News Releases - 2000

Nearly 90 Percent of State Water Supplies Meeting All Standards

Springfield, Ill. -- Between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31 of 1999, more than 90 percent of Illinois public water supply customers received their tap water from supplies that met all health requirement criteria during the 12 month period. The figure reflects an improvement of more than 2 1/2 percent from compliance figures for 1995

Under the Illinois EPA's performance agreement with U.S. EPA, the state has a goal of every Illinois public water system providing water that is consistently safe to drink. Standards are set for both short term (acute) and long term (chronic) health effects. In 1995, the Illinois EPA set a goal of having more than 95 percent of its population served by community water supplies in full compliance with all short and long-term standards by 2005.

During the last calendar year, 1,567 (87 percent) of the state's community water supplies supplies were in full compliance with all requirements. More than 98 percent of the population served by Illinois community water supplies in 1999 received drinking water meeting the short term health standards, and more than 93 percent received water that was in compliance with the long term health standards.

In most cases where non-compliance occurred, duration was brief and the potential for health risk was minimized by prompt corrective action by the water supplies. Supplies with microbial problems (either bacterial or turbidity non-compliance) are required to issue boil orders, and supplies that exceed maximum contaminant levels for nitrate are required to provide bottled water for infants under six months of age until the levels are consistently well below the MCL.

The figures are part of an annual report required under the 1996 amendments to the federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). The Act says states like Illinois with primary enforcement authority for the federal regulations must issue yearly public reports of their progress toward providing every customer of a public water system with water that is consistently safe to drink, without adverse health effects.

"A plentiful supply of safe drinking water is something we in Illinois tend to take for granted," Illinois EPA Director Thomas Skinner said. "However, having safe, clean water flow from our taps requires conscientious day-to-day efforts by many people."

As in previous years, the largest cause of violations was failure to monitor as required or to take mandatory follow-up actions such as public notice or public education efforts, rather than actual failure to meet established substance limits in finished water.

The annual report shows that, during 1999, a total of 1,751 community water supplies, or approximately 95 percent serving about 98 percent of the population, were below the 15 parts per billion lead action level.

Lead and copper levels are monitored differently from substances with MCLs. If more than 10 percent of the samples collected from taps in users= homes exceed 15 parts per billion of lead, the water supply must implement treatment or take other steps to ensure that lead is controlled. By federal requirement, the samples must be taken from homes where there is a high likelihood that lead will be present. The samples reflect only the lead present in that residence's plumbing system and do not typify lead levels in water being distributed to the community at large.

While overall figures show Illinois was on course for meeting the 2005 goal, during 1999 there was a one-half percent decrease in compliance compared with calendar year 1998, chiefly due to short-term nitrate excursions. Compliance efforts continue to focus on reducing the frequency and duration of excursions by development of enforceable schedules to ensure sustained compliance.

Copies of the summary or complete annual water system compliance reports, which must be filed by July 1 with U.S. EPA, can be obtained by contacting the Illinois EPA's Division of Public Water Supplies, #13, P.O. Box 9276, Springfield, IL 62794-9276.