Illinois continues to have good-quality drinking water           

[JUNE 24, 2005]  SPRINGFIELD -- When more than 10.6 million people in Illinois turned the tap in 2004 for water for drinking, cooking or bathing, they received good-quality water, according to figures recently provided to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. Water from over 90 percent of the community water supplies in Illinois met all state and federal health requirements -- that is, it did not exceed limits on state- and federal-regulated contaminants, during calendar year 2004.

The figures, which are provided as required by the Safe Drinking Water Act, reflect a more than 3 percent improvement in compliance since 1995, when publication of annual compliance reports was first required from all states by the U.S. EPA. The data show that 91.4 percent of the population served by Illinois community water supplies in calendar year 2004 received drinking water that met all health requirements.

"The Illinois EPA's goal is to ensure that every public water supply system provides water that is consistently safe to drink, and these most recent figures show we continue to make progress toward that goal," said IEPA Director Renee Cipriano. "A safe drinking water supply is critical to our state's economic future and is an integral part of Governor Blagojevich's efforts to provide Illinois communities with reliable infrastructure."

In Illinois, water supplies providing drinking water to consumers are regulated either as community or non-community water supplies, based chiefly on the number of users they serve. During 2004, there were 5,880 public water supplies in the state; of those, 1,808 are defined as community water supplies, which fall under IEPA regulation.

Campgrounds and highway rest stops are considered non-community water supplies, for instance, as are day-care centers, schools and factories. These are regulated by the Illinois Department of Public Health.

A total of 574 out of the 5,880 public water supplies in the state had violations of regulations during 2004. These 574 systems accumulated a total of 2,354 violations. As in the past, most violations were monitoring or reporting violations (failure to collect samples or provide documentation), were short in duration, and the public water supply returned to compliance by the next reporting period. The overall potential risk to public health was minimal. When even a potential of a health risk was present, the public water system was required to issue public notification to all consumers.

U.S. EPA and states evaluate compliance on the basis of both acute (short-term) and chronic (long-term) health requirements, with standards that usually differ for the two categories. The latest IEPA figures show that 98.6 percent of the population served by community water supplies received water that met all acute standards, and 92.7 percent received water that was in compliance with chronic requirements. Standards for acute requirements are usually stricter than chronic standards. For most contaminants, the latter is based on projected health risks from daily consumption of large amounts (approximately two liters) of water on a daily basis over an extended period of time.

In most cases, when contaminant levels exceed maximum allowable limits, treatment is required to be installed in the shortest amount of time, taking into consideration the cost, health effects (acute versus long-term) and size of the project. All of the public water supplies with violations during 2004 have either returned to compliance, entered into an enforceable agreement to take the necessary steps to return to compliance, or are in the formal enforcement process involving the Illinois attorney general. Enforcement cases involving the office of the attorney general could result in monetary penalties as well as the water supply being required to achieve compliance with the regulations.

Copies of the summary or complete annual water system compliance reports can be obtained by contacting the Illinois EPA's Division of Public Water Supplies, #13, P.O. Box 19276, Springfield, IL 62794-9276; by calling [phone]; or on the agency's website at
http://www.epa.state.il.us/water/compliance/
drinking-water/index.html.

[Illinois Environmental Protection Agency news release]