Regulated water companies less likely to violate SDWA in US, finds analysis

Water systems owned by regulated water companies are less likely to violate the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) than water systems operated by local governments in the US, finds an analysis of a study on SDWA.

The initial study analysed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data from 1982 to 2015.

This analysis found that water systems under private ownership were “significantly associated with higher compliance.” The dataset indicated the compliance records of 17,900 community water systems from across the country.

National Association of Water Companies (NAWC) CEO and president Robert Powelson said: “The results of this study further confirm that regulated water companies nationwide are doing a better job than their municipal counterparts in delivering the highest quality water possible.”

Dr. Justin Adams of Encina Advisors, an economics research and statistical analysis consultancy based in California, undertook a further analysis of the EPA dataset.

The analysis indicated that water companies have high level of SDWA compliance at national level as well as in each of the four states reviewed: California, Texas, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.

For the first time, a state-level analysis of compliance records of regulated water companies and local governments has been undertaken using this dataset.

Dr Adams said: “We wanted see how the ownership of water systems impacted drinking water compliance rates in different states.

“The data show very clearly that water systems owned by regulated companies strongly outperform water systems owned and run by local governments on Safe Drinking Water Act compliance.”

Powelson added: “Local governments across America face urgent water system infrastructure and operations challenges. That is, no doubt, one of the key contributors to what we see in this study as some small and midsized municipalities struggle to provide safe water to residents.

“NAWC member companies are well-positioned to bring the expertise and investment troubled systems need to ensure Americans can count on safe and reliable water service.”

The initial study, published in the proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was authored by Dr. Maura Allaire, University of California Irvine; Haowei Wu, Columbia University; and Dr. Upmanu Lall, Columbia University.

The state-level analysis of EPA data was undertaken by Encina Advisors and was funded by the National Association of Water Companies.