Council Member Alan Roberson addresses a series of key questions related to drinking water enforcement in this SWDA short-form video series. These informational videos are based on the newly released book, Safe Drinking Water Act: The Next Fifty Years, which explores the vision for drinking water over the next fifty years, aging water infrastructure, consumer confidence reports, and the need to prioritize relative risks in drinking water.
Alan discusses enforcement and violation trends in drinking water systems in his chapter in Safe Drinking Water Act: The Next Fifty Years. He reviews EPA data showing relatively stable violation rates over the past decade, including ongoing health-based violations and broader system noncompliance. He highlights that this persistent level of issues is unacceptable and points to a systemic problem in drinking water regulation and performance.
Enforcement is meant to ensure accountability but can struggle to translate into meaningful on-the-ground improvements. Learn more about the structural issues within the system and why addressing underlying capacity and operational challenges is essential to strengthening compliance and protecting public health.
Drinking water system failures can take many forms, including chronic violations, boil water notices, aging infrastructure, limited funding, governance challenges, and years of deferred maintenance that ultimately impact system reliability and performance.
Weak or insufficient drinking water enforcement can lead to long-term public health risks, ongoing violations, and severe system failures that disrupt reliable water service and everyday life.
Ensuring safe drinking water over the next 50 years will require greater investment in water systems and broader recognition of the true cost of maintaining reliable service.
Effective enforcement for PFAS regulations may require flexible, milestone-based agreements that ensure steady progress while allowing systems to stay on track toward full compliance.
Learn more about these insights by reading the open-access book here.