This program was funded by the Dudley Foundation.We would also like to thank Clean Water Action and the Coalition for Safe and Affordable Drinking Water, which has provided us with a great deal of support throughout the course of this project.
After rain falls, it can either soak into the ground or it can flow into surface water (lakes, streams, and rivers). Either way, this water can be used to drink. The nation's drinking water has been affordable, plentiful, and safe for decades, thanks to the great public works projects from the turn of the century. Treatment plants were built to treat polluted water through chlorination and, occasionally, filtration. Yet the era of rapid growth has changed this paradigm; communities must again worry about their drinking water supply. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that nearly one million Americans fall ill every year due to polluted drinking water.

Water pollution comes from point sources (discharge points from industries, etc) and non-point sources. Non-point sources can originate from farms (animal wastes, pesticides and fertilizers), urban areas (vehicles, street construction and maintenance, litter, animal wastes), residential areas (septic systems, yard care), and even pristine areas (animal carcasses and wastes, erosion). Fertilizers and animal wastes are a concern because they are nutrients for aquatic plants. Animal and human wastes may also contain pathogens. Vehicle, and industrial wastes are primarily a concern as a source of chemicals. Farming and construction can be a source of particles from erosion.

All of this pollution travels with the water to its final destination. The final destination of water depends on what watershed it is in. In East Tennessee, the water eventually drains into the Tennessee River. The Tennessee River is a source of drinking water for hundreds of thousands of Appalachian families who depend on safe and affordable drinking water for their families. Realization of the connection between streams and tap water, and the fact that our source of drinking water is becoming increasingly contaminated, led the East Tennessee Headwaters Project to learn about the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) and how we could participate in its implementation in Tennessee to ensure the safest possible drinking water for our communities through source water protection.

The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) of 1974 was established to protect the quality of drinking water in the U.S. This law focuses on all waters actually or potentially designed for drinking use, whether from above ground or underground sources. The Act authorized the Environmental Protection Agency to establish safe standards of purity and required all owners or operators of public water systems to comply with primary (health-related) standards. In 1986, amendments to the SDWA were issued by Congress to further help purify drinking water. Until 1986, the EPA had set standards for 25 contaminants, but the 1986 Amendments called on the EPA to set standards for 83 chemicals. Congress again passed extensive amendments to the SDWA in 1996. For more information about the 1996 Amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act, click here.

Click here for more information about the Safe Drinking Water Act, including links to the full text of the Act.

Please click on one of the areas below to learn more about these issues, and what the East Tennessee Headwaters Project has done to address them:

Protection of Drinking Water Sources

Right-To-Know Reports Prepared by Utilities to Inform the Public about Drinking Water Quality and Potential Health Effects of Contaminants

The Knoxville Utilities Board (KUB) Right-to-Know Report

Bottled Water

Also, visit our carefully compiled list of

On-Line Resources: Where to Go for More Information

Protecting Drinking Water Sources

The 1986 Amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act required all states to develop a wellhead protection program to protect the sources of water for public water systems relying on ground water (ie. wells and springs). 1996 Amendments expanded this requirement to include all public water systems relying on source waters (ie. rivers and lakes).

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) Division of Water Supply is responsible for carrying out the provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act. The Division submitted a plan to EPA last February detailing how Tennessee plans to:

  • Delineate source water protection areas
  • Inventory significant contaminants in these areas
  • Determine the susceptibility of each public water supply to contamination.

    • Click here to download Tennessee's Source Water Assessment Plan. (Note: This is in PDF format. In order to review it, you must download and install Adobe Reader). The East Tennessee Headwaters Project submitted comments about this plan, and TDEC provided a response to our comments. Click here to review this dialogue. (Note: This, too, is in PDF format).

    The ETHP also wrote an article which appeared in the Hellbender Press entitled, "How Safe is our Drinking Water?" Click here to read the article on-line.

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    Right-To-Know Reports

    The 1996 Amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act required all water utilities to issue annual Right-to-Know reports to inform water customers about contaminants in their water supply and the potential health effects of those contaminants. These reports are also known as Consumer Confidence Reports and Water Quality Reports. Each water utility in the country is required to release its first report by October of 1999, and in July of every year thereafter (starting with July, 2000).

    This is an exciting step in the right direction, because it marks the first time that the public will have as much access to information about the contents of their tap water as they do about the contents of grocery store items.

