Ground Water Rule Compliance Help for Water System Owners and Operators

EPA has developed materials for drinking water system owners and operators. The materials below can assist in complying with requirements of the Ground Water Rule (GWR).

On this page

• The Ground Water Rule Fact Sheets
• Ground Water Rule Placards
• Gound Water Rule Contact Time (CT) Calculator
• Consecutive System Guide for the Ground Water Rule
• Complying with the Ground Water Rule: Small Entity Compliance Guide

The Ground Water Rule Fact Sheets

Ground water rule fact sheets provide information for states and public water systems. The fact sheets are an overview of rule requirements, monitoring requirements, sanitary surveys, public notification, and simultaneous compliance. For further information please contact your primacy agency.

• Ground Water Rule Factsheet: General Rule Requirements (PDF)(5 pp, 207 K, About PDF) EPA 816-F-08-028, July 2008
• Ground Water Rule Factsheet: Monitoring Requirements (PDF)(6 pp, 135 K, About PDF) EPA 816-F-08-025, July 2008
• Ground Water Rule Factsheet: Sanitary Surveys (PDF)(5 pp, 143 K, About PDF) EPA 816-F-08-027, July 2008
• Ground Water Rule Factsheet: Public Notification and Special Notice Requirements for Community Water Systems (PDF)(6 pp, 221 K, About PDF) EPA 816-F-08-026, July 2008
• Ground Water Rule Factsheet: Public Notification and Special Notice Requirements for Non-Community Water Systems (PDF)(5 pp, 106 K, About PDF) EPA 816-F-08-030, July 2008

Ground Water Rule Placards

The GWR Monitoring Requirements Placards are an Adobe pdf tool. These posters help systems understand monitoring and communication requirements under the GWR. The tool targets system types (i.e. CWS, NCWS, wholesale, consecutive systems) and the related information on which GWR requirements must be met.

• GWR Consecutive Systems with Own Source -- Triggered Monitoring (PDG)(1 pp, 216 K, About PDF) EPA 816-F-10-056
  This placard is for consecutive systems that have their own source and are conducting triggered source water monitoring.

• GWR Consecutive Systems without Own Source (PDF)(1 pg, 346 K, About PDF) EPA 816-F-10-057
  This placard is for consecutive systems that do not have their own source.

• GWR CWS and NCWS -- Triggered Monitoring (PDF)(1 pg, 222 K, About PDF) EPA 816-F-10-058
  This placard is for water systems that have their own source and do not purchase water or sell water to another water system.

• GWR Wholesale Systems -- Triggered Monitoring (PDF)(1 pg, 181 K, About PDF) EPA 816-F-10-059
  This placard is for wholesale systems conducting triggered source water monitoring.

• GWR System Providing 4-log -- Compliance Monitoring (PDF)(1 pg, 171 K, About PDF) EPA 816-F-10-060 
  This placard is for systems that provide 4-log treatment of viruses with chemical disinfection.

Contact Time (CT) Calculator

This tool is for public drinking water systems that use ground water (GW) and want to determine if the chemical disinfection their water system uses provides 4-log inactivation improvements. This calculator was designed to be a simple tool to help GW systems determine their system’s log inactivation. Instructions for using this tool can be found on the second tab of the spread sheet.

• Ground Water Contact Time (CT) Calculator (xls) (10.01 MB)

Consecutive System Guide for the Ground Water Rule

• This manual describes the regulatory requirements of the Ground Water Rule as it applies to:
• Wholesale ground water systems.
• Consecutive ground water systems that receive and distribute the ground water supply.

The guidance manual was revised in response to comments and questions received and to update links to additional information. The intended audience is ground water systems, States, tribes, and other primacy agencies.

• Consecutive System Guide for the Ground Water Rule (PDF)(26 pp, 264 K, About PDF) EPA 815-R-07-020, Revised August 2010

Complying with the Ground Water Rule: Small Entity Compliance Guide

• This guidance document is an official compliance guide to the GWR for small public water systems.

  [Note: Copies downloaded prior to January 2008 had an error on page 3. The fourth bullet should read "Collect samples from your ground water sources after a routine Total Coliform Rule (TCR) positive if you do not provide 4-log virus treatment for all your sources, and have the samples analyzed for a fecal indicator specified by the State."]

• Complying with the Ground Water Rule: Small Entity Compliance Guide (PDF)(50 pp, 1.5 MB, About PDF) EPA 815-R-07-018, July 2007

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For more information, please see the Ground Water Rule page.