Nevada’s Division of Environmental Protection Bureau of Safe Drinking Water (NDEP BSDW) is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) designated primacy agency responsible for the implementation of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. The Health District’s Safe Drinking Water Program assists NDEP BSDW in ensuring that all public water system within Clark County meet the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations (40 CFR 141), the Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS) Chapter 445A (Water Controls), and the Nevada Administrative Code (NAC) 445A.450 to 445A.6731, inclusive. Our efforts involve, but are not limited to:

Goals

1. Annually survey at least a third of all community and non-community public water systems in Clark County.
2. Monitor the operation of all non-surface water impacted public water systems utilizing ground-water systems in Clark County.
3. Guide small public water systems through compliance issues.
4. Assess each water system’s compliance with monitoring primary and secondary water quality standards
5. Provide educational resources to public water system purveyors and their operators to improve compliance and best management practices for the betterment of potable water standards.
6. Investigate consumer complaints related to permitted and un-permitted public water systems.
7. Follow-up on public water systems listed as having significant deficiencies and delinquent monitoring violations.
8. Ensure cross-connections within public water systems are appropriately controlled to ensure the protection of potable water.

Objectives

1. Record results of all sanitary surveys using the Safe Water Information Field Tool (SWIFT).
2. Distribute sanitary survey reports to public water systems with significant deficiencies within 30 days of a site visit. All other reports should be completed within 45 days of a site visit.
3. Schedule with the BSDW personnel a minimum of three joint sanitary surveys annually.
4. Enter all monitoring results and run compliance status for all public water systems for coliform monitoring, at least monthly, and for all other constituents at least quarterly.
5. Provide SWIFT migration files to the BSDW quarterly.
6. Work cooperatively with the BSDW to implement new EPA rules that have not been adopted at the state level.
7. Update actions taken during the previous quarter to address public water systems on the EPA Enforcement Targeting Tool with greater than 10 points.
8. Maintain forms and applications for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund and Grant Program.
9. Respond to all types of technical assistance requests from water system owners/operators in a timely manner.

Timeline of Measurable Outcomes

1. The SDWP will electronically track and manage annual assigned workload.
2. Sufficient time will be allocated to ensure that sanitary surveys and follow-ups are thorough and provide operator education. The average small water system survey consists of five hours of pre-on-site preparation, two hours on-site, and five hours of follow-up work. However, some systems (e.g. water districts) will require a minimum of two days on-site.
3. The SDWP will submit quarterly reports to the BSDW and conduct monthly meetings with the SDWP Manager and BSDW Supervisor in an effort to distribute knowledge, and monitor and manage workload.
4. Water systems with total coliform positives and deficiencies will be given priority for sanitary surveys and site visits.
5. Administrative staff will process all total coliform negative results, and the SDWP will enter all total coliform positive results in the Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS) database.
6. Training from the BSDW will address how chemical monitoring results will be entered into the SDWIS.