Drinking water quality legislation of the United States

[1] These systems provide drinking water through pipes or other constructed conveyances to at least 15 service connections, or serve an average of at least 25 people for at least 60 days a year.

[7] The most recent major standard-setting rules include: Testing is required to determine compliance with maximum contaminant levels.

[17] EPA issued the implementation regulations in Part 142 pursuant to the Public Health Service Act and the SDWA.

[18] All state and territories, except Wyoming and the District of Columbia, have received primacy approval from EPA, to supervise the PWS in their respective jurisdictions.

[21] Municipalities throughout the United States, from the largest cities to the smallest towns, sometimes fail to meet EPA standards.

This could result from the fact that the city simply doesn't have the financial resources necessary to replace aging water pipes or upgrade their purification equipment.

This can occur when a town is downstream from a large sewage treatment plant or large-scale agricultural operations.

Citizens who live in such places—especially young children, the elderly, or people of any age with autoimmune deficiencies—may suffer serious health complications as a long-term result of drinking water from their own taps.

[citation needed] Some state and local governments have issued rules to protect users of private wells.

The Department of Environmental Protection[23] administers the NJSDWA and its related regulations in the state administrative code.

In 2014, algae produced toxins that appear as a product of farmland fertilizers' runoff, became a pressing issue in several Ohio cities.

As a result, the state legislators drafted a bill in September, which if passed, will require Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to routinely test for the health-hazardous algae.