Protecting Community Water Supplies

one" is looking out for them by requiring that certain minimums are met. The Community Water Supply Study showed that this is not always true. Several terms need to be defined as they relate to the public health assessment of community water supplies. Surveillance is defined as the review by a separate agency of the source and treatment plant facilities; the quality of the operation of the system ; the utility's monitoring practices; and the hazards to the supply. The result of the review is a determination of the reliability of the supply or, put another way, of the confidence with which the supply can continuously produce water meeting the drinking-water standards. It is, therefore, up to the public agency charged with control over the operation of community water supplies to overview treatment and monitoring practices on behalf of the public. Monitoring is defined as the physical, chemical, and biological quality-control tests that are performed by the utility to adjust and control the treatment processes used to produce water meeting defined quality standards. Sanitary surveys are fact-finding activities that should reveal system deficiencies and permit the utility management to plan and carry out improvements. Despite the actual legal realities in the different states, there appears to be a widespread belief that water utilities, particularly those that are community owned, have no responsibility for their products' quality. The