Area Water Systems Often Not Monitoring

In North Idaho, there is a far higher rate of violations for failure to monitor drinking water than tests indicating excessive levels of bacteria.

Last year, there were 253 reporting violations from 156 systems. At the same time, there were 65 reported violations of total coliform in 45 networks.

Despite the high number of reporting violations, however, water system operators are rarely fined for not monitoring drinking water or submitting all the required samples, said Steve Tanner, water supervisor for the state Division of Environmental Quality.

“We do occasionally have a system that is a significant non-complier,” he said.

There are about 550 public water systems, serving 25 people or more, in the five northern counties.

The division can fine systems up to $1,000 per day per violation, but the agency usually tries to gain compliance through communication, Tanner said.

When bacteria levels in public systems in Idaho exceed acceptable standards, officials have 14 days to notify users. Usually, the problem has been addressed and the water deemed safe before that deadline.

Tanner said the notification approach is sometimes criticized as too lax, but he added system operators almost always notify customers immediately when a problem is found during routine testing.

“We have probably a better response than most areas of the country because the labs report (problems) within a matter of hours and we call the system operators,” he said.

Through August of this year, there were 39 bacteriological violations from 29 systems, Tanner said.

, DataTimes