Drinking Water System

The purpose of the Drinking Water System is to enforce Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) regulations covering Public Water Systems(PWS). The Distribution System of each water system consists of interconnected water pipes. Places where water enters the distribution system (after treatment), and where most SDWA regulations apply, are called Entry Points. In order to comply with these regulations, a water system takes water Samples according to some schedule. These samples are entered into the Drinking Water System (DWS) through File Maintenance procedures or the Sample Entry form, and any errors are corrected on the Sample Error/Reject Correction forms.

Sampling Rules are combined with Rule Selectors (vulnerability and other things) to produce Monitoring Rules. These Monitoring Rules are then refined into the Sampling Requirement records which are used to produce the monitoring schedules. When a PWS fails to perform some task, whether it be taking a sample, or displaying a lead/copper public notice, a Violation is entered into DWS. In response to these violations, DNR staff send Notice of Noncompliance (NON) letters, etc. to the Interested Parties (Owners and Samplers - Affiliations of that PWS. To help prevent Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) violations, DNR (and/or DHSS) staff perform regular Inspections of public water system to make sure that the distribution system is constructed and maintained properly.