Build a Lake and Reservoir Source-Water Protection and Contamination-Preparedness Program
Govern source-water assessment, preventive partnerships, monitoring, emergency handoffs, alternatives, authorization, implementation, maintenance, effectiveness, and secure public communication.
What to do first
Create a governance charter that names the source, supplying system, utility, primacy and other responsible authorities, owners, security controls, decision states, and correction process. Maintain a versioned source-water assessment, protection-area delineation, potential-source inventory, source-pathway-receptor susceptibility record, monitoring program, and upstream notification route. Compare no action and preventive alternatives under site-specific feasibility, uncertainty, lifecycle resources, adverse effects, and controlling requirements. Keep CWA, SDWA, Tribal, utility, public-health, emergency, land-use, and owner roles distinct. A plan does not replace an emergency-response plan; a grant, design, permit application, monitoring plan, or federal guidance does not authorize action. Preserve exact authorization, as-built implementation, maintenance, corrective action, and preregistered effectiveness as separate states. One good season does not prove protection. Security-screen public information and use only authority-issued drinking-water notices; LakeTech does not direct intake operations, treatment changes, customer actions, release containment, cleanup, or sampling.
- Establish accountable source-water governance
- Maintain a versioned assessment lifecycle
- Prioritize prevention without assigning culpability
- Coordinate utility and authority preparedness
- Separate eligibility, funding, permits, and authorization
- Verify implementation, maintenance, and effectiveness
Field route
Use an authored handoff; this is not an automatic recommendation or approval.
Open Source-water protection and utility handoff record Use the governed record after reviewing Build a Lake and Reservoir Source-Water Protection and Contamination-Preparedness Program.
Shared route boundary
This route does not determine tap safety, issue customer advice, authorize sampling, or direct intake or treatment operations.
2. Map source-to-tap users, services, and dependencies
Preserve governance, authority, security, evidence, and lifecycle accountability for one program decision.
Create a governance charter naming the source, supplying system, utility, primacy, Tribal and other responsible authorities, owners, security classes, decision states, conflicts, and correction process. A source-water program does not replace a utility emergency-response plan.
3. Operate a versioned assessment lifecycle
Preserve governance, authority, security, evidence, and lifecycle accountability for one program decision.
Create a governance charter naming the source, supplying system, utility, primacy, Tribal and other responsible authorities, owners, security classes, decision states, conflicts, and correction process. A source-water program does not replace a utility emergency-response plan.
4. Build accountable protection partnerships
Preserve governance, authority, security, evidence, and lifecycle accountability for one program decision.
Maintain a versioned protection-area delineation, source-to-tap model, potential contaminant-source inventory, source-pathway-receptor susceptibility evaluation, data provenance record, and accountable partnerships. Potential source, proximity, susceptibility, release, causation, and culpability remain separate states.
5. Maintain the protection area and potential-source inventory
Preserve governance, authority, security, evidence, and lifecycle accountability for one program decision.
Maintain a versioned protection-area delineation, source-to-tap model, potential contaminant-source inventory, source-pathway-receptor susceptibility evaluation, data provenance record, and accountable partnerships. Potential source, proximity, susceptibility, release, causation, and culpability remain separate states.
6. Prioritize susceptibility without assigning culpability
Preserve governance, authority, security, evidence, and lifecycle accountability for one program decision.
Maintain a versioned protection-area delineation, source-to-tap model, potential contaminant-source inventory, source-pathway-receptor susceptibility evaluation, data provenance record, and accountable partnerships. Potential source, proximity, susceptibility, release, causation, and culpability remain separate states.
7. Compare preventive practices and no-action branches
Preserve governance, authority, security, evidence, and lifecycle accountability for one program decision.
Compare no action, monitoring, education, land and runoff practices, partnership, infrastructure, acquisition, contingency, and other locally eligible preventive alternatives. Federal guidance is not a local requirement and ambient-water criteria are not drinking-water MCLs.
8. Coordinate Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, Tribal, and local roles
Preserve governance, authority, security, evidence, and lifecycle accountability for one program decision.
Compare no action, monitoring, education, land and runoff practices, partnership, infrastructure, acquisition, contingency, and other locally eligible preventive alternatives. Federal guidance is not a local requirement and ambient-water criteria are not drinking-water MCLs.
9. Operate source-water surveillance
Preserve governance, authority, security, evidence, and lifecycle accountability for one program decision.
Compare no action, monitoring, education, land and runoff practices, partnership, infrastructure, acquisition, contingency, and other locally eligible preventive alternatives. Federal guidance is not a local requirement and ambient-water criteria are not drinking-water MCLs.
