Source Water Assessment and Protection (SWAP) FAQs:

What was SWAP?

SWAP was a program to help public water systems protect their water supply from contamination.  The 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments directed all 50 states to develop SWAP programs. The Wyoming Legislature set aside $1.2 million dollars of a federal fund for the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to develop and implement the SWAP program.

SWAP was voluntary in Wyoming.  Wyoming is the only state in the United States where the SWAP program was not mandatory.  Over 385 public water systems participated.

SWAP had two parts.  The first part was to conduct an assessment of the public water supply. DEQ completed assessments for all public water systems that applied in August 2004. The second part was to encourage the public water system to develop a protection program to safeguard the water supply.
 

What are the four steps involved in an assessment?

These four steps can be completed on any public water supply that did not originally participate or any new sources of water for those systems that did participate.

Delineation.  The area that contributes water to the well or surface water intake will be determined. This area will be called the source water area.

Inventory.  An inventory of sources of contamination within the source water area that may affect the water supply will be conducted.

Susceptibility Analysis.  An analysis of the located potential sources of contamination will be conducted. This will alert the public water system to the contaminant sources that have the greatest likelihood of affecting the water supply.

Reporting.  Assessment reports will summarize all the information gained during the assessment. Maps of the source water area, lists of major potential sources of contamination, and summaries of the susceptibility analyses will be provided to public water systems and made available to the public.
 

How does Wellhead Protection (WHP) fit in?

WHP is a part of the SWAP program. WHP is a method to protect groundwater used for drinking water. The SWAP program will complete the delineation, contaminant inventory, and susceptibility analysis steps of WHP plan development for you. The WHP  Guidance Document describes the process of developing a WHP plan in detail.

How can SWAP or WHP benefit my public water system?

Monitoring waivers. DEQ is working with the EPA to develop a monitoring waiver program for public water systems that have completed source water assessments or have developed source water or wellhead protection plans. These systems may be eligible for monitoring waivers that can save substantial amounts of money on testing.

Flexibility in complying with EPA rules.  The proposed Groundwater Treatment Rule may require groundwater-based systems to disinfect their water. Groundwater-based public water systems may be able to avoid disinfecting their water if source water assessment results indicate that microbiological contaminants (human and animal wastes) cannot affect the well water.

Prevent contamination of your water.  Knowing what kinds of contamination may exist will allow your system to prevent or minimize contamination of the water supply. Public water systems can develop and implement effective source water protection or wellhead protection plans to protect the source water into the future.

Planning tool.  Source water assessments will provide information to the public water system for planning purposes. For example, emergency response plans, new water supply development plans, and city and county planning efforts will benefit from having the information provided by the assessment reports.

Learn more about Source Water Assessment and Protection:

EPA's Office of Ground Water & Drinking Water
EPA Source Water Protection
EPA Envirofacts Data Warehouse
EPA 'Surf Your Watershed'
EPA 'Index of Watershed Indicators'
 

Wellhead Protection Fact Sheets:

Tools to protect private wells for the home and ranch:

Farm*A*Syst For farms and ranches with wells
Home*A*Syst For private homes with wells
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)