Celebrating Safe Drinking Water While Focusing on the Future

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), a pillar of public health and water quality. Passed by Congress in 1974, this landmark law protects communities across the nation by setting national, health-based standards for all public water systems to protect against both naturally occurring and man-made contaminants. SDWA’s stringent regulations and standards provide safe, life-sustaining drinking water throughout the country.

Since its implementation, disease outbreaks in public water systems have been significantly reduced, the number of regulated contaminants has increased from 22 to 94, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (U.S. EPA) compliance reports show a 39 percent decrease in health-based violations between 1996 (when first reported) and 2021. SDWA’s success can be attributed to coordinated federal, state, and local commitments to create clear accountability for safe water.

At LADWP, we’re proud of our long legacy of proactive water quality improvements and regulatory compliance initiatives. These efforts have yielded some of the best water quality in any city, both nationally and internationally. Our accomplishments over the years include:

• Design/construction of two of the largest ultravoilet disinfection facilities in the U.S.
• Innovative use of 96 million shade balls to cover the Los Angeles Reservoir
• Procurement/installation of no-lead water meters and components in our distribution system
• Investing over $1.5 billion to cover or provide additional treatment to open-air reservoirs and comply with the U.S. EPA’s Enhanced Surface Water Treatment and Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts Rules
• Constructing local groundwater remediation facilities for high quality, resilient groundwater supply
• Training and developing numerous state-certified Treatment Operators and Distribution Operators, with ongoing training at our International Accreditors for Continuing Education and Training accredited facility
• Funding of research and advisory panels to study advanced treatment and operation methods

Even with all these accomplishments and advancements, the core tenets of the SDWA inspire us to continue improving our water treatment, delivery, and monitoring methods for the benefit of all our customers. We are committed to achieving all current and future state and federal requirements for drinking water and look forward to providing you with updates on our ongoing efforts for the next 50 years of the SDWA.