Division of Drinking and Ground Waters

Guiding Principles

• Develop and support innovative, practical, and effective solutions.
• Exercise sound, professional judgement in decision making.
• Actively use our mission, vision, and guiding principles in our decision making.
• Continually strive to improve the quality of our work.
• Recognize quality work in each other and our customers.
• Provide consistent, timely service to internal and external customers.
• Treat each other and our customers with courtesy and respect.
• Practice basic principles of positive human interaction, cooperation, teamwork, and honesty.
• Encourage employee pride, self improvement, and self motivation.
• Utilize all the training and tools available to effectively perform our job duties.
• Actively participate in the Agency's strategic management process.
• Integrate and promote pollution prevention activities.
• Support and promote environmental education for the public.

About the Drinking Water Program

The Division's Drinking Water Program manages the federally delegated drinking water program and implements both federal and Ohio's Safe Drinking Water statutes and rules adopted under these laws. To carry out the program the Division:  

• develops rules which match U.S. EPA regulations and are at least as stringent as the federal rules;
• conducts inspections of water treatment plants and storage and distribution systems to ensure proper construction and operation;
• informs Public Water Systems (PWSs) of their monitoring and reporting requirements under the law;
• tracks systems compliance with rules through review of their self-monitoring reports and of the analytical results of their water sampling;
• takes appropriate enforcement action for failure to comply with Ohio's safe drinking water laws and regulations;
• collects and tracks data regarding the activities and reports appropriately to the federal government.

 Drinking Water Staff also:

• inspects and certifies laboratories to ensure proper analysis of drinking water samples;
• reviews plans for new or modified PWSs, provide technical assistance to PWSs to help them operate properly and achieve and maintain compliance;
• evaluates water plants to determine which classification of certified operator is required to properly operate the plant;
• administers the water and wastewater operator certification program;
• responds to emergencies such as chemical spills or floods which either threaten a source of water or causes a treatment plant to be out of operation;
• responds to and investigate complaints of contaminated drinking water or water borne disease.

About the Ground Water Program

The Division's Ground Water Program:  

• oversees implementation of the Ohio Ground Water Protection and Management Strategy which serves as a guide to all state programs with ground water related responsibilities to help ensure coordinated and comprehensive protection and management of the state's ground water resources;
• manages and promotes participation in Ohio's Source Water Assessment and Protection (SWAP) Program which helps to ensure the present and future availability of uncontaminated water for the users of public drinking water systems;
• manages the State's Underground Injection Control Program (UIC) which regulates the types and amounts of waste that can be injected into underground geologic formations;
• monitors, through sampling and analysis, the quality of the ground water found in the various geologic regions around Ohio;
• conducts specialized monitoring studies to identify ground water contamination problems, determine cause and effect relationships and recommends strategies for preventing contamination;
• works with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and Ohio EPA's Division of Surface Water to identify, quantify, and remediate the adverse impacts on ground water caused by non-point source activities such as feed lot operations, and agricultural applications of fertilizer and pesticides;
• administers the State Coordinating Committee on Ground Water to enhance coordination among state agencies.

In addition to the above mentioned direct activities, the Division's Ground Water Program acts as a consultant to other divisions in the Agency on all matters relating to ground water. This work is carried out under memorandums of understanding which spell out what work will be done by each party and the amount of funding that the contracting division will provide the Ground Water Program. The contracting divisions are:

• Environmental Response and Revitalization (DERR)
• Materials and Waste Management (DMWM) 

Additionally, technical assistance is provided to other agency and State programs (e.g. the Division of Surface Water, the Drinking Water Program, and the Bureau of Underground Storage Tank Regulations (BUSTR), industry, public officials and the general public on various ground water programs, ground water quality, hydrogeology and other related information.

Division of Drinking and Ground Water Programs

The largest section of DDAGW is involved with overseeing Public Water Systems. The programs related to public water systems include:

Public Water System Home Page

• Comprehensive list of information pertaining to public water system operating and compliance.

Capability Assurance

• Ensures public water systems have the technical, managerial and financial capability to ensure long term compliance with all public drinking water regulations 

Enforcement - Public Water Systems

• Actions taken against public water systems for violations of the Safe Drinking Water Rules 

Engineering and Plan Approval

• Plan reviews and guidance for drinking water facilities, backflow prevention and cross-connection control 

Financial Assistance

• Coordinates several programs that offer below market rate loans to eligible public water systems to fund improvements to eliminate public health threats and ensure compliance with federal and state drinking water laws and regulations 

License to Operate (LTO)

• In Ohio, public water systems (PWSs) are required to obtain a license to operate (LTO) from Ohio EPA. The license to operate indicates the PWS is approved by the Agency to supply drinking water to the public, and must be prominently displayed at the facility. PWS are required to renew their license every year.

Security and Emergency Preparedness

• Tools and resources to help water systems prepare for, respond to, and recover from emergency events 

Water Quality Monitoring and Reporting 

• Includes public water system monitoring and guidance, monitoring schedules, and how to report water quality results to the Ohio EPA (electronic data reporting).

Enforcement

• To view enforcement actions taken by the Division of Drinking and Ground Waters for violations of the Safe Drinking Water Rules, click on the links below:
  
  
  • Public Water Systems
  • License to Operate 
  • Certified Operators
  • Underground Injection Control
    
  • Laboratories and Certified Analysts

Laboratory Certification

• Finding a certified lab, how to become a certified lab, reporting data, 'Pipeline' newsletter

Operator Certification

• Certifies water and wastewater system operators to ensure public water and wastewater systems are operated by properly trained and qualified individuals

Rules

• Ohio Administrative Code (OAC) rules administered by the Division of Drinking and Ground Waters are located on the Rules page

Policies and Guidance

• Currently effective policy and guidance documents related to the safe drinking water program are included on the Rules page

Source Water Assessment and Protection

• Also known as "Wellhead Protection" and "Drinking Water Source Protection", the Source Water Assessment and Protection (SWAP) Program assists public water suppliers with protecting sources of drinking water (streams, rivers, lakes, reservoirs, and aquifers) from contamination

Public Drinking Water Supply Beneficial Use

• Collaboration between the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act to ensure public water systems produce safe drinking water using only conventional treatment, resulting in reduced financial cost to communities and minimized risk to human health

Underground Injection Control

• The UIC program is responsible for the regulation of Class I, IV and V injection wells, and for assuring that their operation does not contaminate underground sources of drinking water.

Ground Water Quality Characterization Program

• Characterizes ambient ground water quality conditions, identifies ground water contamination, and recommends strategies for preventing contamination

Ground Water Support to Ohio EPA Programs

• Provides technical assistance to the public, regulated community, other governmental entities and other Ohio EPA Divisions concerning ground water related issues

Technical Guidance Manual for Hydrogeologic Investigations and Ground Water Monitoring (TGM)

•  The TGM identifies technical considerations for performing hydrogeologic investigations and ground water monitoring at potential or known ground water pollution sources.