The SDWA was signed into law by President Gerald Ford on December 16, 1974. This program regulates "at the faucet" contaminants and the delivery of water by public water systems. It also requires those water systems to develop source water protection programs to identify and assess the risks of contamination upstream "at the source."
But the SDWA does not, by itself, protect our water supplies. In fact, 2014 proved how complex and precarious that protection is. A chemical spill in West Virginia last January threatened the water supply of hundreds of thousands of citizens and sent the company responsible for the spill into bankruptcy. Abundant algal growth in Lake Erie contaminated Toledo, Ohio's water supply with algal toxins. The SDWA did not prevent the ultimate causes of those problems.
I gave a presentation to the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Environmental Permitting Conference last summer on Environmental Compliance and Drinking Water Protection. That presentation discussed statutory and regulatory programs that protect drinking water supplies. These programs help (1) reduce the likelihood of source water contamination; (2) provide information that public water systems may use to develop protection plans; and (3) give notice in the event of an unplanned spill or other discharge of pollutants. None of these are fool-proof, however.
Let's celebrate the Safe Drinking Water Act's birthday, but at the same time keep in mind that providing safe, clean, and reliable drinking water requires diligence and is the responsibility of all of us.
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