Protecting Public Health and the Environment.
August 30, 2016
The Drinking Water Blog is moving to a new location. DEQ launched a new blog that will cover a variety of topics from the agency’s air, water, and waste programs. Staff from the drinking water program will contribute to the new blog and all drinking water-related posts will ...
March 31, 2016
Implementation of the Revised Total Coliform Rule (RTCR) begins April 1, 2016, for all public water systems. All public water systems will transition to the RTCR on their existing total coliform monitoring schedule. Owners and operators need to review and update their existing total coliform sample siting plans ...
February 11, 2016
In a recent GOVERNING article “As Water Utilities Move Online, Hackers Take Note,” columnist Tod Newcombe says water utilities are increasingly vulnerable to cyberattacks.
“In fact, water utilities were most likely to have reported what Department of Homeland of Security categorizes as an advanced persistent threat, which involves exploiting ...
January 25, 2016
Recently, Flint, Michigan was declared a state of emergency due to high levels of lead in their drinking water. In 2014, Flint switched its water source from Lake Huron water provided by Detroit Water and Sewer District to the Flint River. Detroit treats Lake Huron water with orthophosphate ...
March 09, 2015
Ground water, the water beneath the earth’s surface, is vital to Idahoans. Ground water supplies approximately 95 percent of Idahoans with their drinking water.
National Ground Water Awareness Week will be observed March 8-14, 2015, to foster citizen awareness of the importance of ground water resources in Idaho.
To help ...
February 24, 2015
Each year, community public water systems in Idaho must prepare an annual consumer confidence report (CCR) for their customers telling them where their drinking water comes from and what's in it. A community water system is a public water system that serves at least 15 service connections used ...
July 22, 2014
Owners and operators of community and non-transient non-community public water systems that are on Stage 2 Disinfection Byproduct (DBP) monitoring and taking quarterly samples need to evaluate sample results regularly. The Operational Evaluation Level (OEL) requirement applies to all public water systems with quarterly monitoring schedules, which includes ...
April 18, 2014
Operators with water systems that provide chlorine disinfection must test for free chlorine to ensure effective treatment. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved test methods for this purpose. Although these methods are simple and reliable, operators can get poor results unless they use proper techniques. This ...
March 24, 2014
All water systems should take action, as appropriate, to upgrade their software programs and avoid the risk of compromise through use of outdated, unsupported products. Microsoft is ending support for the Windows XP operating system and Office 2003 product line on April 8, 2014. After this date, these ...
March 21, 2014
Each year, community public water systems in Idaho must prepare an annual consumer confidence report (CCR) for their customers telling them where their drinking water comes from and what's in it. A community water system is a public water system that serves at least 15 service connections used ...
February 19, 2014
Congress revised the Safe Drinking Water Act in 2011 regarding the use and introduction into commerce of lead pipes, plumbing fittings or fixtures, solder and flux. Based upon this revision, effective January 4, 2014, public water systems must use pipes, fittings or fixtures that are in contact with ...
December 02, 2013
Most of Idaho’s community and non-community non-transient public water systems receive monitoring waivers to reduce the frequency of required chemical sampling, which has the potential to save between $700-900 per year for each source.
Monitoring waivers do not automatically renew and do require submission of a new application ...
November 27, 2013
Idaho now allows all sizes of community public water systems the option to deliver Consumer Confidence Reports (CCRs) electronically. All community public water systems are required to deliver CCRs to their customers by July 1 of every year and provide a certification to DEQ that CCRs were delivered. ...
November 06, 2013
The Environmental Finance Center Network has scheduled a 5-part webinar series on the core components of Asset Management. This training series will help the utility answer the question, “How can we spend our limited dollars to have the greatest impact?” The primary trainer will be Heather Himmelberger of the ...
February 25, 2013
Each year, community public water systems in Idaho must prepare an annual consumer confidence report (CCR) for their customers telling them where their drinking water comes from and what's in it. A community water system is a public water system that serves at least 15 service connections used ...
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