About the Office of Water

What We Do

The Office of Water (OW) serves as the National Program Lead and principal advisor to the Administrator and provides Agency-wide policy, guidance and direction for the Agency’s water quality, drinking water, groundwater wetlands protection, marine and estuarine protection, and other water related programs.

Related Information

OW performs the following functions:

  • National Program Leadership: Sets national policy, direction and priorities for implementing statutory obligations and achieving clean and safe water.
  • Policy Direction and Management: Establishes national policy direction and priorities for the National Water Program (NWP) consistent with sound science and statutory mandates.
  • EPA Region and Geographic Program Engagement and Coordination: Engages and coordinates with the EPA Regions and Geographic Programs (e.g. Great Lakes, Chesapeake Bay, Gulf of Mexico, Long Island Sound) to assure implementation and alignment of NWP priorities.
  • Partnership with States and Tribes: Establishes and maintains effective partnerships with States and Tribes consistent with the principles of cooperative federalism. Provides support and national oversight of state and tribal water programs.
  • Research Collaboration: Works with research institutions, federal partners and the Office of Applied Science & Environmental Solutions (OASES) to align and advocate for research priorities. Assures that OASES research aligns with OW priorities.
  • Water Resource Security, Sustainability and Resilience: Advances integrated water resource management strategies to assure robust and forward leaning strategies.
  • Federal Leadership and Policy Alignment: Facilitates and coordinates water policy, programs and actions with Federal partners to optimize impact and leverage resources.
  • Surface, Groundwater and Source Water Protection: Develops and implements programs and policies to protect the quality of surface water and underground sources of drinking water.
  • Shared Accountability for Progress and Results: Develops and implements systems and metrics to assure transparency and accountability within the NWP and with States and Tribes to demonstrate environmental status, progress and results.

News Releases and Media Contacts

Documents Related to Our Mission

Leadership

Jessica Kramer, Assistant Administrator

Peggy Browne, Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator

Caitlin McHale, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Strategic Initiatives

Benita Best-Wong, Deputy Assistant Administrator For Management

Vacant, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory and Scientific Affairs

Vacant, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Policy

David Risley, Chief of Staff

Organization

The Office of Water includes:

Mail code: 4101M | EPA mailing addresses

Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water (OGWDW)

What We Do

OGWDW is responsible for developing and directing national policy to ensure the safety of the Nation's drinking water supplies in accordance with the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). As such, the Office is responsible for directing, establishing, and implementing all efforts within the Agency to protect the public from contaminants found in source waters or distribution systems and thought to be harmful to human health.
 
These public health protection activities include: promulgating new or revised scientifically sound and risk-based National Primary Drinking Water Regulations (NPDWRs); developing and conducting training, technical assistance, and financial assistance programs to enhance public water systems' capacity to comply with existing and new regulations; overseeing the sound implementation of the Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Fund and Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) programs to support investment in the nation's drinking water infrastructure; conducting underground injection control programs; nationally implementing NPDWRs through state and tribal drinking water programs and policies to protect safe drinking water from natural, accidental or intentional threats, as well as developing and administering multiple statutory drinking water grant programs, protecting sources of drinking water, and directing and conducting drinking water research and development on health effects, risk assessment, treatment technologies, and analytical methods to support Safe Drinking Water Act activities.

Mail code: 4601M | EPA mailing addresses
Location: EPA Headquarters at Washington, D.C. Federal Triangle campus
202-564-3750

OGWDW Organization

Jennifer McLain, Director
Yu-Ting Guilaran, Deputy Director

The Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water includes:

Office of Wastewater Management (OWM)

What We Do

OWM performs the following functions:

