Privately owned water system? Read this!

I wrote recently about the Municipal Water Law being upheld by the Washington State Supreme Court. Just looking at the word "municipal" in the title may make you hit delete. But wait. Adjust your radar. Do you have a community drinking water well? Are there 15 or more homes sharing this water source? If so, you have a privately owned water system which has the same water use efficiency requirements as a public water system.

By upholding this law, you as a "group A" water system are responsible for submitting an annual report to the Washington Department of Health by July 1, 2011. Now that I have your attention, don't panic. Your first report will let DOH know that you are working toward compliance with the WUE requirements. Mike Dexel at DOH is there to help you through this process. He's a nice guy, really! He has come up with three things that you need to prepare for your report:

1. Start collecting metered data. You are responsible for reporting on how much water is pumped from your source and how much was consumed. Your well should have a source meter already. Assign someone to record this data! What you probably don't have are meters at individual homes. When you do have those meters they will have to be read and compared to the source meter to make sure that you do not have leaks on the system.
2. Hold a public meeting to establish water efficiency goals. This means getting the people sharing the water source together, maybe in a living room over coffee. If you don't have meters yet, you can establish a goal based on your source meter. ex: "Reduce annual source meter production by 5% by 2015". Giving information to your customers is not a goal . . .that is a conservation measure which is also a requirement.
   
3. Develop a plan to install meters. You will need to explain your plan on you July 1 online report.You need to develop a plan to get every residence metered by January 22, 2017.

There are many ways to get your water conservation goal. EPA sponsored website http://www.epa.gov/WaterSense/ has many tips on water saving appliances and fixtures that will help your community save water.

Visit Washington Department of Health Office of Drinking Water at http://www.doh.wa.gov/ehp/dw/default.htm to find out what will be required from your water system. If you have a privately owned water system, find out your responsibilities today.