TCEQ’s public drinking water program is a part of the
state’s Public Water Supply Supervision (PWSS) program. The
state is required to maintain a PWSS program in order to retain
primary enforcement authority (primacy) over Texas public water
systems’ (PWSs’) compliance with the Safe Drinking
Water Act (SDWA) and its amendments. States that do not have
primacy are regulated by EPA directly.
The TCEQ’s PWSS program is implemented by many areas
within the agency. The EPA gives flexibility to primacy agencies
for some PWSSP activities by requiring TCEQ to develop a program
for certain activities, with EPA approval of the program. TCEQ is
required to:
- Adopt, implement, and support compliance with drinking water
rules at least as stringent as the federal rules. This is done by
the Public Drinking Water Section of the Water Supply Division in
the Office of Permitting, Remediation, and Registration
(OPRR/WSD/PDWS).
- Deliver PWS inventory, violation, and action data to EPA
(OPRR/WSD/PDWS).
- Ensure compliance monitoring and compliance determination for
chemical and microbiological standards, ensure initial water
quality meets minimum standards before approving a new source
(OPRR/WSD/PDWS).
- Assess the source water vulnerability of all drinking water
sources in the state and provide support to help public water
systems protect those source waters (OPRR/WSD/PDWS).
- Review and approve engineered plans for PWS infrastructure
improvements. This is done by the Utilities and Districts Section
of the Water Supply Division in the Office of Permitting,
Remediation, and Registration (OPRR/WSD/UDS).
- Support programs for capacity development (OPRR/WSD/UDS).
- Oversee compliance with and provide technical assistance for
Homeland Security requirements for PWSs (OPRR/WSD/PDWS).
- Perform sanitary surveys of source, treatment, distribution,
storage, pump facilities, data verification, management, operation,
and operator compliance for new and existing PWSs. This is done by
the Regions under the Field Operations Division of the Office of
Compliance and Enforcement (OCE/FOD).
- Ensure formal enforcement action for PWSs that exceed
compliance trigger levels agreed upon by TCEQ and EPA. TCEQ’s
Enforcement Division of the Office of Compliance and Enforcement
maintains this part of the PWSS program.
- Maintain a licensing program for PWS operators. The Operator
Licensing Section runs this program.
- Maintain a laboratory certification program for the analysis in
the drinking water matrix. This is done by the Quality Assurance
Section.
The National Primary Drinking Water Regulations adopted under
the Safe Drinking Water Act, can be found in Title 40, Code of
Federal Regulations Part 141; The rules that TCEQ adopts and
implements can be found in 30 TAC 290.
Primacy is a status that must be maintained. As EPA promulgates
new regulations, primacy States must adopt the new requirements
under State law and apply for primacy for those requirements.
Primacy applications must include copies of applicable statutes and
regulations; program description; description of enforcement
procedures for the applicable regulations; Attorney General’s
statement; and other relevant information.
The TCEQ ensures a successful PWSS program through technical
assistance, preventive efforts, and customer service, as well as
through regulatory and enforcement actions. Preventive efforts are
aimed at notifying and educating an operator about requirements,
and can result in avoiding critical problems. TCEQ also conducts
outreach and education activities to promote understanding of and
compliance with their regulations. These activities are based on
the belief that most water suppliers want to do the right thing if
they understand how and why it must be done.
You can view presentations regarding the organization and
responsibilities of the PWSS program on our Web site.
