The Source Water Assessment and Protection Program (SWAP) is a drinking water protection program, mandated by the 1996 amendments to the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, under which states were required to perform assessments for each and every public water system--from huge systems to the tiny well serving a roadside diner.

The assessments, which NJDEP recently completed, consist of three components: 1) a delineation of the area over which water flows to a well or an intake; 2) a list of significant potential pollution sources within the delineated area and 3) an estimate of the susceptibility of the water system to contamination (based, in part, on its geological setting and on previous history of contamination). The word "source" is used in two different ways in the above discussion--as a source of drinking water and as a potential pollution source.

The water system assessments are available on the Internet at http://www.nj.gov/dep/swap/creport.htm. First look at the four-page assessment summary, the last page of which has a map of the source water area(s), and then look at Appendix A, attachment 2 for a list of the potential sources of pollution.

With the completion of the assessments, the SWAP program moves into the source water protection phase. DEP would like to hear of any source-water-protective activities currently in progress or planned in your municipality--for example, wellhead protection ordinances, septic system maintenance programs, household hazardous waste collections, outreach to homeowners on lawn care, automotive oil changes, etc.

Please contact:
Stephen Gould, EPA Region 2 SWAP Coordinator
US Environmental Protection Agency
290 Broadway
New York, NY 10007
212) 637-3822
gould.stephen@epa.gov