State to be responsible for safety of county drinking water

The state Department of Environmental Protection is taking over inspection responsibilities from the Allegheny County Health Department for 66 public drinking water systems.

The change in oversight is effective Feb. 1, and the DEP said it has added experts assigned exclusively to the county’s public water systems.

The state and the county health department have shared safe drinking water program responsibilities in Allegheny County since the mid-1980s.

The DEP will conduct full, federally mandated, water system inspections every three years, a requirement now handled by the county. The state also will continue its existing drinking water permitting and enforcement programs.

“We see it as we have the ability with our permitting and compliance staff in place and are familiar with the systems, so we won’t be starting from scratch,” said Lauren Fraley, a DEP spokeswoman.

Ms. Fraley said the switch in regulatory responsibility was not linked to lead contamination problems or boil water advisories the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority has faced in recent years. The DEP now also will have full oversight of the city system.

DEP Southwest Regional Director Ron Schwartz said the decision to make the water program changes “reinforces our commitment to safe drinking water.”

Except for Erie County’s restaurant water supply oversight, no other county in the state has retained responsibility over drinking water system regulation, Ms. Fraley said.

In August, the DEP announced plans to expand inspection staffing in its Safe Drinking Water Program statewide. Also last year, it announced public water system fee increases projected to bring in an additional $7.5 million for the program that receives $7.7 million in general fund appropriations and $12 million from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Dr. Karen Hacker, director of the Allegheny County Health Department, said the DEP approached the county last fall about the oversight switch.

“The state has the capacity,” Dr. Hacker said. “But we will still have some areas where we’ll be working on health-related water issues. If there’s a boil water advisory, or legionella issue or situations where we’d be working with restaurants or health care systems on water problems, that would be a role for the health department.”

The health department also will continue to work with the DEP on sewage and wastewater compliance programs.