Rural Water Association of Utah

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Rural Water Associationof Utah

• Source Water Protection

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Source Protection Overview
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Source Protection Is Necessary Because

• Surface and ground water are vulnerable to
  contamination.

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Sources That Have Been Contaminated in Utah

• Salt Lake Citys Sugarhouse well contaminated
  with PCE.
• Some of Mapletons wells contaminated with
  nitrate.
• Sevier Town well contaminated with fecal
  coliform.
• Weber River problems with bacteria crypto.
• Some of Kennecotts wells contaminated with
  perchlorate.

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Source Protection Is Cost Effective

• It costs 100,000 - 500,000 to develop a source
  of drinking water for a community system in Utah.
• Source protection plans account for 1,500 -
  5,000 of these costs.
• Protecting a source of drinking water costs a lot
  less than cleaning it up or replacing it.

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Three Major Components of Source Protection

• Delineate protection zones.
• Inventory potential contamination sources.
• Manage existing and future potential
  contamination sources.

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Delineation

• Defines the surface and subsurface area
  surrounding a drinking water source, through
  which contaminants are reasonably likely to move
  toward and reach the source.

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Protection Zones Ground Water
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Protection Zones Surface Water
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An Inventory Is

• A list of potential contamination sources within
  the source protection areas.

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Management Programs

• Developed at the local level at the complete
  discretion of the water system.
• Intended to be well-thought out plans to control
  potential contamination source hazards.

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Non-regulatory Land Management Strategies

• Public Education
• Best Management and Pollution Prevention
  Practices (BMPs P2)
• Ground-Water Monitoring
• Household Hazardous Waste Collection
• Water Conservation Programs
• Written Agreements
• Property Purchase

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Regulatory Land Management Strategies

• Zoning Ordinances
• Subdivision Ordinances
• Site Plan Reviews
• Design Standards
• Pollution Source Prohibitions
• Property Condemnation

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Management Programs

• Non-regulatory - usually works best for existing
  potential contamination sources.

• Regulatory -
• usually works best to control future potential
  contamination sources.

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How Can Local Government Help?

• Education and cooperation are the best tools
  public water systems have to protect their
  sources from existing potential contamination
  sources.
• Zoning ordinances passed by local officials are
  the best ways to control pollution sources that
  may want to locate near wells and springs in the
  future.

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How Can Local Government Help?

• The source protection zones of many public
  water systems are in areas outside of their
  jurisdiction
• cities, towns counties can help by working
  with public water systems near their
  jurisdictions to enact ordinances that protect
  them by preventing future pollution sources from
  locating in their most sensitive protection zones.

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How Can Local Government Help?

• Protection programs must be setup in advance of
  potential problems to be effective.
• If a developers plans meet current zoning
  ordinances, it is very difficult and usually
  illegal for local government to restrict their
  proposal just as the development plans are made
  public.

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How Can Local Government Help?

• These ordinances need only exclude the very worst
  pollution sources in the most sensitive zones.
• Most other development can exist within source
  protection zones if it is controlled through
  design standards and education.

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Land Use Authority

• The Division of Drinking Water has no authority
  to regulate land use.
• Cities, towns, and Counties do have authority to
  enact ordinances to regulate land use at the
  local level.

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Local Governments that have Enacted Source
Protection Ordinances

• Counties
• Box Elder
• Kane
• Millard
• Tooele
• Wasatch
• Washington

• Cities Towns
• Brigham Tooele
• Delta Morgan
• Enoch Provo
• Loa Salt Lake
• Midvale Sandy
• Cedar City

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The Farm Service Agency Source Protection Program
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RWAUs Source Water Protection Program

• The Farm Service Agency has contracted with the
  Rural Water Association to carry out the Source
  Water Protection Program to help systems
  implement their source protection plans.

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RWAUs Source Water Protection Program

• The Source Water Specialist may assist any system
  that serves a population less than 10,000
  however, a priority is placed on assisting
  systems that
• have at least three sources, or
• have teamed up with other systems near them to
  implement their source protection plans.

