Research Areas

The United States has one of the cleanest drinking water systems in the world. Drinking water standards are in place to ensure that clean water arrives at your tap. NRMRL plays a vital role in the scientific research that leads to safe drinking water. Given the wide range of drinking water sources and distribution practices, NRMRL studies ways to protect and restore our water resources so that consumers receive clean drinking water, delivered in the safest possible way.

Under the 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act, EPA sets standards for drinking water quality and assists the states, localities, and water suppliers who implement those standards. The law protects us against both naturally occurring and human-made contaminants that might be found in drinking water. EPA, states, and water utilities work together to make sure these standards are met.

NRMRL initiated the Aging Water Infrastructure (AWI) Research Program in 2007 as a bold, rigorous step toward meeting the challenge of our aging water infrastructure. The program’s goal is to generate the science and engineering that can evaluate and improve promising new technologies—technologies needed to reduce the cost and increase the effectiveness of our water treatment and conveyance systems.

AWI research, currently one of EPA’s top national water program priorities, brings together drinking water and wastewater utility managers; trade associations; local watershed protection organizations; and federal, state, and local officials to ensure all components of the nation’s water infrastructure meet future needs. Using condition assessment techniques, system rehabilitation, advanced concepts, and innovative treatment technologies, the program is designed to help implement asset management and provide reliable service to customers.

Our drinking water comes from groundwater, streams, rivers, springs, lakes, and reservoirs. Protecting these water sources is critical to providing safe drinking water. Contaminants are sometimes present in source water before it’s treated. Viruses, bacteria, pesticides, and industrial by-products are just a few of the threats than endanger our source water.

As partners with public water officials, communities, and resource managers, EPA researchers are engaged in studies that are yielding the scientific tools and technology to keep our source water free of harmful contaminants. Scientists conduct vulnerability assessments, develop best management practices, create monitoring techniques to detect contamination, and formulate quick-response plans to use when contamination occurs. Source water protection is a common-sense approach to maintaining the quality of our drinking water and safeguarding public health.

When it rains, some of the water seeps into the ground. The water moves to the “saturated zone” where all the openings between the rocks are filled with water. It is here that the water is correctly termed "groundwater." Ground water is stored in aquifers, water-bearing (permeable) rocks that yield usable quantities of water to wells and springs. Ground water can also seep into streams, lakes, and oceans. Ground water is an important source of our drinking water.

NRMRL conducts research that lays the scientific foundation for protecting and restoring our groundwater, which provides about 37 percent of our drinking water. Using NRMRL developed strategies and technologies, this important source of our drinking water is safeguarded from the adverse effects of human-made and natural processes.

The quality of our water is determined by factors such as the presence and quantity of contaminants, pH and conductivity (the ability to transmit heat), the salt content, and the presence of nutrients. These factors are largely influenced by humans, who discharge waste and contaminants into water sources from which we get our drinking water.

The purpose of NRMRL’s water quality research is to serve small and decentralized water/wastewater systems, using technology, management, and decision-support tools. NRMRL scientists conduct research and provide user-friendly information and guidance. The research encompasses the entire water cycle as it affects small and decentralized systems, with a focus on source water protection, drinking water treatment, water quality in distribution systems, wastewater collection, treatment and disposal, and water quality as it is affected by residual disposal and discharge.