The Department of Environmental Protection recognized three southeastern public water suppliers this week for voluntary efforts to protect drinking water sources.

Southeast Regional Director Joseph A. Feola said the suppliers—Riegelsville Water Authority and Springfield Township in Bucks County, and the East Greenville Borough Water Department in Montgomery County—have implemented successful wellhead protection programs that guard public and environmental health in the respective regions.

“Wellhead protection is a commonsense approach to guarding public health,” said Feola. “By identifying and minimizing threats to groundwater, we ensure the highest drinking water quality, safeguard residents from water-borne illnesses, and support the economic viability of these communities.”

Source water protection programs are locally designed, voluntary efforts to protect drinking water sources used by public water systems. The programs may take the form of watershed protection for surface water sources, wellhead protection for groundwater sources, or a combination of approaches.

The Riegelsville plan updates a protection area for one of its wells and includes a detailed hydrogeologic study of all three wells in the system. The Springfield Township plan is a joint effort with Lower Saucon Township, Northampton County, and includes groundwater protection ordinances in both townships to protect a shared resource. The East Greenville plan addresses the protection of a well and a surface water intake on Perkiomen Creek and recommends measures to protect the upper reaches and tributaries of the creek.

All three plans include public education activities.

A wellhead protection program generally includes forming a steering committee, delineating the area to be protected, identifying contamination sources, educating the public, establishing contingency and emergency plans for water supply protection, and investigating new drinking water sources.

During this process, a water supplier will identify known environmental contamination sites, such as leaking underground storage tanks and Superfund sites. The supplier will also identify potential impacts to water supplies from, among other things, registered underground storage tanks, hazardous waste generators, or land use associated with agricultural, commercial and industrial operations.

The development and implementation of a wellhead protection program generally takes several years to plan and obtain DEP approval. With the addition of these three systems, there are now five approved programs in the southeast region. Each plan has been tailored to its system’s resources and constraints.

For more information, visit DEP’s Source Water Protection webpage.

1/11/2008