How does my PWS stay in the know?

Using Aqua Talk and engagement website

One of the most frequent questions that our Local Assistance Unit (LAU) coaches get is: how does our public water system stay in the know with rule and regulation updates? To answer this question we are presenting some tools for you to access up-to-date information and to stay engaged with the division. These tools include: 

1. The Aqua Talk Blog engagement functions: searching the blog and using the tag function 
2. The WQCD engagement website: calendar, signing up for engagement email notifications
3. Safe Drinking Water Program’s Local Assistance Unit website: free monthly training opportunities, one-on-one coaching requests, and on-demand free online trainings

Aqua Talk Blog

If you are reading this article then you know about the safe drinking water program’s Aqua Talk blog that is published 2-3 times a month. What you may not know is that this blog platform offers many functions to help you find the information that you need to run your public water system. The first function we want to highlight is the search function. To start, you will go to the Aqua Talk homepage. On the upper right hand corner you will see a search box that says “Search This Blog.” By typing topics of interest to you into the search box you can locate articles on specific topics. 

For example, if you would like to learn about recent updates to the lead and copper rule you can type “lead and copper” into the search bar and click “Search.” The blog will then show you all articles that have the words lead and copper in their title or the body text. The blog defaults to sort the articles by relevance. If you would like to see the most recent articles you can click on the blue text at the top of the page that says “Sort by date.” Please note that the “Show all posts” link will send you back to the Aqua Talk homepage where you can see all posts in our archive (since 2019).

Another helpful function of the blog is the tag section. Starting on the Aqua Talk homepage you scroll a quarter of the way down the page until you see the “Topics/Tags” box on the right hand side of the screen. You can then click on the topics that interest you to see all the articles that have been tagged with those topics. 

The WQCD Engagement Page

The second tool we want you to know about is the WQCD engagement website. This website is a space for water and wastewater systems to play a part in updates that the division makes to regulations, guidance, and policies. We want to hear from you on these proposals. Whether you are a member of the public who is interested in what the state is doing or a regulated entity that is impacted by these measures, we want your feedback. The information on this webpage reflects current efforts you should be aware of and possible engagement opportunities. There are many opportunities for you to engage on the website. 

The first tool you will see is the engagement calendar. This calendar shows all scheduled WQCD engagement events.  You can select how you want to view the calendar by selecting the “Week” or “Month'' tab at the top of the calendar and then select the timeline you want to view by clicking on the horizontal arrows. If you are interested in learning more about a specific event click on the blue text in the calendar and a window will pop up with more information and links to either find more information or to copy the event to your work calendar. Many events have specific contact information at the bottom of the calendar post so, be sure to scroll to the bottom of each event to access that information. 

Another aspect of the engagement website to look into is the engagement email notifications sign-up form. If you scroll past the engagement calendar you will see a red box with a link to “Sign up for email notifications.” If you click on this link it will send you to a separate website where you can sign up for different WQCD email listservs. The subscription form will ask for the following information: 

You will then select which emails you would like to receive by clicking on the blank box next to the topics you are interested in: 

Please note that these emails will be sent out through a third party website. You can opt out of these emails at any time by clicking on the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of the email. 

There are many other options for you to plug into division activities on the WQCD engagement page, too many to list in this article. We recommend that you spend some time looking into this website as it is a crucial tool for you to stay in-the-know. 

Safe Drinking Water Program’s Local Assistance Unit website

Lastly we want to highlight the LAU website. To start, the LAU website lists many free training opportunities for water systems. Please note that the team rotates between in-person and virtual offerings for our group training events. Please click on the registration documents (see links below) to see upcoming dates and register for the training you would like to attend by selecting your date and filling out the registration form. The LAU team will send you attendance information within 48 hours.  

• Monitoring and Operating for Regulatory compliance
• Offered the first Wednesday of every month 
• Tailored to operators and decision makers 
• 0.4 free TUs offered 
• Meets mandatory regulatory training (MRT) requirements for certified drinking water operators
• Sanitary Survey Preparation 
• Offered the third Wednesday of every month 
• Tailored to operators and decision makers who would like to prepare for their next drinking water sanitary survey inspection 
• 0.3 free TUs offered 
• Resilience training: Emergency Management & Financial Planning
• Offered the third Tuesday of the last month of every quarter 
• This training is primarily offered in-person as the curriculum is heavily activity based
• Tailored to decision makers but operators may find valuable 
• 0.4 free TUs offered 

The LAU will continue to develop our group training event offerings to meet the needs of the drinking water community. We also work with our technical assistance providers in the state (RCAC, CRWA, EFCN, AWWA, CoWARN, and Indigo Water) to provide free training across the state and via webinar. We strive to meet the needs of our training customers, if you have suggestions of curriculum we should offer in the coming months and years please email cdphe.wqdwtraining@state.co.us with your suggestions. Please see the LAU website to see the on-demand and on-line training opportunities that we offer for free. 

