Water advisory committee issues annual report

As required by law, the Safe Drinking Water Act Advisory Committee on March 9 issued its annual report on the Department of Environmental Protection’s efforts to implement the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.

Since 1993, the Safe Drinking Water Act Assessment has helped the DEP’s Drinking Water Program maintain primacy to implement the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.

Public water systems and their customers pay an assessment charge of $8.50 per 1 million gallons used. Revenue for fiscal 2010 totaled $2.1 million, according to the advisory committee.

The Safe Drinking Water Act Assessment supports public water systems in Massachusetts. The assessment is used as a state match for federal funds for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund and allows the DEP to fund a water quality monitoring waiver program, which saves water systems millions by reducing the frequency of monitoring systems with a history of good water quality and effective source protection, according to the advisory committee.

• Download Safe Drinking Water Act Advisory Committee annual report (2.2M Word file)