Source Water Assessment Branch

The Source Water Assessment Branch of the Office of Land and Water Resources administers several programs involved in protecting groundwater and surface water resources.

Programs

EPA Section 106 Groundwater Program – utilizes federal grant funds and is responsible for executing federal groundwater protection priorities involving state and federal pollution control programs.

Priority issues include:

Mississippi Agricultural Chemical Groundwater Monitoring (AgChem) Program – instituted in 1987 to monitor the drinking water aquifers of the state for agricultural chemicals or their metabolites. Approximately 1100 drinking water, irrigation, and fish culture wells have been sampled and analyzed for over 200 Pesticides and other chemical constituents. Program results indicate the groundwater supply has been relatively unaffected by agricultural activities.

Source Water Assessment Program – a result of the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996, which mandated all States to identify public water systems that may be susceptible to contamination and to adopt appropriate management measures that will enhance their protection.

Surface Water Source Water Assessment – Source Water Assessment Plans for the four surface water intakes of the state have been developed and implemented as part of the Source Water Assessment Program mandated by the
Federal Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996

Other Helpful Links

MS State Department of Health
MS Rural Water Association
US EPA Office of Water
USGS MS Groundwater Data

Contact

For more information about the Groundwater Planning Branch and its programs click Wayne Williams.