In addition to group training events our coaches also offer one-on-one visits in which we will meet virtually or in-person at your facility to provide technical, managerial, and financial technical assistance. To request a coaching visit with your drinking water facility please fill out our online assistance request form. As with the WQCD engagement website, there are many more opportunities for learning and plugging into the division on the LAU website. We invite you to take some time to look at the website. 

Thank you for your dedication to protecting public health by providing safe drinking water to your communities. We hope these tools help you in this endeavor and look forward to your engagement! 

➽ Kyra Gregory Drinking Water Training Specialist

Most Frequently Cited Significant Deficiencies and Violations - Inspection Year 2022

The Field Services wrapped up the 2022 inspection year (IY 22) in September and the new IY 23 inspection year started on October 1, 2022. We appreciated all the assistance from public water systems in completing 469 sanitary surveys in 2022! We anticipate completing over 550 sanitary surveys in 2023. In this article we will share the top 10 most frequently cited significant deficiencies and violations to raise awareness and help operators identify and correct issues before they become a potential health threat or citations in a sanitary survey. 

According to Regulation 11, Section 11.3(72), a significant deficiency means: any situation, practice, or condition in a public water system with respect to design, operation, maintenance, or administration, that the state determines may result in or have the potential to result in production of finished drinking water that poses an unacceptable risk to health and welfare of the public served by the water system. Field-based Violations of Regulation 11 have either Tier 2 or Tier 3 public notice requirements that are dependent upon the severity of the violation and any potential public health effects, pursuant to Regulation 11, Sections 11.33(1)(a,b), 11.33(2)(a), 11.33(3)(a) and 11.33(4)(a). All issued notifications must comply with the general content and distribution requirements and notice reporting requirements that are included in Regulation 11.33(5),(6) and (7).

During the 2022 inspection year, 1,155 significant deficiencies and violations were cited in 469 sanitary surveys. The Top 10 most frequent inspection citations were:

Storage tank deficiencies (F310 and T310), in the distribution system and before the entry point (CT tanks) lead the pack with 17% of all citations in 2022. Storage tank deficiencies can include improperly protected screens, hatches and overflows. This underscores the importance of robust routine tank inspections under the Storage Tank Rule and also for tanks that are used for contact time. 

The next most frequently cited significant deficiency, with 9% of the total 2022 citations is for wellhead pathways of contamination (S030). This can include loose wellhead seals, missing or damaged vent screens, missing gaskets, broken/open electrical boxes/conduit, cracked sanitary seal plates and wellheads. 

Backflow prevention and cross connection control (BPCCC) has several violations and two significant deficiencies that make the Top 10 list, including failure to develop BPCCC annual reports, failure to implement the BPCCC program and failure to meet the assembly testing ratio which is a Tier 2 public notice violation.

Groundwater entry point chlorine monitoring (R212) accounted for 40 significant deficiencies, including monitoring weekly entry point chlorine residual in the wrong location. Chlorine residual monitoring equipment practices (R531) which can apply to both groundwater and surface water systems rounded out the Top 10. Frequently encountered chlorine residual monitoring equipment violations include using expired DPD reagent, caked glassware (grayish tinged), not switching a colorimeter to High Range and using the appropriate vials when needed, and not performing weekly checks of online chlorine analyzers. In accordance with Regulation 11, Section 11.46, 40 CFR 141.74(a), and Policy 4 Guidance, suppliers must field verify online chlorine analyzers once each week by taking a grab sample and analyzing it for chlorine residual.

Please check your water systems for these issues to protect public health and avoid significant deficiencies and violations during your next sanitary survey. If you would like additional assistance on technical issues or sanitary survey preparation, please sign up for individualized coaching here.  For any questions or concerns about sanitary surveys please email our Field Services team at cdphe_wqcd_fss_questions@state.co.us. Thank you for all your efforts to protect public health!

➽ Heather Young, PE, CWP, Field Services Section Manager

Investigations of Operator Misconduct Complaints

The Water and Wastewater Facility Operators Certification Board (board)’s Guidance 16-1 and  Procedure 16-2 provide direction regarding Water Quality Control Division (division) investigations of possible misconduct by water and wastewater facility operators. It also describes the division’s approach to escalating from a division informal reprimand to a division recommendation of formal disciplinary action by the board.

