Source Water Protection Guidance Documents

About Source Water Protection

The purpose of Source Water Protection is to help prevent contaminants from entering public drinking water sources. The Source Water Protection Program is administered through the Bureau of Water Pollution Control at the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP).

Special Note: Please direct all requests for information on public water systems to NDEP's Bureau of Safe Drinking Water

The program encourages community-based protection and preventive management strategies to ensure all public drinking water resources are kept safe from future contamination.

Protection will build upon Source Water Assessments conducted by NDEP's Bureau Safe Drinking Water for all public drinking water sources in Nevada as part of the Safe Drinking Water Act amendments of 1996. Final Source Water Assessment reports started to be mailed to public water systems in early 2005.

Source water is untreated water from streams, rivers, lakes, springs, or underground aquifers, which is used to supply public drinking water and private wells.
There are three primary parts to Nevada's Source Water Protection Program:
  • Wellhead Protection
  • Protection of Surface Water Intakes
  • Coordination With Existing Protection Programs

Each of these elements is described below in more detail.

Source Water Protection Activities Summary Table

Wellhead Protection

Nevada Wellhead Protection Plans


Communities with Completed Wellhead Protection Plans

Wellhead Protection is designed to protect public water supply wells. Grants are available to communities and water systems to develop Wellhead Protection Plans for their wells. Ground water "capture zones" for the well (called a wellhead protection area) is designated and a plan is developed and implemented for managing potential contamination sources within the wellhead protection area. Management activities typically include:

  • Education / outreach to businesses, and the general public about where their community drinking water comes from and how to protect it;
  • Coordinated land use planning;
  • Physical protection (fence) around wellheads and well houses;
  • Inventory and plugging of unused wells which can act as conduits between surface pollution and groundwater.

For more information see: NDEP's Wellhead Protection Program

Protection of Surface Water Intakes

Surface water intakes draw water from rivers and lakes supplying the public with drinking water. The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection is working with existing programs on protection of intakes, and we are researching new ways to protect intakes from pollution. Similar to wellhead protection, intake protection areas could be designated within the watershed for management of potential contaminant sources. Protection of multiple intakes drawing from the same river or lake will be a priority.

Coordination with Existing Protection Programs

NDEP coordinates wellhead and surface water protection with other local, state and federal organizations. Many of the Source Water Protection activities are voluntary, however, work with regulatory programs is a key for protection.

Source Water Protection staff work closely with the Nevada Bureau of Health Protection Services, the Nevada Rural Water Association, and will coordinate with existing protection efforts at Lake Tahoe, the Truckee River, and Lake Mead/Colorado River.

For More Information

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