History of the Safe Drinking Water Act
On December 16, 1974, The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) became law.
Before 1974, the United States had zero national standards for the treatment or testing of safe drinking water. Enter the Safe Drinking Water Act! On December 16, 1974, The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) became law, protecting the health and safety of the water that comes out of our taps.
The SDWA is our nation’s main law to protect the quality of our drinking water at the tap. Like the Clean Water Act (CWA), responsibility for oversight and implementation of the SDWA rests mainly with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Additionally, the SDWA only regulates public water systems. It does not apply to private wells, water systems serving fewer than 25 persons or bottled water.
We’ve made a lot of progress in the last 50 years, protecting our drinking water from over 90 different contaminants, but we still have a ways to go to ensure every person in the United States has access to affordable water that is safe to drink.
For additional resources on the history of the SDWA, check out: EPA History: Safe Drinking Water Act.