Background

In Guidance 16-1, the board established that it is neither practical nor desirable for all instances of operator misconduct to result in formal disciplinary action by the board. Therefore, a division investigation needs to determine whether a violation of law or regulation occurred and, if so, whether the operator’s behavior rises to the level of formal disciplinary action.

Specific Allegations

According to Guidance 16-1, an investigation of operator misconduct is limited to the specific allegations against an operator. The division’s task is not to examine the operator under a microscope to see if any possible infraction might be found. Rather, the investigation must determine whether or not there is evidence to support the claim about the operator in question.  

Considerations

When there is evidence of operator misconduct, the division, guided by Board Guidance 16-1, considers the following factors before deciding whether to resolve the issue informally or to recommend formal disciplinary action of the board: 

• The gravity of the incident(s) at issue, including the level of risk posed to public health and the environment.
• The operator’s degree of control over the incident(s).
• The operator’s attitude during and after the incident(s), including the operator’s willingness to cooperate with the division during the investigation.

The division also considers whether correction through training, instruction, and/or coaching might be effective.

Informal Action

When a complaint can be resolved informally, the division notifies the operator, and possibly the operator’s supervisor, of the division’s findings through an informal letter of reprimand. The division may suggest approaches to address the behavior that resulted in misconduct and/or recommend training or coaching to improve the operator’s knowledge and skills. The issuance of an informal letter of reprimand does not close the investigation of possible misconduct. The investigation will remain open and confidential for up to three years. If there is evidence of repeat misconduct or escalation of misconduct during that time, the division will request that the board take formal disciplinary action against the operator. Informal division action does not affect an operator’s standing as a certified water professional. 

Recommendation of Formal Disciplinary Action

Only the board has the authority to formally reprimand an operator or to formally suspend or revoke the operator’s certificate. However, the division does have the authority to immediately suspend or revoke an operator's certificate to protect public health in emergency situations, but then the board must confirm and formalize the division's action at a later date. The division requests formal board action for severe offenses, as well as repeat or escalated behavior. The board follows procedures detailed in Procedure 16-2 when responding to a division request for formal board action. While division informal action is confidential, the board’s disciplinary action decisions (formal reprimand, certificate suspension, or certificate revocation) are made in open meetings and are posted on the board’s website for three years.

➽ Jessica Morgan, Facility and Operator Outreach and Certification Board Liaison

LCRR Stakeholder Process

On January 15, 2021, EPA promulgated the final Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR), the most comprehensive update so far to the original 1991 Lead and Copper Rule. Following executive review and additional stakeholder input, the LCRR went into effect on December 16, 2021. EPA also noted several areas for additional improvements to the LCRR and committed to promulgating the Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI) rule by late 2024. The LCRR has an early implementation requirement for public water systems to complete initial lead service line inventories by October 16, 2024. The division is conducting a stakeholder process for the Water Quality Control Commission (Commission) to adopt the LCRR, so that it is effective in Colorado by December 16, 2023 and provides the department enforcement authority, instead of the EPA. This rulemaking process could prove challenging depending on the changes promulgated in the LCRI and when they become effective. 

The LCRR emphasizes lead service line identification and replacement requirements, creates a new lead “trigger level” below the current “action level,” and requires lead sampling at schools and child care facilities. The LCRR adds considerable complexity for both states and water providers. However, some public health experts and community activists believe the LCRR falls short in achieving removal of lead service lines and reducing lead exposure. 

Despite the uncertainty, CDPHE is moving forward to adopt LCRR. LCRR will be adopted and integrated into our existing Colorado Primary Drinking Water Regulations (Regulation 11). The division sees great value and opportunity to gain shared understanding by discussing the requirements during the stakeholder engagement and subsequent rulemaking process. Given the complexity of this rule, these interactions would be invaluable for the division and water suppliers. This will also allow the division to better understand the additional resources needed for LCRR implementation. The division will continue to monitor information from EPA regarding LCRI and its impact on moving forward with LCRR adoption. 

The LCRR stakeholder process launched in July 2022 and is moving forward toward an August 2023 Rulemaking Hearing before the Commission to adopt LCRR. Visit our LCRR web page to get engaged or simply see a great deal of resources to help you and your water system get ready for LCRR.  

➽ Bryan Pilson, Haley Orahood, Nicole Graziano, and Ron Falco, P.E. Safe Drinking Water Program