The US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), one of our founding members, recently launched its new Source Water Protection website. The updated website is full of resources that detail the basics of source water protection, describe components of a source water protection program, and highlight new opportunities for funding and partnerships. This site is designed to inspire stakeholders to take action, build partnerships and to help them find the resources to do so. State source water protection coordinators can easily find information on using Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Set-Asides to protect drinking water sources and read case studies that share how those resources have been used to advance the state’s source water protection goals. Public water systems, states and emergency managers can easily find tools such as the Drinking Water Mapping Application to Protect Source Waters (DWMAPS) to help identify potential sources of contamination and plan prevention strategies.
Protecting sources of drinking water requires a wide cross-section of partners that are engaged in the assessment and protection process. US EPA’s new website provides examples of many of the important partners involved along with the role they may play in source water protection. Visitors to the website will have access to resources to help in developing source water assessments, protection plans, and implementation activities. We encourage you to explore this new website and get inspired on how you can protect sources of drinking water. Go to: www.epa.gov/sourcewaterprotection.