Alternative Monitoring Guidelines are a tool to implement the
1996 Amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act. These amendments
increased the number of constituents that were required to be
monitored for in Public Drinking Water. The guidelines gave states
the option to provide statewide Chemical and Microbiological
monitoring waivers. The Source Water Assessment and Protection
program was implemented in the 1996 Amendments, providing
assessments for every public water supply (PWS) in the state. These
assessments gave PWS a high, medium, or low susceptibility rating
for the likeliness of its source being contaminated. These
assessments provided the information about the PWS to prove that it
would be permissible for a waiver to be granted. Combining the
resources of both the Source Water Assessment and Protection(SWAP)
team and the Drinking Water Quality(DWQ) team allows for the
guidelines to be successfully implemented. Both teams in the Public
Drinking Water section play a vital role in the guidelines. The
SWAP team provided the initial assessments to each PWS, in May
2003. The SWAP team looks at each PWS’s susceptibility based
on a list of 227 contaminants, of primary, secondary, and potential
to be monitored constituents. The DWQ team manages the data on
chemical and microbiological monitoring requirements. The data is
evaluated for the required monitored constituents that are allowed
to be waived based on the results of the assessment. These
monitoring waivers are statewide waivers for PWS that meet the
guidelines for the waiver. Assessments and evaluations of the PWS
are continuously being updated to provide for the most current
possible contamination status of the PWS. Waivers are only allowed
for constituents that have never had a record of being in the
PWS’ water source, nor the potential for ever occurring in
the water source.
The Alternative Monitoring Guidelines were provided to save the
PWS money in required monitoring costs. Some contaminants that are
unlikely to occur in PWS due to the nature of their occurrence, are
quite expensive to have tested. The statewide waivers save the PWS
lots of money in operating expense by waiving the required
monitoring tests for these unlikely contaminants. Statewide
millions and millions of dollars have been saved due to the
chemical monitoring waivers. Microbiological waivers are not issued
due to their importance as an indicator of the PWS water quality
and system integrity.
To request more information on the Alternative Monitoring
Guidelines, please contact the
Public Drinking Water Section.
