Department of Environmental Conservation Drinking Water Program Overview

1. Department of Environmental ConservationDrinking Water Program Overview Presented at the 15th Annual Alaska Tribal Conference on Environmental Management November 16-20, 2009

2. The Drinking Water Program • Who are we? • What is our role? • What are the rules? • Why do these rules exist? • What do we do?

3. Department of Environmental ConservationStructure Commissioner’s Office Larry Hartig, Commissioner Dan Easton, Deputy Commissioner Information and Administrative Services Spill Prevention and Response Air Quality Environmental Health Water

4. Environmental Health DivisionStructure Commissioner’s Office Environmental Health Solid Waste Food Safety & Sanitation Pesticides State Veterinarian Laboratory Drinking Water

5. Drinking Water Program Network Public Water Systems Sanitary Survey Inspectors Other DEC Programs RMW , Technical Assistance Providers Drinking Water Program Consulting Engineers State and Local Governments Alaska Native Organizations Laboratories Communities, Tribal Councils EPA

6. The Drinking Water Program • DW Program Mission • 1974 - Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) passed by federal government • Provide Public Health Protection Through Safe Drinking Water • 1978 - Primacy

7. Primacy Defined • Definition “Primacy” is a situation where the primary enforcement responsibility for a given set of rules or regulations is delegated from one entity to another.

8. Many Complex Federal Rules • Water System Owner and • Operator’s Perspective • 20 Federal Rules have been incorporated in state regulations since 1991 State Regulator’s Reality

9. Why Do We Treat and Test Our Drinking Water? Health Protection in Our Communities

10. What Kinds of Things Might Be in My Drinking Water ? • Microbiological Contaminants • Chemical Contaminants

11. Microbiological Contaminants • Bacteria • Salmonella • Shigella • E. coli • Campylobacter • Viruses • Norovirus • Hepatitis A • Protozoa • Giardia • Cryptosporidium

12. Chemical Contaminants • Inorganic • Arsenic • Lead • Copper • Volatile Organic • Benzene • Xylene • Toluene • Synthetic Organic • Pentachlorophenol (PCP) • Atrazine • Nitrates

13. How Is My Water Treated? • Disinfection • Filtration/Removal

14. What Does the Drinking Water Program Do? Helps Public Water Systems and Communities

15. Alaska’s Public Water Systems (PWSs) Note: Numbers vary over time. State Type: Class C, more than 1500

16. Drinking Water Program Structure • Monitoring Summaries • Monitoring & Reporting • -Assistance • Enforcement • Inspections • Sampling Plans • Compliance • Determinations • Program • Management • Regulations • DW Protection • Security • Quality Assurance • Info Technology • Engineering Reviews • Technical Assistance • Inspections • Enforcement • Asset Management • System Optimization • System Affordability

17. Source To Tap

18. Source Source Water Quality Where is your Source? Source Water Assessments Source Water Protection

19. Treatment, Operations, Testing, and Reporting Engineering Reviews System optimization Asset Management Field visits and inspections Monitoring and Reporting Monitoring Summaries

20. Tap PWS Sustainability Compliance Determinations Sample Siting Plans Emergency Response Plans

21. What Can I Do To Make Sure My Water Is Safe To Drink? • Support your Water Treatment Operator • Learn about Water Treatments • Find out about your PWS - does the owner of the system • Prioritize Funding • Submit Engineering Review prior to construction/modification • Ensure the Water Monitoring is done • Do they know DEC DW Program Staff • Do they have a Drinking Water Protection Plan • Do they have an Emergency Response Plan

22. Find out About Your PWS…. The Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS) is our state database which houses a vast amount of information on all the Public Water Systems (PWSs) in the State of Alaska. How to access PWS information: • Drinking Water Watch (great for information on individual systems) • If needing information in summarized (list) format, please contact us Drinking Water Watch Link http://map.dec.state.ak.us/eh/dww/index.jsp

23. Find out About Your PWS…. The Environmental Protection Agency produces a quarterly list of Public Water Systems that are “significantly” out of compliance with a given rule (the SNC List). Important to check this list each quarter to make sure your community is not listed on it. How to access PWS information: • Drinking Water Website • Contact your Environmental Program Specialist if you have questions Link to Drinking Water SNC Webpage http://www.dec.state.ak.us/eh/dw/dwmain/SNC.htm

24. Available Technical Assistance • DEC - DW Program Website: http://www.dec.state.ak.us/eh/dw/index.htm • EPA Website: http://www.epa.gov/safewater • Wellhead Protection CD-Rom • Emergency Response Planning Toolkit CD-ROM • DW Program Staff are always available to help • Call • Email

25. Office Locations and Contacts • Soldotna • 262-5210 • Juneau • 465-5350 • Anchorage • 269-7656 • Wasilla • 376-1850 • Fairbanks • 451-2108 Anchorage 1-866-956-7656 Fairbanks 1-800-770-2137 http://www.dec.state.ak.us/eh/dw/index.htm

26. Discussion • Questions? • Comments? • Did this help you understand who we are and what we do? • This presentation will be posted on our website very soon @ http://www.dec.state.ak.us/eh/dw/training.html