Safe Drinking Water Act

Safe Drinking Water Act

Long title	An Act to amend the Public Health Service Act to assure that the public is provided with safe drinking water, and for other purposes
Nicknames	SDWA
Enacted by	the 93rd United States Congress
Effective	December 16, 1974
Citations
Public law	Pub. L. 93-523
Statutes at Large	88 Stat. 1660 (1974)
Codification
U.S.C. sections created	42 U.S.C. § 300f
Legislative history
Introduced in the Senate as S. 433 by Warren Magnuson (D–WA) on January 18, 1973 Committee consideration by Senate Commerce, House Commerce Passed the Senate on June 22, 1973  Passed the House on November 19, 1974 (296-84 as H.R. 13002) with amendment Senate agreed to House amendment on November 26, 1974 () with further amendment House agreed to Senate amendment on December 3, 1974 () Signed into law by President Gerald Ford on December 16, 1974
Major amendments
Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1986, Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996

Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1986,

The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) is the principal federal law in the United States intended to ensure safe drinking water for the public. Pursuant to the act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is required to set standards for drinking water quality and oversee all states, localities, and water suppliers who implement these standards.

The SDWA applies to every public water system (PWS) in the United States. There are currently about 155,000 public water systems providing water to almost all Americans at some time in their lives. The Act does not cover private wells.

The SDWA does not apply to bottled water. Bottled water is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

The SDWA requires EPA to establish National Primary Drinking Water Regulations (NPDWRs) for contaminants that may cause adverse public health effects.

The regulations include both mandatory levels (Maximum Contaminant Levels, or MCLs) and nonenforceable health goals (Maximum Contaminant Level Goals, or MCLGs) for each included contaminant. MCLs have additional significance because they can be used under the Superfund law as "Applicable or Relevant and Appropriate Requirements" in cleanups of contaminated sites on the National Priorities List.

Federal drinking water standards are organized into six groups:

EPA has issued standards for Cryptosporidium, Giardia lamblia, Legionella, coliform bacteria and enteric viruses. EPA also requires two microorganism-related tests to indicate water quality: plate count and turbidity.

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