The Source Water Assessment and Protection Program (SWAP) is a drinking water protection program, mandated by the 1996 amendments to the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, under which states were required to perform assessments for each and every public water system--from huge systems like the Suffolk County Water Authority's or New York City's to the tiny well serving a roadside diner.
The assessments, which the New York State Department of Health recently completed, consist of three components: 1) a delineation of the area over which water flows to a well or an intake; 2) a list of significant potential pollution sources within the delineated area and 3) an estimate of the susceptibility of the water system to contamination (based, in part, on its geological setting and on previous history of contamination). The word “source” is being used in two different ways in the above discussion--as a source of drinking water and as a potential pollution source.)
The water system assessments for all the public water systems in a particular county are available on request from either the County Department of Health or from Department of Health District Office. If you receive the assessments on a CD, you may have to know PWS ID# of the system to select the proper pdf file. Typically, the last two pages of the assessments contain a map of the delineated assessment area, that shows the locations of identified potential pollution sources, and an aerial photograph of the site.
With the completion of the assessments, the SWAP program moves into the source water protection phase. DEP would like to hear of any source-water-protective activities currently in progress or planned in your municipality--for example, wellhead protection ordinances, septic system maintenance programs, household hazardous waste collections, outreach to homeowners on lawn care, automotive oil changes, etc.
Please contact
Stephen Gould
EPA Region 2 SWAP Coordinator US Environmental Protection Agency
290 Broadway
New York, NY 10007
212) 637-3822
gould.stephen@epa.gov