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Source Water Protection Activities

• Update the Inventory of Potential Contamination
  Sources.
• Invite local government representatives to a
  workshop to discuss their ability to help protect
  your wells and springs.
• Organize a Steering Committee to follow through
  on implementing the preventive measures adopted
  in the workshop.

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Source Water Protection Program

• Participation in RWAUs Source Water Protection
  Program ensures
• That your source protection plans will be up to
  date and implemented, and
• the Updated Source Protection Plans required by
  the Division of Drinking Water will be complete
  and ready for submittal.

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Public Notification
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Public Notification

• The Source Protection Section of your next
  Consumer Confidence Report should be written
  according to the template which follows on the
  next slide.

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Public Notification

• The Drinking Water Source Protection Plan for
  System_Name is available for your review. It
  contains information about source protection
  zones, potential contamination sources, and
  management strategies to protect our drinking
  water. Potential contamination sources common in
  our protection areas are (identify general kinds
  of greatest concern, such as septic tanks, roads,
  residential areas, industrial areas, etc.).
  Additionally, our (well(s) and/or spring(s)) have
  a (low, medium, high) susceptibility to potential
  contamination. We have also developed management
  strategies to further protect our sources from
  contamination. Please contact us at (phone
  number), if you would like to review our source
  protection plan or if you have questions or
  concerns about it.

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Public Notification

• There is no need to follow the template
  word-for-word its purpose is to help ensure that
  you include all of the information that is
  required.
• Remember that the Public Notification Statement
  should generally address all of the wells,
  springs, and surface sources in your system.
• Use your own judgment along with the information
  in your Drinking Water Source Protection Plan to
  assess the susceptibility (low, medium, or high)
  of your sources to potential contamination.

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Public Notification

• For security purposes, it is acceptable to
  remove or black out portions of the plan, which
  is available to the public, that refers to source
  locations. Maps with source locations may also
  be removed.

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Implementing Source Protection Plans
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Implementing Source Protection Plans

• Carry out the implementation schedule
• Keep source protection plans current
• Protection zone boundary changes
• Potential contamination source changes
• Updating management strategies
• Existing potential contamination sources
• Future potential contamination sources

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Implementation Schedule

• A summary list of land management strategies
  beginning implementation dates contained in
• Management program for existing potential
  contamination sources
• Management program for future potential
  contamination sources
• Land management strategies should be carried out
  according to this schedule.

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Recordkeeping Section

• The purpose of the Recordkeeping Section is to
• document that land management strategies
• are implemented according to the dates listed in
• The Implementation Schedule. Include the
• following documents ordinances, codes, permits,
• memoranda of understanding, public education
• programs, public notifications, and so forth.

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Updating Drinking Water Source Protection Plans
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Submit Updated DWSP Plans for Wells and
Springs According to this schedule
 
 
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Protection Zone Boundary Changes

• Increases or decreases in pumping rate
• Influences from other wells
• Increases or decreases in their pumping rates
• New wells within your zone of influence
• Major reconstruction or deepening of your well

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Potential Contamination Source Changes

• Add new potential contamination sources to the
  inventory when they move into your protection
  zones.
• Delete potential contamination sources from the
  inventory that go out of business or move out of
  your protection zones.

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New Potential Contamination Sources

• Add them to your inventory of potential
  contamination sources.
• Assess whether they are adequately controlled
  or not adequately controlled.
• Develop land management strategies to control
  them.

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Potential Contamination Sources Changes

• Periodically check the list of hazards that are
  being used at potential contamination sources to
  ensure that it is current.

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Keep Management Strategies Current

• Are the management strategies you have for
  existing potential contamination sources working?
  Can they be improved?

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Waivers
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Waivers-financial Considerations

• Pesticide analysis is required quarterly and
  costs about 1,000/sample.
• VOC analysis is required annually and costs about
  200/sample.
• That is a total of about 4,200/source per year
  for VOC and pesticide sampling alone.

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Waivers Source Protection

• You must address use and susceptibility waivers
  for VOCs and pesticides in your Source Protection
  Plan and Updated Source Protection Plan to
  qualify for these waivers.

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Types of Waivers

• Reliably consistently.......
• Use.....................
• Susceptibility.....

• Based on monitoring history
• Based on source protection-inventory
• Based on source protection-protected
  aquifer/management