Priority Area 15:
Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS)

 

States are integrally involved in making data and policy changes related to drinking water information systems.  Among the ongoing activities occurring are the following:

• The Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS) Data Sharing Committee, comprised of states and EPA, reviews and recommends changes and additions related to SDWIS. This Committee is comprised of at least seven states and three EPA employees and meets monthly by conference calls. In addition, several states participate informally in this Committee.

• The SDWIS Data Management Steering Committee, comprised of states and EPA, evaluates all information system-related policy issues. This group consists of at least seven states and three EPA employees and also meets monthly.

• EPA conducts monthly SDWIS primacy agency calls, which are open to all drinking water data users including states, territories, EPA Regions, and contractors to discuss anything related to drinking water data management – reporting issues, training, implementation questions, etc.  Typically between 20 and 30 states participate in monthly teleconferences.

• The Association of State Drinking Water Administrators (ASDWA) and EPA jointly conduct an annual Data Management Users Conference (DMUC).

• EPA also relies on input from states in numerous ASDWA/EPA workgroups, most recently the SDWIS Requirements Session at the annual DMUC in May 2008.  Visit the SDWIS Meeting and Announcements Web page to learn more about these ongoing activities.

Additional Timeline of SDWIS deliverables:

• 01/2006: Update made to modernize SDWIS-Fed.  SDWIS-Fed extracts data from SDWIS-State on a quarterly basis. This change shifted the data of record from production data, which could change at any time, to quarterly frozen data.

• 11/2007: A Long-Term 2 (LT2) module was built into SDWIS-State.

• 2008: SDWIS-Fed updated for entry of sanitary survey data.

• 05/06/2008 – 05/08/2008: – Nashville, Tennessee. Annual ASDWA/EPA Data Management Users Conference.

• 10/20/2008 – 10/22/2008: Colorado Springs, Colorado.  Annual ASDWA conference.

• 2008: Data Sharing Committee will discuss whether to add data element for outstanding performers on a 5-year sanitary survey cycle.

• 2008: Source Water Protection (SWP) element will be added to SDWIS State and Fed.  See EPA’s Drinking Water Data and Databases for more information.

• 2008: Data Sharing Committee will discuss whether to evaluate options that would allow states to report reasons systems are on Significant Noncompliance (SNC) lists (as required through the capacity development reports) through SDWIS.

• 2008: Data Sharing Committee will discuss whether to include operator certification reporting in SDWIS.

• 2008-2009: Joint pilot testing of system-based electronic data verification tool, or SNC desktop calculator, with the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators and EPA.