Source water refers to the water that eventually becomes the water you receive from the faucet. Several recent federal actions will help improve the quality of source water. A few of these are listed below.

• In 1997, Congress passed amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act that provide for better protection of public health through regulatory improvements, increased funding, prevention of source water contamination, and public participation.
• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on October 21, 1998, announced changes to the coastal nonpoint pollution control program under the Coastal Zone Act. These changes will assist federal and state governments in working with coastal states and territories to ensure that they have developed programs to reduce polluted runoff.
• EPA and eight other federal agencies signed the Federal Multi-Agency Source Water Agreement on November 13, 1998. This agreement will protect and assess drinking water sources and make valuable data more accessible to water quality managers at the state, tribal, and local government levels, and to the public.
• EPA's Directory of Volunteer Monitoring Programs describes the growth of monitoring programs and highlights volunteer programs throughout the United States. Information from the programs is being used to help establish baseline water quality conditions and increase public awareness, community education, and pollution screening. Most of the volunteer programs involve teachers and students in local schools. This publication can be ordered by calling EPA's National Center for Environmental Publications and Information (NCEPI) at (800) 490-9198 and requesting publication number EPA 841-B-98-009.

For more information: http://www.epa.gov/ogwdw