  • Provides national direction for the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit, the National Pretreatment, and sewage sludge management programs under Sections 401,402, and 405 for the Clean Water Act (CWA).
  • Manages and oversees water infrastructure funding and financing programs, including the Water Finance Center, the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) Program, the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) Loan Program, the Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) Community Grants Program, the Construction Grants Program, Clean Water Indian Set Aside Program, Alaska Native Villages Program, CWA 106 Grant Program, CWA 104(b) grants, the Sewer Overflow and Stormwater Reuse Municipal Grants Program, the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) infrastructure assistance effort, and other various other financial and grant programs or initiatives.
  • Develops and disseminates technical information, and assists states, tribes, U.S. territories, utilities, and communities in assessing and implementing financial and technical solutions for their sewage, stormwater, and drinking water needs.
  • Oversees the promulgation and revision of effluent limitations guidelines and standards, identification, development and promulgation of CWA analytical test methods, and national oversight of the national Alternative Testing Procedures ATP program.
  • Conducts research (in collaboration with OASES), creates tools, and develops methods to evaluate and address contaminants and pollutants in wastewater and biosolids while assessing risks to human health and the environment.
  • Develops national strategies and works with partners, including utilities, consumers, and businesses, to encourage water conservation, efficient water use, and water reuse.
  • Facilitates outreach, education, training, coordination, and information exchange with Regions, States, Indian Tribes, cities, other Federal agencies, Congress, interest groups, international groups, and other nations, in conjunction with OITA, for OWM programs.
  • Develops program policy, guidance, and regulations to support programs within OWM.
  • Implements the EPA/OW Quality Assurance/Quality Control Program to ensure that environmental measurements are of known and defensible quality.

View OWM's Annual Reports.

Mail code: 4201M | EPA mailing addresses
Location: EPA Headquarters at Washington, D.C. Federal Triangle campus
202-564-0748

OWM Organization

Andrew Sawyers, Director 
Raffael Stein, Deputy Director

The Office of Wastewater Management includes:

Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds (OWOW)

What We Do

  • The Office of Wetlands, Oceans, and Watersheds (OWOW) develops regulations; policies; strategies; guidance; and scientific, technical, and research support for the protection of human health and the environment. OWOW does this work with the EPA regional offices, other federal agencies, and in some cases state and authorized Tribal co-regulators, by using a variety of statutory authorities. Key federal laws include:
  • Clean Water Act (CWA) and certain amendments to it, including the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health (BEACH) Act and Vessel Incidental Discharge Act (VIDA) 
  • Marine Protection Research and Sanctuaries Act (MPRSA) 
  • Shore Protection Act (SPA)
  • Marine Plastic Pollution Research and Control Act (MPPRCA) 
  • Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) 
  • Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection, and Restoration Act (CWPPRA) 

  • Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research Control Act (HABHRCA) 

    OWOW manages programs:

  • control of discharges of dredged and fill material into waters of the United States under CWA Section 404 and MPRSA Section 103; 
  • state conservation plans and programs to protect wetlands, including programs to assume CWA Section 404 authority from the Federal government; 
  • evaluation of CWA Section 301(h) waivers; ocean dumping permits and site designation; CWA Section 403(c) discharge criteria and other programs affecting the marine environment, including abatement of marine debris; 
  • development of scientifically sound, national recommendations for pollutant-specific ambient water quality criteria to protect human health, aquatic life, and aquatic-dependent wildlife, pursuant to CWA Section 304(a);
  • federal oversight of state, territorial and authorized Tribal water quality standards for water bodies pursuant to CWA Section 303(c).
  • assessment and monitoring of surface water; 
  • identification and listing of impaired waterbodies under CWA Sections 303(d) and 304(1); 
  • development of Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) to determine needed levels of water quality-based controls for point sources and non-point sources of pollutants entering impaired waterbodies
  • nonpoint source (NPS) pollution mana, including implementation of CWA Section 319; 
  • the National Estuary Program under CWA Section 320; . 
  • evaluation of pollutant toxicity on human health, aquatic life and aquatic dependant wildlife.
  • development and application of water quality models and other models to assess and predict the condition of water resources.[FA11] 
  • technical support and research to inform the environmental statutory requirements of OW and its partners related to fresh, estuarine and marine waters. 

OWOW is also the EPA’s lead office in the agency’s role as a designated trustee for the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Natural Resource Damage Assessment Trustee Council (40 C.F.R. Section 300.600(b)(5)) pursuant to the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (33 U.S.C. Section 2701 et seq. Mail code: 4501T | EPA mailing addresses

Location: EPA Headquarters at Washington, D.C. Federal Triangle campus

View OWOW's Annual Reports.

Mail code: 4501T | EPA mailing addresses
Location: EPA Headquarters at Washington, D.C. Federal Triangle campus
202-566-1146
Email: ow-owow-internet-comments@epa.gov

OWOW Organization

Stacey Jensen, Acting Director 
Ann Ferrio, Deputy Director

The Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds includes:

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Last updated on August 7, 2026