Private Wells and Other Unregulated Drinking Water Systems—Improving State and Local Capacity to Manage Risks

Nine states and two localities are receiving funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to count and gather data on private wells and other drinking water systems not regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act. These systems are also known as federally unregulated drinking water systems (UDWS).

This project improves the ability of state and local health departments to locate and use data from UDWSs by

• creating an inventory on water quality,
• assessing the data and/or datasets to identify relevant public health issues,
• developing or identifying interventions and evaluating their effectiveness, and
• making the datasets available to partners and researchers.

The 11 recipients of funding under this cooperative agreement are Duval County (Florida), Cerro Gordo County (Iowa), and the states of Connecticut, Florida, Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, and Oregon.

As a result of the funding, the recipients are expected to be able to better address critical data gaps in possible exposures, hazards, and health outcomes in communities and populations using private wells and UDWSs. An increase in available data on private well(s) and other UDWS is also expected.

The funds are from a FY 2013-2015 cooperative agreement [CDC-RFA-EH13-1301] managed by the Environmental Health Services Branch, Division of Emergency and Environmental Health Services, National Center for Environmental Health.

Top of Page