Personal Injury Law

Water Safety: Who's responsible?

By Megan Roth

In my previous post, I raised a few alarming (or what I consider to be alarming) facts. At the top of that list? The fact that US drinking water contains approximately 2100 toxins - be it in traces or in liters, that's alarming.

At the end of my post, I asked what should be done about it. And why. And by who. All questions I raised 4 days ago, and I'm assuming we'd all like an answer.

Assuring that drinking water is safe and will cause no harm is not only critical to public health, but also essential for the personal well-being of each and every citizen. Fortunately, federal regulation agrees. The National Primary Drinking Water Regulations are legally enforceable standards that apply to public water systems. These standards were with the public water system sypervision program by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1974 under the Safe Water Drinking Act, which was intended to limit the levels of contaminants and toxins in drinking water, thus protecting public health.

But like all things, establishing the rules alone doesn't do much good; it's also necessary for such regulations to be enforced at other levels as well. At a more local level, each state's Department of Health monitors the status of drinking water to ensure its safety. And the EPA makes sure they're stepping up when it comes to such regulations.

Basically, water safety regulation falls into the standard govermental pyramid format, with the EPA forming the peak: the Epa overlooks each State Department of Health, which monitors each county Department of Health. But if the State is responsible for ensuring safe water, what does the county do?

Though each county's Department of Health duties vary (compare and contrast if you choose)Each county Department of Health regulates the operation, design, and quality of all public water supplies and facilities within their county). They also provide financial assistance to public water suppliers and make certain water sources are properly protected. But that's not all...they also monitor, review, and either reject or approve plans concerning realty and construction sites in relation to the potential effects such sites may have on public water.

So, despite the fact that the state is monitoring them (and the EPA them), the county actually does a lot. In fact, I'm willing to state outright that they do the brunt of the dirty work (pun intended). The State - followed closely by the EPA (and on an even greater scale, but the World Health Organization (WHO)) is more about observation, auditing, and enforcement. Hey - in the game of chess, we can't all be kings...someone's gotta be the pawn and in this case, it's the county Department of Health.

Full post as published by Des Moines Personal Injury Lawyer on November 18, 2008 (boomark / email).