10. Coordinate upstream notification and utility-controlled intake procedures
Preserve governance, authority, security, evidence, and lifecycle accountability for one program decision.
Coordinate CWA, SDWA, Tribal, emergency, public-health, utility, land-use, and owner roles without collapsing them. Operate authorized surveillance and upstream notification while leaving intake, treatment, customer notices, and other utility decisions to the responsible utility and authorities.
11. Prepare all-hazards utility and emergency handoffs
Preserve governance, authority, security, evidence, and lifecycle accountability for one program decision.
Coordinate CWA, SDWA, Tribal, emergency, public-health, utility, land-use, and owner roles without collapsing them. Operate authorized surveillance and upstream notification while leaving intake, treatment, customer notices, and other utility decisions to the responsible utility and authorities.
12. Compare protection alternatives and uncertainties
Preserve governance, authority, security, evidence, and lifecycle accountability for one program decision.
Coordinate CWA, SDWA, Tribal, emergency, public-health, utility, land-use, and owner roles without collapsing them. Operate authorized surveillance and upstream notification while leaving intake, treatment, customer notices, and other utility decisions to the responsible utility and authorities.
14. Verify implementation, operation, maintenance, and corrective action
Preserve governance, authority, security, evidence, and lifecycle accountability for one program decision.
Separate eligibility, grant or funding, procurement, access, design, permit application, issued permission, project authorization, implementation, acceptance, operation, maintenance, and corrective action. Funding and a monitoring plan do not authorize sampling or construction.
15. Preregister effectiveness and adverse-effect evidence
Preserve governance, authority, security, evidence, and lifecycle accountability for one program decision.
Separate eligibility, grant or funding, procurement, access, design, permit application, issued permission, project authorization, implementation, acceptance, operation, maintenance, and corrective action. Funding and a monitoring plan do not authorize sampling or construction.
16. Communicate securely, learn, correct, and revise
Preserve governance, authority, security, evidence, and lifecycle accountability for one program decision.
Preregister implementation-fidelity, maintenance, source/pathway, exposure-proxy, service, resilience, adverse-effect, and uncertainty endpoints with baseline or comparison evidence. Implementation and one good season do not establish effectiveness.
Sources and review notes
Educational source-water protection, evidence-control, and preparedness guidance only. It is not a tap-water safety determination, drinking-water advisory, contaminant identification, regulatory finding, emergency-response plan, treatment instruction, intake operating instruction, permit, funding award, or authorization. Current utility, primacy-agency, public-health, emergency, Tribal, federal, state, territorial, local, landowner, laboratory, security, privacy, access, sampling, and public-communication requirements control.
- Basic Information about Source Water ProtectionU.S. Environmental Protection Agency · agency guidance
- Assess, Plan and Protect Source WaterU.S. Environmental Protection Agency · agency guidance
- Source Water Protection PlanningU.S. Environmental Protection Agency · agency guidance
- Source Water Protection PracticesU.S. Environmental Protection Agency · agency guidance
- Evaluate Progress Toward Source Water Protection GoalsU.S. Environmental Protection Agency · agency guidance
- Common ConsiderationsU.S. Environmental Protection Agency · agency guidance
- Preparing for EmergenciesU.S. Environmental Protection Agency · agency guidance
- Incident Action Checklist: Source Water ContaminationU.S. Environmental Protection Agency · reference
- Primacy Agency Drinking Water DataU.S. Environmental Protection Agency · reference
- DWMAPS User GuideU.S. Environmental Protection Agency · reference
- Resources for Source Water AssessmentsU.S. Environmental Protection Agency · reference
- Types of Drinking Water ContaminantsU.S. Environmental Protection Agency · reference
- Tribal Governments' Role in Safe Drinking Water in Indian CountryU.S. Environmental Protection Agency · agency guidance
- How's My WaterwayU.S. Environmental Protection Agency · reference
- Assessment, Total Maximum Daily Load Tracking and Implementation SystemU.S. Environmental Protection Agency · reference
- Water Decontamination Frequently Asked Questions for CustomersU.S. Environmental Protection Agency · agency guidance
- Long Term 2 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule DocumentsU.S. Environmental Protection Agency · reference
- Quality Assurance Project Plan StandardU.S. Environmental Protection Agency · field protocol
- Drinking Water and Source Water ResearchU.S. Geological Survey · reference
- Lakes and Reservoirs: Guidelines for Study Design and SamplingU.S. Geological Survey · field protocol
- Water Quality PortalNational Water Quality Monitoring Council · reference