Investments

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) Source Water Assessment and Protection Program has invested millions of dollars to help create and implement protection plans for sources of drinking water that serve over 5.1 million people across the state. Source water protection is also a key component of the state’s harmful algal bloom and surface water treatment rules. 

Source water protection in Québec is implemented as a key aspect of integrated water resource management plans. Québec is divided into 40 watershed management areas, each of which is guided by a water master plan developed by the watershed organization made up of regional county municipalities, municipalities, environmental groups and citizens.

The 2006 Clean Water Act requires the assessment of threats to sources of drinking water and the implementation of protection plans. Ontario established source protection areas based on natural watershed boundaries and created local multi-stakeholder source protection committees to facilitate compliance with this requirement.

Indiana’s Wellhead Protection Rule requires all community public water systems using groundwater as their source to develop plans to protect groundwater. The wellhead protection plans exceed what is required by the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.

The Wisconsin Nutrient Strategy documents the progress of ongoing activities implemented by federal, state, or local agencies and identifies outstanding needs to manage diverse nutrient management activities for point sources and nonpoint sources across the state.

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) Wellhead Protection program works with communities to protect sources of drinking water from contamination.

PA VinES (Pennsylvania Vested in Environmental Sustainability) is a voluntary program that promotes self-assessment of on-farm operations in Erie County’s vineyards and provides a pathway for grape growers to access state funding that can offset the cost of installing agricultural conservation practices.

The Michigan Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program (MAEAP) is a voluntary verification program that helps farmers reduce environmental impacts from their operations by providing technical assistance for the design and implementation of conservation plans.

The Indiana Agriculture Nutrient Alliance (IANA) is a non-profit organization that brings together agriculture groups, government agencies, conservation organizations and academics working to improve soil health and nutrient management practices across the state. 

The Michigan PFAS Action Response Team (MPART) formally brings together several state agencies to investigate and remediate contamination by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS); develop and maintain cooperative relationships among local, state, and federal agencies; advance the science; and inform and empower the public to make educated decisions.

The Western Lake Erie Nutrient Source Inventory is an interactive GIS-based map showing both urban and rural nutrient sources in the Western Lake Erie Basin.

Pennsylvania’s PFAS Action Team is a multi-agency group that was established to address growing concerns about the presence of per- and poly- fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water.

The Minnesota Department of Public Health (MDH) and Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) work together to investigate and mitigate the presence of PFAS in drinking water in both private wells and sources of supply for municipal systems throughout the state.

The state of Minnesota works with landowners and local partners to reduce nutrient and sediment contamination through the Minnesota Buffer Law.

New York’s Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) Initiative seeks to mitigate the threat of HABs to sources of drinking water in upstate New York through regional collaboration, advanced monitoring pilot projects,  and the development and implementation of community-specific action plans.  $65 million was pledged to advance the objectives of the HABs Initiative.

As one of the largest wastewater and drinking water providers in the nation, the Great Lakes Water Authority is a leader in collaborating with researchers to understand threats to drinking water and strategies for protecting source water. Research at GLWA spans from source water monitoring, to research on effective drinking water and wastewater treatment strategies.

The U.S. EPA’s Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR) requires all public drinking water systems serving at least 10,000 people and a random subset of smaller public systems to monitor for selected contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) every five years. This monitoring can help define presence and risk of contaminants may inform future regulatory action, based on findings.

Great Lakes Water Authority has developed voluntary Surface Water Intake Protection Plans (SWIPP) for three surface water intakes located in Lake Huron and the Detroit River. The two Detroit River intakes are in urbanized areas with influences from the U.S. and Canada. The Lake Huron intake is situated further from industrial activities and urbanized areas but remains susceptible to the impacts of agricultural and stormwater runoff.

The city of Toledo participates in multiple regional partnerships and planning efforts aimed at mitigating spills that could potentially impact sources of drinking water.

The Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance (FWWA) has a targeted effort to work with farmers in three subwatersheds with some of the highest nutrient and sediment loading in the Lower Fox River watershed to improve water quality in northeastern Wisconsin.