Protecting Your Public Water Supply… Why Groundwater Protection?

• Helps educate water customers and community leaders about where their water comes from.
• Community becomes responsible for protecting their water source.
• Possibly eliminates the need for primacy and federal requirements.
• Prevents contamination of groundwater supplies
  

Wellhead Protection as a Six-Step Program

1. Select a Planning Team. Utilize staff, community leaders and elected officials.
2. Delineate the Protection Area. We at rural water take the lead here and map the area most likely to be influenced by spills and leaks.
3. Identify the Potential Contaminant Sources (PCS’s) within the delineated area.   The source water assessment plan (SWAP) is the beginning point for finding these PCS’s.
4. Management Approaches to the PCS’s. Voluntary and regulatory approaches can be used to protect your wells.
5. Development of a Contingency/ Emergency Response Plan. Planning for the what ifs in life is important to our water customers to insure good quality water for a lifetime.
6. Update your plan: Every 5 years your plan should be completely updated. Plans should be
   updated sooner if wells are abandoned or new ones added.