    The reports must include, amongst other things, the following information:

  • Basic information about the water system
  • The water's source and the places where the water is withdrawn
  • Information about how the public can get involved with decision-making processes that affect drinking water quality
  • The source's susceptiblity to contamination, if the Source Water Assessment has been completed
  • Definitions of technical and regulatory terms
  • Information about detected levels of various contaminants which could have potential adverse health affects and how they correspond to maximum limits as defined by law.
  • The likely or known source of the detected contaminants
  • For any contaminants that exceed levels allowed by law, there must be an explanation of the timespan of the problem, the potential health effects, and the actions taken to correct the problem
  • If the system has monitored for and discovered unregulated contaminants which have potential adverse health effects, similar information must be included for these

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    Visit our listing of on-line resources for a list of water utilities in Tennessee, and direct links to their consumer confidence reports.

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    The KUB Right-To-Know Report

    The East Tennessee Headwaters Project met with KUB in July, 1999, to learn more about KUB's plans for publishing and releasing its Consumer Confidence Report. We learned that the report had already been prepared... Congratulations, KUB, for meeting the deadline so many months in advance!

    The ETHP would like to thank KUB for mailing Water Quality Reports to all of its electric customers in addition to its water customers (within its water service district). This will certainly help to reach a significant number of people who drink KUB water but do not pay KUB water bills. Overall, the ETHP is pleased with KUB's 1999 Water Quality Report, and we are excited to announce that we plan to get involved with KUB's next round of Water Quality Reports to help make them even better next year!

    The ETHP conducted a comprehensive analysis of KUB's Water Quality Report. Click here to download ETHP's analysis of KUB's Water Quality Report. (Note: This is in PDF format. In order to review it, you must download and install Adobe Reader).

    We have also proposed the formation of a Citizen's Advisory Board to help KUB as it prepares next year's Consumer Confidence Report. Please download our analysis for more details about this. We sent this analysis to KUB on August 24, 1999 along with a cover letter proposing the formation of this Citizen's Advisory Board.

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    Bottled Water

    How does bottled water compare to tap water?

    Bottled water is not necessarily more safe or pure than tap water. In fact, at least 25% of bottled water is tap water. The labels on these waters should say ³from a municipal source² or ³from a community water system.² While EPA regulates all public (tap) water systems, bottled water is less stringently regulated by the Food & Drug Administration, and some bottled waters escape such regulation entirely.

    Under-regulated Waters

  • FDA lacks the staffing and resources needed to fully regulate the bottled water industry; in fact, it estimates that fewer than two staff people are dedicated to both regulation and compliance combined. Bottlers are inspected only every 4-5 years by the FDA.
  • Monitoring data for tap water is far more accessible to the public than for bottled water - and public water systems are required to monitor for contaminants far more frequently than bottled waters.
  • Although public water systems must produce Right-to-Know Reports, the bottled water industry is still not required to place important health information on its labels - such as the water¹s exact source, how it¹s been treated, and what its contaminant levels are.

    Unregulated Waters

  • 60-70% of bottled waters are exempt from specific FDA standards because they are bottled and sold in the same state. Those waters bottled and sold in Tennnessee are inspected and permitted by the TN Department of Agriculture, Food & Dairy Production Division.
  • Although the state of Tennessee has adopted the FDA¹s already weak standards, ...more info.................
  • Products labeled plain ³water,² ³carbonated water,² ³disinfected water,² ³filtered water,² ³seltzer water,² ³sparkling water,² or ³soda water,² are not considered ³bottled water² by FDA and are not required to monitor for contaminants.

    To learn more about bottled water, click here to see an excellent report published by the Natural Resources Defense Council entitled Bottled Water: Pure Drink or Pure Hype?

    What You can Do for Safer Bottled Water

  • Write to members of Congress, the FDA, and the governor and urge them to adopt strict requirements for bottled water safety, labeling, and public disclosure. Specifically, point out that they should:
  • Set strict limits for contaminants of concern in bottled water, including arsenic, heterotrophic-plate-count bacteria, E. coli and other parasites and pathogens, and synthetic organic chemicals
  • Apply the rules to all bottled water whether carbonated or not and whether sold intrastate or interstate
  • Require bottlers to display information on their labels about the levels of contaminants of concern found in the water, the water's exact source, how it's been treated, and whether it meets health criteria set by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease Control for killing parasites like cryptosporidium.

  • Members of Congress and governors should also pass legislation providing the resources for the FDA and state regulators to actually enforce the law.

  • To take further action, you can encourage your bottlers and the International Bottled Water Association (a trade organization that includes about 85 percent of water bottlers) to voluntarily make labeling disclosures such as those above.

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