Office of Drinking Water

The Office of Drinking Water (ODW) serves as the Commonwealth’s advocate for safe drinking water. ODW is committed to protecting public health by ensuring that all people in Virginia have access to an adequate supply of affordable, safe drinking water that meets federal and state drinking water standards. Clean and safe drinking water is vital in order to prevent the spread of water-borne diseases, and is an essential component for ensuring Virginians an acceptable quality of life.

ODW Plans to Help Waterworks Comply with Stricter Arsenic Standards
Effective January 2006, the standard for arsenic in drinking water will be lowered from 50 to 10 parts per billion. To protect the public’s health and to assist local waterworks, a special program was developed for waterworks at risk of not meeting the new standard.

Arsenic is a naturally occurring element found in certain types of soils and rock formations. If wells are drilled in those areas water can become contaminated. Consuming water contaminated with high levels of arsenic over a lifetime has been associated with increased risk of cancer of the skin, lungs, bladder and kidney.

Historical testing indicated that approximately 25 waterworks in Virginia had arsenic concentrations at levels near or slightly above the new standard. For these waterworks, ODW instituted a special sampling program to determine who would benefit from changes to their water sources. In addition, ODW and the Office of Health Hazards Control prepared education materials about arsenic in drinking water for waterworks customers.

ODW Field Offices are working closely with waterworks who will need to provide additional treatment to remove arsenic from the water in order to meet the new standard. Some of these waterworks may be eligible for financial assistance provided by ODW’s Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF).

ODW’s Financial Assistance Programs Receive High Marks
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued two reports on the DWSRF program’s accomplishments. EPA issued a program evaluation report on the DWSRF which covered programmatic, financial and grant compliance areas of responsibility. The review was intended to identify strengths and areas for improvement. The report had no recommended areas for improvement which according to EPA, was the very first program evaluation report for any state that has no findings or recommended areas for improvement. EPA said that reflects extremely highly on the program administered by ODW. In addition, another program evaluation report noted that ODW continues to demonstrate a strong commitment to assisting small and disadvantaged water systems with 94.6 percent of its total DWSRF dollars committed to small communities, and is tied with Vermont for the highest percentage in the nation.