The agreement assists the state of arkansas to develop and implement a public water system supervision (pwss) program to adequately enforce the national primary drinking water regulations and the…

EPA Region 6 awarded the Arkansas Department of Health $2,035,573 on October 1, 2025, under the State Public Water System Supervision program (CFDA 66.432) to develop and implement a Public Water System Supervision (PWSS) program that enforces the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations and Safe Drinking Water Act requirements statewide.

The award funds the Arkansas Department of Health's engineering section to conduct surveillance activities including system inventory maintenance, operational and compliance data review, and comprehensive sanitary surveys across all eight regulatory elements. The department will perform plan and specification reviews, construction inspections, and complaint investigations. The program will implement and monitor compliance with the Revised Total Coliform Rule, Surface Water Treatment Rule, Disinfectants/Disinfection Byproducts Rule, Ground Water Rule, Radionuclides, Nitrates/Nitrites, and other Safe Drinking Water Act requirements. The department will develop state drinking water regulations no less stringent than federal standards, maintain an inventory of drinking water systems, manage system information, facilitate public participation, and provide technical assistance to public water systems. The program covers 1,012 regulated active systems serving approximately 99.3% of Arkansans, with analytical support from the State Public Health Laboratory and seven certified system laboratories for coliform compliance monitoring.

Performance runs October 1, 2025, through September 30, 2027, with all work performed in Arkansas.

The agreement assists the state of arkansas to develop and implement a public water system supervision (pwss) program to adequately enforce the national primary drinking water regulations and the requirements of the safe drinking water act. This award supports the arkansas department of health's public water system supervision (pwss) program to implement and enforce the safe drinking water act (sdwa) statewide, protecting public health by ensuring that drinking water delivered by arkansas public water systems meets all applicable health-based standards. The program covers the entire statewide pwss effortmdash; regardless of funding sourcemdash; and serves approximately 99.3% of arkansans across 1,012 regulated active systems, with analytical support from the state public health laboratory and seven certified system laboratories for coliform compliance monitoring . Activities:the proposed work in this agreement includes: developing state drinking water regulations no less stringent than the federal regulations, maintaining an inventory of drinking water systems, managing information on public water systems, ensuring that public participation occurs regarding drinking water systems, providing technical assistance to public water systems and enforcing drinking water regulations. These activities will support core pwss functions and targeted initiatives to maintain primacy and improve compliance and capacity. The engineering section will conduct surveillance (maintaining system inventory; reviewing operational and compliance data; and performing comprehensive sanitary surveys across the eight elements), plan/specification reviews and construction inspections, complaint investigations, and extensive rule implementation and monitoring under the revised total coliform rule, surface water treatment rule, disinfectants/disinfection byproducts, ground water rule, radionuclides, nitrates/nitrites, and other sdwa requirements. The program will prepare for and implement new or revised requirements, including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), consumer confidence report (CCR) revisions, and fifth unregulated contaminant monitoring rule (UCMR5) coordination with the state and EPA contract laboratories . Subrecipient:no subawards are included in this assistance agreement.outcomes:the anticipated deliverables include core pwss functions and targeted initiatives to maintain primacy and improve compliance and capacity. The engineering section will conduct surveillance (maintaining system inventory; reviewing operational and compliance data; and performing comprehensive sanitary surveys across the eight elements), plan/specification reviews and construction inspections, complaint investigations, and extensive rule implementation and monitoring under the revised total coliform rule, surface water treatment rule, disinfectants/disinfection byproducts, ground water rule, radionuclides, nitrates/nitrites, and other sdwa requirements. The program will prepare for and implement new or revised requirements, including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), consumer confidence report (CCR) revisions, and fifth unregulated contaminant monitoring rule (UCMR5) coordination with the state and EPA contract laboratories . Enforcement will utilize an escalation strategy and EPA's enforcement targeting tool to return significant noncompliers to compliance or place them on enforceable schedules, with annual projections of approximately 40-60 warnings of administrative orders, 30-50 administrative orders, 20-40 consent agreements, and 3-5 enforcement hearings . Data management and reporting will continue through sdwis/state and fedrep, with ongoing QA/QC enhancements and expanded GIS capabilities to support inventory, compliance tracking, and source water protection mapping . The program provides public information and education (including CCR hosting/review and risk communications), technic