Newsletter Articles
Source Water Assessment and Protection Articles Published in the Wyoming DEQ Quarterly Newsletter
October 1997
OTHER GROUNDWATER PREVENTION PROJECTS
Beginning on July 1, 1997, the groundwater protection program began reviewing subdivision applications in coordination with county organizations to insure that proposed water supply and sewage systems are adequate, safe, and compatible to protect the groundwater resource.
A Pesticide Management Plan has been developed jointly with the Department of Agriculture and interested public stakeholders. The plan provides for monitoring, outreach, and enforcement for pesticide use to protect groundwater. In conjunction with this plan, the division is prioritizing wells in the areas most sensitive to groundwater pollution in order to assess statewide pesticide contamination. Nitrates contamination is also being assessed. The draft has been submitted to the federal government for comment/approval.
Beginning in October, a source water protection program (includes wellhead protection) for Wyoming public water systems will be developed utilizing an advisory committee made up of interested stakeholders.
The Groundwater Sensitivity/Aquifer Vulnerability maps and final report for 14 counties are scheduled for completion in December, 1997.
January 1998
SOURCE WATER
ASSESSMENT AND PROTECTION PROGRAM
What's It All About?
The Safe Drinking Water Act (Act) was reauthorized by Congress on August 6,1996. Prior to 1996, the Act primarily regulated the treatment and distribution of drinking water from public water systems. The 1996 reauthorization now requires States having primary responsibility for regulating public water systems to develop a Source Water Assessment Program (SWAP) and conduct source water assessments. The SWAP would provide for an initial assessment, or 'snapshot', of public water systems by accomplishing: 1) a delineation of the land area surrounding a surface or groundwater source of drinking water through which contaminants could move and reach the well or intake; 2) an inventory of 'significant' existing and potential contamination sources within the source water area, and; 3) an analysis of the susceptibility, or likelihood, that a contaminant will reach the well or intake in an amount that will impact the public water system's ability to deliver safe drinking water.
Benefits that public water systems might realize from using source water assessments to develop local source water protection plans include: potentially reducing monitoring requirements and associated expenses; avoiding costs of treatment for contaminated drinking water supplies; and avoiding costs of replacing drinking water supply wells or other sources.
Although Wyoming does not have this EPA-delegated responsibility (and is not required to develop a SWAP or conduct assessments) the Act includes a unique 'one-time-only' opportunity for Wyoming to use special federal 'set-aside' funding for conducting source water assessments. The ability to use these set-aside funds (approximately $1.2 million) is dependent upon the passage of legislation during the forth coming legislative session. Such funding would be especially useful to the many small community public water systems who often have difficulty in financing the 'delineation' and 'inventory' portions of wellhead and source water protection plans. If the establishment of set-aside funding is not authorized, public water systems that are in the process of developing, or wish to develop local drinking water protection plans will have to rely upon their own sources of funding.
For further information, or to obtain a copy of EPA's 'State Source Water Assessment and Protection Programs Final Guidance' or 'Wyoming's Wellhead Protection Guidance Document', contact Kevin Frederick in Cheyenne at 307-777-5985.
June 1998
SOURCE WATER
ASSESSMENT AND PROTECTION PROGRAM
Wyoming's Source Water Assessment Advisory Committee held its third meeting on April 9, 1998, in Cheyenne to continue its work in assisting WQD with development of a Source Water Assessment program. The committee heard presentations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) describing the types of Public Water System (PWS) monitoring waivers that are recognized by EPA and may be used by PWS's with local Source Water Assessment (including Wellhead Protection) plans to reduce monitoring requirements and costs. In development of its monitoring waiver program for Wyoming PWSs, EPA has offered to include the advisory committee in the design of a waiver program that recognizes the benefits of local source water assessment and wellhead protection plans.
The committee also began to identify criteria that could be used to prioritize the order in which Source Water Assessments could be accomplished for PWSs using federal funds ($1.25M) approved during the 1998 legislative session. The committee will re-convene in June to re-evaluate the prioritization scheme and provide recommendations on WQD's draft plan describing an approach to performing source water assessments.
WQD is pleased to announce that Wyoming's Wellhead Protection Guidance Document is now available for viewing and download on the Internet at:
www.wrds.uwyo.edu/wrds/deq/deq.html
For further information about Source Water Assessment and Wellhead Protection, contact Kevin Frederick at 307-777-5985.
September 1998
SOURCE WATER
ASSESSMENT AND PROTECTION PROGRAM
The Source Water Assessment Advisory Committee met on June 16 and July 27 to continue discussions for development of Wyoming's Source Water Assessment Program. Progress continues to be made in determining approaches for delineating Source Water Protection Areas (SWPA's) and completing inventories of potential contaminant sources within those areas. The Committee has recommended adoption of the delineation methods and criteria defined in Wyoming's Wellhead Protection Program Guidance Document as the approach to be taken for delineating SWPA's supplied by wells. The committee is currently evaluating methods and criteria to delineate SWPA's supplied by surface water.
The advisory committee and WDEQ are in the process of finalizing a ranking, or prioritization, system to establish the order in which Source Water Assessments conducted by the state will be completed. The ranking will likely be dependent upon system size, vulnerability, and median household income of the area. Source Water Assessments will be completed for those Public Water Systems that score the highest, followed by the next highest, etc. This fall, WDEQ will be contacting Public Water Systems and local governments to identify those systems that are interested in having Source Water Assessments completed for them at no charge. These systems will then be ranked and prioritized as described above. Source Water Assessments will be completed for as many systems on the list as funding allows. Only those system owners that express an interest will be placed on the priority list. Missing this opportunity, owners/operators will have to find their own source of funding if they want to develop a source water assessment. System owners and operators should begin now to think about how they will respond when they are asked about their interest in source water assessments. For further information contact Kevin Frederick at 307-777-7781.
January 1999
SOURCE WATER
ASSESSMENT AND PROTECTION PROGRAM
A draft of Wyoming's Source Water Assessment Program (SWAP) has been developed by the Water Quality Division with input and assistance from a citizen/technical advisory committee. Source water assessments are intended to provide useful information to local governments and private owner/operators to assist them in protecting their sources of drinking water. The plan describes how source water assessments will be completed for those Wyoming public water supply systems that wish to have assessment information compiled for them. The plan also 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. The proposed plan will be presented to the Water and Waste Advisory Board for adoption at its next scheduled meeting on February 8, 1999 at 10:00 AM in Room 1699 of the Herschler Building in Cheyenne. The public is encouraged to review the proposed plan and provide public comment before the Advisory Board, or provide written comment to the Water Quality Division before February 8, 1999. Copies of the draft plan may be obtained by contacting the Water Quality Division's Cheyenne office at (307)-777-7781. The document will also be available for viewing and downloading from the Division's Web page at:
http://deq.state.wy.us/wqd.htm
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Wyoming's Source
Water Assessment Guidance Document Contents