United States
Environmental Protection
Agency |
Office of Water
(4606) |
EPA 816-F-97-012
November 1997 |
SDWIS/FED (Safe Drinking Water Information System/Federal version)
is an EPA national database storing routine information about the
nation's drinking water. Designed to replace the system known as
FRDS (Federal Reporting Data System), SDWIS/FED stores the information
EPA needs to monitor approximately 175,000 public water systems.
States supervise the drinking water systems within their jurisdictions
to ensure that each public water system meets state and EPA standards
for safe drinking water. The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) requires
states to report drinking water information periodically to EPA;
this information is maintained in SDWIS/FED.
WHAT INFORMATION DOES EPA HAVE?
States report the following information to EPA:
- Basic information on each water system, including: name, ID
number, number of people served, type of system (year-round or
seasonal), and source of water (ground water or surface water)
- Violation information for each water system: whether it has
followed established monitoring and reporting schedules, complied
with mandated treatment techniques, or violated any Maximum Contaminant
Levels (MCLs)
- Enforcement information: what actions states have taken to ensure
that drinking water systems return to compliance if they are in
violation of a drinking water regulation
- Sampling results for unregulated contaminants and for regulated
contaminants when the monitoring results exceed the MCL
Currently, EPA is in the process of determining additional information
states may be required to report in the future, such as the city and
county where the system is located (most states already report this
information), and the latitude/longitude of the source water intake.
HOW DOES EPA USE THIS INFORMATION?
EPA uses this information to determine if and when it needs to
take action against non-compliant systems, oversee state drinking
water programs, track contaminant levels, respond to public inquiries,
and prepare national reports. EPA also uses this information to
evaluate the effectiveness of its programs and regulations, and
to determine whether new regulations are needed to further protect
public health.
HOW CAN I ACCESS THIS INFORMATION?
You may gain access to SDWIS/FED information through a Freedom
of Information Act (FOIA) request or through Envirofacts. The Freedom
of Information Act (FOIA) requires federal agencies such as EPA
to make data available upon request. Through filing a FOIA request,
individuals can access the information contained in SDWIS/FED. These
requests are processed through EPA's Office of Ground Water and
Drinking Water. There may sometimes be a fee charged for this service.
SDWIS/FED information is also available for free through the use
of the World Wide Web. The EPA website Envirofacts
makes a sub-set of SDWIS/FED information easily available to anyone
with access to the Internet. The fact sheet entitled "Information Available From the Safe Drinking Water Information
System" provides more detailed information on the types of
data that are available from SDWIS/FED.
SDWIS/FED drinking water information that is not on the Internet
is available to the public under the Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA). Any individual (including non-U.S. citizens), corporation
or association, public interest group, and local, state or foreign
government, can request SDWIS/FED information under FOIA. |
