wellhead protection. Wellhead protection is to be achieved through the voluntary development of management and contingency programs at the local level. Development and administration of the program has been overseen by the Water Quality Control Division. Although the program does not apply to private wells, such well owners are invited and encouraged to use the wellhead protection approaches to protect their water sources. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency guidelines specify the basic elements that are to be included in a wellhead protection plan. These basic elements are:
In recognition of the role of the local ground water supplier in protecting the drinking water source, the Colorado Wellhead Protection Plan leaves primary responsibility for developing the local plan with the public water supplier. The state is prepared to provide technical assistance upon request, and will furnish information to the water supplier that will be needed to develop the individual elements of the plan. Well Head Protection Manual Source Water ProtectionAs in the wellhead protection program, the area contributing water to the public water system is to be defined through specific delineation processes. Once the “source water area” is defined, potential sources of contamination that could impact the drinking water within the source water area are identified. The susceptibility of the public water supplies to these potential sources of contamination is then evaluated. It is this susceptibility evaluation that sets source water assessment and protection apart from the wellhead protection program, in that it will provide public water suppliers with a valuable framework that will be useful in developing protection and management approaches specific to their needs for those contaminant sources considered in the evaluation. Because the state is required to complete assessments for approximately 2,100 public water supplies in the state, the success of the program is ultimately dependent upon the level of public participation. As with the development of the wellhead protection program, advisory teams were used in the development of the source water assessment and protection program. From the time of its initiation, public education has continued throughout the state to raise the awareness of source water assessment and protection and its implications. The assessment phase of the source water assessment and protection program is being funded from a one-time set-aside from the 1997 Drinking Water Revolving Loan Fund capitalization grant. Additionally, annual wellhead protection set-aside funds are being utilized to complete source water assessments for ground water-based systems. |
