Agencies
Services
Drinking Water Compliance and Enforcement
The Illinois EPA seeks to attain sustained compliance and promote pollution prevention by adequate operation and maintenance of facilities, as well as sound local fiscal and timely comprehensive planning for future facilities. Achievement and maintenance of compliance is supported by a response process providing for timely, appropriate follow-up to violations that takes into account the nature and severity of the violation and the facility's overall degree of non-compliance.
Reporting to the public on compliance with environmental requirements is necessary to maintain credibility with the public and is important in maintaining sustained compliance from the regulated facilities.
Compliance maintenance is promoted by encouraging and assisting facility operators and officials to plan for preventative and corrective actions on a timely basis. Key program elements include a facility self-monitoring system, systems for early identification of potential compliance problems, and the initiation of actions to achieve or sustain compliance.
All community water supplies are required to conduct periodic self-monitoring. Use of a certified laboratory to analyze for the presence of microorganisms and chemicals in the finished drinking water provides information to enable facilities to comply with established maximum contaminant levels. The information obtained by the self-monitoring program must be routinely reported to the Illinois EPA and is summarized in an annual Consumer Confidence Report that is made available to each water customer served by the water supply. Objectives of the self-monitoring and reporting requirements include the production of data necessary for the Illinois EPA to determine facility compliance and the education of consumers about the quality of their drinking water. Compliance monitoring is conducted in accordance with U.S. EPA technical review criteria for the determination of significant noncompliance and identification of potential health effects.