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Sensitive Data in Consumer Confidence Reports and Source Water Assessments
Dec 5 2001
MEMORANDUM
| SUBJECT: |
Sensitive Data in Consumer Confidence Reports and Source Water Assessments |
| FROM: |
Cynthia C. Dougherty, Director /s/
Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water OW (4601M) |
| TO: |
Water Management Division Directors
Regions I - X |
The Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water (safewater) encourages States and public water systems to protect drinking
water supplies through all appropriate means. While the 1996 Amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) require significant new efforts to fully inform citizens about the source, quality and potential threats to their drinking water, events since September 11 require that we ensure such disclosures of public information provide for the security of those
same citizens. Some people have suggested that the statutory and regulatory provisions for Consumer Confidence Reports
(CCR) and Source Water Assessments (SWA) may require the unnecessary release of information that could increase the vulnerability
of drinking water supplies. We believe this is not the case and that existing requirements provide adequate flexibility to
address the security needs of water systems. This memorandum clarifies how to strike the appropriate balance between providing
near-term safeguards in the current emergency and long-term public understanding for participation in source water protection.
Consumer Confidence Reports
Water systems of all sizes currently have the flexibility to address security concerns. The CCR Rule at 40 CFR 141.155
requires only that a water system list the source and general location of its water supply. In guidance to States, EPA said
that for surface waters, listing the water body where the intake was located "would be appropriate." For ground water, "the
name of the principal aquifer would be appropriate." In addition, the need to provide a general location can be addressed in
a broad way within the CCR, without disclosing exact locations of water sources. Therefore, we do not need a regulatory or
policy change to address the issue of information that water systems believe may be sensitive at this time.
While the CCR regulation requires that systems serving 100,000 or more persons maintain a current CCR on a website,
water systems may modify their CCR to remove information that may be considered sensitive, or information that the system
believes will increase their vulnerability. (This may apply to all systems, regardless of size, that post their CCRs on
a website.) Detailed locational and water source information (such as specific location or latitude and longitude of intakes, wells, treatment plants, booster stations and other important public drinking water related facilities, and information on
treatment processes) is not required to be reported. However, these systems which remove their CCRs from their websites to
make changes must re-post the modified CCR on the website once the information that they have determined to be sensitive has
been replaced with more generalized information, as suggested above. EPA believes that the posting of the modified CCR will
meet the system's obligation to maintain the "current year's report" on the Internet. EPA expects that systems will continue
to comply with these requirements in the future to keep the public informed about its water source. Since this more detailed
information is not required to be reported in the CCR but may be of broad public interest, systems may choose to make it available
to the public through alternate means.
Source Water
A major tenet of Source Water Protection is the importance of increasing public understanding of potential risks to drinking
water as a motivating force for effective local actions. Therefore, Section 1453 of the SDWA requires states to make source
water assessment information "available" to the public. The August 6, 1997, national guidance for source water assessment
programs provided states with many options for how and what information would be released to the public, with the clear intent
that all information collected would support public understanding, planning and implementation of local protection measures.
Source water assessments can serve a broader purpose of protecting sources of drinking water from all or many different
types of threats and should be used by governmental entities, water suppliers and stakeholders to help protect sources of
drinking water. Therefore, it is prudent at this time to provide assessment information to the public in a format that ensures
that it is available yet secure. As noted above, the name of the water body or aquifer serving as a community's supply and the
general source water protection area boundaries could be made widely available. Other more specific information could be made
available using a process which meets the dual goals of public disclosure and public safety. The statute permits procedures
which would ensure that information being released was going only to those governmental agencies, water suppliers and stakeholders
working to secure and protect water supplies.
Latitude/Longitude Data Submission
In your discussion with the states, please reaffirm their response to the continuing requirement to report public water
system latitude and longitude data as part of their inventory and compliance data reporting to EPA. You can let them know
that since 1999 we have implemented a process to protect latitude and longitude data from misuse and will continue to do so.
The Federal government role in ensuring the security of public water systems also demands that we have ready access to accurate
and complete public water system intake, well (or wellfield) and treatment plant locational data.
Conclusion
It is fully possible to serve the dual purposes of adequately informing the public and ensuring the security of public
water systems. EPA will continue to work closely with States and public water systems to coordinate how best to achieve these
important public health protection objectives. I ask that you share this memorandum with your State Drinking Water, Watershed
and Ground Water Program Administrators so that they understand our intent to protect public water systems and in the long-term
continue to provide information to the public necessary to support their participation in water supply protection.
I appreciate your continued efforts in protecting the drinking water of the United States during these times of stress and
look forward to your suggestions of further steps that we can take to do so. If you have further questions concerning this matter,
please contact Clive Davies, Acting Chief, Protection Branch, concerning CCR at 202-260-1421/202-564-3938 or Joan Farrelly, Chief,
Prevention Branch, concerning Source Water Assessments at 202-260-6672/202/564-3867.
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