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1/27/2026
WT Staff
 January 27, 2026 439 pm EST
EPA ECHO Public Water Systems quarterly compliance updates are overdue again
An excerpt from a WTNY.us January 2025 report, here:
The US Environmental Protection Agency audits public drinking water facilities quarterly, providing essential public disclosure on each facility's compliance with Safe Drinking Water Act and the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations. By the time the public sees the latest quarterly data, it is already up to three months old. When these quarterly updates arrive late, the public is left in the dark.
The work to verify and upload compliance data for over one hundred and fifty thousand public drinking water facilities remains behind schedule. Inspection results for the monitoring and reporting quarter ended Sep 30, 2025 should be available to the public in the first two weeks of January. The upload was late for the first time in years, in January 2025, and each quarter following. Public drinking water compliance history data was a month or more late through 2025.
WaterToday Media Group produces the Serious Violator Report based on publicly available information from the EPA. The report includes all facilities with significant violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act, including exceeding Maximum Contaminant Levels during the last monitoring period. WT will continue to watch for the new data set, with a new Serious Violator List covering the period July 1 to Sept 30, 2025. If you have questions about whether your local drinking water provider has been on the Serious Violator list in the past, send us an email at info@watertoday.ca, and also see our latest WTNY.us Serious Violator report, here.
While we wait for the EPA to release the latest audited inspection results, Safe Drinking Water Act compliance data for NY's 8120 licensed public drinking water systems from July through September 2025, here is an update on New York's latest Impaired Waterways 303(d) List. It is time for the 2022-2024 list to be out, however, the 2020 to 2022 list has still not been adopted. What is this all about, and what does it mean for drinking water source protection?
From a Fact Sheet published by the Department of Environmental Conservation, pertaining to NYS 2020-2022 Impaired Water Body List also known as the 303(d) list:
Section 303(d) of the CWA and the EPA’s implementing regulations at 40 CFR § 130.7, require states to
identify waters within its boundaries for which technology-based and other controls are not stringent
enough to implement any water quality standards applicable to those waters and for which Total
Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) must be developed. This list is known as the 303(d) list, or impaired
waters list.
Once a waterbody is included on an impaired waters list, development of a TMDL – a pollutant budget –is necessary.
TMDLs set the maximum amount of a pollutant that a water body can receive and still meet water quality standards. TMDLs also guide decision-making about how to improve water quality by
identifying and quantifying all of the sources of the pollutant of concern to a waterbody. States are
required to identify the pollutant(s) causing the impairment(s) and establish priority rankings for TMDL development for the waterbody/pollutant combinations on the list.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) partially approved, partially disapproved, and has further
action pending on the New York 2020-2022 303(d) list of impaired waters. The EPA is approving the
New York 2020-2022 303(d) list with respect to the one thousand and four (1,004) waterbody/pollutant
combinations New York included on the list as requiring a TMDL. The EPA is disapproving the New
York 2020-2022 303(d) list because the EPA determined that the NYSDEC did not include ninety-six (96)
waterbody/pollutant combinations on the New York 2020-2022 303(d) list that meet 303(d) listing
requirements and added these 96 waterbody/pollutant combinations to the New York 2020-2022 303(d)
list. Further action by the EPA is pending additional analysis and discussion with the NYSDEC for eighty-two (82) waterbody/pollutant combinations.
For a detailed rationale on the EPA's action, see the EPA Support Document for Review and Partial Approval/Partial Disapproval of the New York 2020-2022 303(d) List, here.
The Safe Drinking Water Act requires all public drinking water facilities to issue Annual Water Quality Reports, or, for the smaller facilities, a Consumer Confidence Report. These reports typically emerge in May, covering the previous calendar year's water testing results noting any violations of contaminant levels during that period.
Annual Water Quality Report contains USA EPA Safe Drinking Water Act mandated sections and disclaimer statement, the source of the drinking water, and any discrepancies from the standard during the reporting period. If this is to be your first time opening a Consumer Confidence Report or Annual Water Quality Report, here is a spoiler.
A paragraph common to all reports in some form is the following disclaimer:
"Some people may be more vulnerable to contaminants in drinking water than the general population. Immuno-compromised persons such as persons with cancer undergoing chemotherapy, persons who have undergone organ transplants, people with HIV/AIDS or other immune system disorders, some elderly, and infants can be particularly at risk from infections. These people should seek advice about drinking water from their health care providers."
Even the drinking water facilities reporting perfect compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act may have measured quantities of particular substances that may not be advisable for sensitive persons to consume, especially on a long term basis. Make sure to read through the local water quality report for substances exceeding standard. If you have sensitive persons in your household, understand that drinking water meeting standards may not be appropriate for certain people. Look for elevated levels of inorganic chemicals such as fluoride, manganese or arsenic. Be aware of the presence and level of disinfection by-products, ask your health care provider how these factors may affect the members of your household over the long term.
Safe Drinking Water Hotline 1-800-426-4791
EPA/Centers for Disease Control (CDC) issues guidelines on ways for households to minimize the chance of illness from microbial contaminants. Keep this number handy, Safe Drinking Water Hotline 1-800-426-4791. If you believe your water may be at risk for microbiological contamination, check with the water facility about boiling to sanitize the water. Boiling for one minute will clean the water of bacteria or other microbial infections agents, however, if the water is already carrying inorganic chemistry in excess of the standards, boiling will act to further concentrate these elements. When in doubt, make the call.
Public water systems regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act are those providing water for human consumption to at least 15 service connections or average 25 average people per day, for at 60 days per year or more.
The Safe Drinking Water Act protects public health through the administration and delivery of quality drinking water supplies across the USA. The US EPA establishes standards for drinking water, monitors and enforces treatment techniques for surface water and groundwater, sets maximum limits for around 100 contaminants ensuring public disclosure of deviations and discrepancies.
WaterToday opens the record books of the federal drinking water regulator to bring awareness to the local raw water supply and the compliance record of licensed water treatment facilities. New York had 8210 licensed and active public drinking water facilities reporting to the NYDEC. Check back here for drinking water news and alerts as they arise in New York State.
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