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SOURCE WATER PROTECTION: IMPORTANT GOALS TAKE TIME AND EFFORT!! ByAI Tekavec CRWA Source Water Specialist I have had the opportunity to work for Colorado Rural Water Association and the ` Public Water Systems in Colorado since February of this year. Not a long relation- ship in terms of months, days, and hours. So what have I learned about small systems and you the operators? The systems are well managed. You the op- erators are hard working, and underpaid community servants. Your work goes largely unnoticed. Your work is not visible to your customers, even though in terms of importance, right after we consider the air we breathe, water is the most important requirement for human life. Why is yourjob so invisible, perhaps because you do the incredibly important job of providing safe drinking water to your customers seamlessly and at a very low cost? How can we make this service more visible? The amount of regulations given through Federal and State mandated programs has added to public safety and health. Against the benefits, we need to be mindful to balance them against the time and expense added to your dailyjob description. Yours is not an easy profession. Thank you for your diligence and willingness to work for your communities! Sharon,our Office Manager reminded me that I needed to write an article for the CRWA publication. I have the pleasure of work- ing on a project that is very important to Colorado and the safety and management of water supplies in our state. Source Water As- sessment and Protection (SWAP) should not be new to any of you. The State has been working to provide base data for all PWS for a number of years.The last requirement placed on the CDPHE is to send out the Potential Contamination Assessments to your system. With those mailings, the decision to develop protection plans falls on you, the systems operators. The state and federal government have spent an incredible amount of time, effort, and money on this effort. But their job is largely complete. In a letter sent to all PWS on May 24, 2002; RE: Request for Feedback on Contaminant Inventory Phase of SWAP: Governor Bill Owens wrote the following: "The Contaminant Inventory is the second technical ele- ment of the assessment phase of Colorado's Source Water Assessment and Protection (SWAP) program. And is being conducted by the Water Quality Control Division (WQCD) and its contractor Eneco Tech Inc. The goal of the Contami- nant Inventory phase is to raise public awareness of various Potential source of contamination (PSOCs) that could pos- sibly impact the quality of public drinking water sources. Public interaction is an integral part of the Colorado SWAP program and especially the Contaminant Inventory phase.... "please keep in mind the WQCD is required to make the assessment results for each public water supply available to the general public. Therefore,your assistance will help in the effect to provide a thorough contaminant inventory for your water supply....." Since 9 -11 the federal and state government has been para- lyzed by legal concerns and debating the legal liabilities that they might incur with the release of information to the general public. We have also heard about the securities issues that might be available to terrorists. Everyone gives a nod to these utter- ances, but the plausibility of these possible attacks is in the realm of ppb. Of course we focus on the fact that we are a nation of litigants. Litigation, courts, lawsuits, well that's certainly another topic. Or at least it should be. But, there are real decisions that our community planners and the public needs to make when we consider the realities of supplying reasonably priced, reli- able, and safe drinking water to our customers and, much more importantly, our children's children. In the letter from Governor Owens, referenced above, you were reminded that 'Public interaction is an integral part of the Colorado SWAP program." The decision to include the public in this task is the PWS's.You are the agencies that have the best, perhaps the only chance, of getting your public involved.The task of developing a SWAP is also your decision. There is no mandate or requirement. Your time and effort is all that is required. We can all agree that pro- tection of source water supplies makes sense. But, does SWAP fit into your time expense budget? The Concept of SWAP is as simple as these 4 STEP's. • (Sources) Where Does Your Drinking Water Come From? • (Threats) What Can Contaminate or Disrupt Your Water Supply? • (Engage) Who in Your Community Should Be Involved in the Process? • (Protect) How Can We Best Manage and Safeguard Our Source Water? At the Federal level, EPA and USDA recognized that there is a need to hire staff members to help facilitate this important task in Colorado. CRWA was chosen to manage these programs because of the relationship and reputation that our association has with you and your operations. We are here to help, not to add to your workload. Drought, development, mining, private septic systems, aban- doned wells, abandoned storage tanks, facilities of concern, non -point sources (non- discrete) including agricultural, and list goes on and on, all of these can disrupt or contaminate your communities drinking water. Wellhead Protection, EPA SWAP, and USDS SWAP staff mem- bers of CRWA are now working with many systems in Colorado. We can offer specialists to help answer the question, doesSWAP fit into your time expense budget? You know your Public Water Systems'incredible record of sup- plying Quality on Tap dependably and inexpensively. If one of our concerns is Public Relations, one answer to help make your public aware of you profession and what you do mayjust be SWAP! I have told each of the systems currently participating in developing a SWAP for their communities that they have their hands on the steering wheel, one foot on the accelerator, and the other foot on the brake.You are in control. You might just consider taking your finger and calling our staff members who are trained to help your community begin this impor- tant and voluntary task of Source Water Protection Planning. The Number is (719) 545 -6748, the Decision is Yours. 13