Wyoming Association of Rural Water Systems Memo Indicating Attendance At Source Water Assessment And Protection Trainings
Memorandum Inviting Advisory Committee Members To Comment On Draft Document
LETTERHEAD NOT INSERTED
MEMORANDUM
To: Source Water Assessment Advisory Committee Invited Members
From: Kevin Frederick, Water Quality Division
Date: January 24, 2000
Subject: Wyoming's Draft Source Water Assessment Program
Dear Advisory Committee Members:
I am pleased to send you a copy of Wyoming's draft Source Water Assessment Program for your review and comment. With your invaluable input and assistance over the past several months, the plan describes how source water assessments will be completed for those Wyoming Public Water Supply Systems (PWSS) that wish to have assessment information compiled for them, and includes proposed methods for delineating source water areas, developing an inventory of potential contaminant sources within the source water area, determining the susceptibility of the public water supply to contamination, and making assessment information available to the public. I encourage and hope you will find time over the next few weeks to review the draft plan, and will be interested in hearing your thoughts, ideas and suggestions. In particular, please make note of the following:
XI. Chapter III:
I. Delineation methods for Transient, Non-Community PWSS and PWSS drawing from confined aquifers differ from those described in Wyoming's Wellhead Protection Guidance Document, as initially proposed by WQD. Reasoning is provided in the draft.
II. Delineation methods for surface water supplies are explained.
XII. Chapter IV:
I. Potential Contaminant Sources (Appendix E) differ from those described in Wyoming's Wellhead Protection Guidance Document, as initially proposed by WQD. The proposed list is sufficiently comprehensive and easier to read and follow.
II. Comprehensive v. Limited Potential Contaminant Source Inventory: A differential approach is proposed for the different source water areas that are delineated; inventories are limited for Transient, Non-Community PWSS.
III. Contaminants of Concern (Appendix F) include those currently regulated by EPA, and the micro organism Cryptosporidium; all are required according to EPA's SWAP guidance.
XIII. Chapter V:
I. The approach to determining susceptibility is explained.
XIV. Appendix A:
I. Part III of the score sheet for ranking and prioritizing PWSS for completion of source water assessments has been modified; the annual median household income (AMHI) factor has been replaced by one which considers the type of public water supply system. Our analysis revealed that the AMHI factor was difficult to obtain and subject to error.
If you have any questions on the proposed plan, please do not hesitate to call me at (307)-777-5985 and I will do my best to get you any answers or information you need.
Notices have also been published in statewide newspapers
announcing the availability of the draft document for review and comment. The public is
encouraged to review the proposed plan and provide public comment before the Advisory
Board, or written comment to the Water Quality Division (WQD) before February 8, 1999.
The proposed plan will be presented to the department's Water and Waste Advisory Board for adoption at its next scheduled public meeting on February 8, 1999 at 10:00 AM in Room 1699 of the Herschler Building in Cheyenne. If you have any comments on the proposed plan that you would like me to present before the Board at this meeting I would be more than happy to do so. Once adopted, the plan will be submitted to EPA for their review and approval.
Additional copies of the draft plan may be obtained by contacting me personally, or the Water Quality Division's Cheyenne office at (307)-777-7781; the document is also available from the division's Web page at http://deq.state.wy.us/wqd/ground/source.html.
Monitoring Waivers
In December, three of us at WQD participated in a conference call with EPA staff to begin discussing development of a monitoring waiver program for Wyoming's Public Water Supply Systems (PWSS). As you may recall, EPA, as the agency responsible for administering federal drinking water regulations in Wyoming, may waive certain monitoring requirements (e.g. the number of regulated contaminants analyzed, frequency of sampling) under certain conditions. Through waivers, costs to systems and communities may be significantly reduced.
In order to obtain a monitoring waiver, the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) amendments of 1996 require, at a minimum, that states have an EPA-approved Source Water Assessment Program and that a Source Water Assessment has been completed for each PWSS that seeks monitoring relief through waivers. As we continue to coordinate and work with EPA in developing Wyoming's waiver program it will be important to consider input from Source Water Assessment Advisory Committee members and we will be soliciting input from many of you in the near future.
Wyoming's Groundwater Protection Strategy
As mentioned at our last Advisory Committee meeting, WQD's Groundwater Section is in the early stages of developing the tools needed to begin drafting a strategy that clearly defines our priorities for groundwater protection in the state. As a broad-based group representing major groundwater interest groups, organizations and resource agencies within Wyoming, the Source Water Assessment Advisory Committee is our logical selection for assisting and advising us as we continue to develop this strategy. We ask for and look forward to your support, and hope that you will be able to attend future meetings to help us with this important undertaking.
In closing, please accept WQD's deep appreciation for your work in developing Wyoming's Source Water Assessment Program. We sincerely look forward to working with you in the coming months on equally important issues.
attachments: Draft: Wyoming's Source Water Assessment
Program
Meeting Minutes: Source Water Assessment Advisory Committee; November 4, 1998.
Chapters
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7
Glossary |
Acronyms
Appendices
A |
B |
C |
D
Wyoming's Source
Water Assessment Guidance Document Contents