April 30, 2004—A recent report from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows that drinking water data quality has improved considerably in many areas since the first report was released in 2000. The Safe Drinking Water Information System/Federal Version (SDWIS/FED) report contains data about public water system facilities, including violations of Federal drinking water standards and enforcement actions taken at those facilities.
To date, this report is the most comprehensive data reported by states on the performance of public water systems. EPA recognizes the importance of high quality data and is reportedly working to ensure that drinking water violations are properly assessed and reliably entered by states into SDWIS/FED.
The report describes efforts that are underway and includes an extensive list of actions that EPA plans to undertake with states to continue to improve drinking water data quality. The report is available from EPA.
