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Public Health Week 2008
Programs Profile

Because safe and reliable drinking water is so essential to our daily lives and livelihood, the Department of Health’s Office of Drinking Water works with public water systems to vigorously monitor the quality of their water.

We help ensure safe drinking water by protecting water sources from contamination, testing water for contamination, enforcing water quality and operating standards, inspecting water systems and reporting problems, training and certifying system operators, keeping drinking water infrastructure safe from threats and responding quickly to drinking water emergencies.

In Washington state:

• Eighty percent of our 6.4 million residents get their drinking water from 4,160 federally regulated public water systems (those with 15 or more connections).

• These water systems have developed an excellent track record for monitoring their water quality. In 2006, for example, 96 percent completed required tests for bacterial contamination, up from 78 percent in 2000.

Web resources

• Office of Drinking Water: http://www.doh.wa.gov/ehp/dw/default.htm

• To contact Office of Drinking Water staff: http://www.doh.wa.gov/ehp/dw/Staff_Lists/dwnames.htm

• Information for private well owners: http://www.doh.wa.gov/ehp/dw/Publications/331-349_1-13-07.pdf

• Water Tap newsletter: http://www.doh.wa.gov/ehp/dw/our_main_pages/watertap.htm

• Drinking Water Week: http://www.doh.wa.gov/ehp/dw/drinking_water_nomin.htm

• Building Trust in Tap Water Toolkit: http://www.doh.wa.gov/ehp/dw/tapwater.htm